Former actress Jessica Mann has said Harvey Weinstein 'treated me like he owned me' in emotional testimony as she accused the disgraced film producer of rape.
Weinstein, 74, was originally convicted of raping Mann and forcing oral sex on former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2020.
However, New York’s highest court later overturned the guilty verdict, leading to a second trial that ended with a hung jury. The judge ordered a new trial. Jurors had convicted him again on the charge related to Haley.
Weinstein is now on trial for third time in Manhattan and has pleaded not guilty.
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Mann, a former actress, testified about two alleged sex attacks by Weinstein. She broke down on the witness stand as she recounted for the third time how Weinstein allegedly raped her inside a Manhattan hotel room in March 2013.
“I said ‘No’ over and over, and I tried to leave,” Mann said before showing jurors how Weinstein allegedly pinned both of her wrists during the attack with ‘so much force’.
Mann said she visited New York in 2013 and had planned a morning meal with friends, which Weinstein showed up to. He allegedly arrived early and booked a hotel room. She says she accompanied him to the room where she testified he injected his penis with medication that produced an erection and then raped her.
“He just treated me like he owned me,” she said.
Afterwards, the breakfast took place as planned and she did not tell anyone about the alleged attack.
“I was not ready to talk about it,” she told the jury.
She recalled feeling worried about upsetting Weinstein.
“He told me that he has friends in this town and you don’t want to make him your enemy. My friends go far; my enemies don’t step foot in this town.”
Mann, 40, also told jurors about having a ‘full-on breakdown’ when Weinstein allegedly tried to make her have a threesome with Italian actress Emanuela Postacchini at a hotel in Beverly Hills in February 2013.
Mann testified she ran into a bathroom and broke out in tears.
Her accusations of rape focus on the attack at the hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
She described having a consensual relationship with Weinstein at one point because she felt it could lead to a ‘loving relationship’, testifying that Weinstein’s power in the entertainment industry affected her decision.
Mann testified Weinstein’s personality would switch if he didn’t get his way.
“Harvey told me a lot of stories about just how powerful he was and the things he did,” she said.
Weinstein allegedly told her he was in an ‘open relationship’ with his then-wife Georgina Chapman when he started a relationship with Mann.
“He just always name-dropped everybody all the time,” she said. “It was just the part of the reality of who he is. He is not a normal person. I was not in a relationship with a normal person.”
Weinstein's lawyers claim emails between him and Mann show the two had a caring relationship, but Mann argues she was trying to manage a powerful and combustible personality.
The former film mogul was already convicted of rape in California and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Greg Harris