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A woman testified Monday that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room during the 1991 Toronto Film Festival and then confronted him at the same hotel 17 years later during the same film festival do so again.
On the witness stand at Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial, she said she was a 24-year-old aspiring actor attending the 1991 film festival and didn’t know who Weinstein was until she met him at a party.
She said her friends were talking about the man whose company Miramax had soared to the forefront of independent films and made a splash at the Oscars.
She said she was fascinated by Weinstein at first when they discussed books and movies.
“We get along very well,” she said. “He was very smart. We had a great conversation.”
She said the two of them left the party for a drink at a nearby cafe, and she went with him to the Four Seasons hotel room because he said he had a movie script and the role was perfect.
Once there, she said he walked into the bathroom wearing nothing but an open shirt and holding a hot towel.
“It all happened very, very quickly,” she said. “I was shocked. It was so unexpected.”
She said he took off her skirt, covered her with a towel, and told her “my wife loves this”.
She testified that she felt “disgusted, scared, scared” and repeatedly told him “no” and asked “what are you doing?”
She said he held her down and sexually assaulted her with his mouth and hands. He then climbed on top of her and started raping her, but she was able to slip away and leave the room, the court heard.
Weinstein, 70, who is serving 23 years in New York, pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving five Los Angeles women and denied engaging in any non-consensual sexual activity.
He was not charged with the alleged assault described in Monday’s testimony. The woman and three others were allowed to testify so prosecutors could try to prove Weinstein’s inclination toward the crimes he’s accused of.
The woman testified that she didn’t see Weinstein again until 2008, when she was 41 and temporarily staying at the Four Seasons with her husband and children. During the festival that year, she met Weinstein in the hall.
“My blood kind of stopped,” she said. “I am very angry.”
When Weinstein’s assistant came to her room and said he wanted to see her, she agreed.
“I want to confront him,” she said. “I feel like I’m ready to give it to him.”
Once in his room, she remembers asking, “How does it feel to be in front of a woman who says no to you.”
Weinstein then kicked his assistant out of the room and quickly guided her to a door, she said. He blocked her way before she realized she and Weinstein were in an enclosed bathroom, she said.
She said Weinstein grabbed her breasts and masturbated in front of her before telling her to leave the room.
The woman told the court she had not told anyone about the second attack in years because it was “very embarrassing” for it to happen again.
“I was shocked,” she said. “So embarrassing, so embarrassing.”
During her testimony, she remained calm and composed, but when asked how the two attacks had affected her, she began to cry and replied that there were “many layers”.
The first, she told the court, had her give up acting.
“I never want to go through something like this again,” she said.
The second has major personal implications, she added.
“It hurt my marriage because I didn’t tell him,” she said. “It’s really hard.”
Her testimony appeared to be the first time she told her story in public.
Like similar witnesses in this and other trials, she told her story quickly in simple language at first, but was asked to double down on her support and provide more graphics and more difficult details.
Weinstein’s lawyers are scheduled to question her Tuesday afternoon.
The Associated Press does not usually name people who claim to have been sexually abused.
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