DRAMA AS HARV ACCUSER BREAKS DOWN
Harvey Weinstein rape accuser Jessica Mann broke down on the witness stand Monday, capping a day of intense grilling by the disgraced Hollywood titan’s defense team at his sexassault and rape trial in Manhattan.
In one particularly dramatic moment, Mann burst into uncontrollable sobs and appeared to hyperventilate as she read aloud excerpts from a lengthy May 22, 2014, e-mail mentioning Weinstein that she had sent to “Twilight” actor Edi Gathegi, whom Mann had been dating.
The e-mail was produced by the defense in an attempt to show jurors that Mann and Weinstein had a consensual relationship.
“Harvey [Weinstein] validated me. He always offered to help me in ways that my parents didn’t. I felt approval to pursue the industry because he was encouraging,” Mann read, wiping tears from her eyes. “Harvey was my father’s age and he gave me all the validation that I needed.”
In the message, which never mentions the alleged rapes, but does cite a sexual assault from when she was younger that did not involve Weinstein, Mann says she felt “a sense of friendship with” Weinstein and that she
“tried to make him a pseudo father.”
“Sometimes I felt hopeless and should just be with an old man because I’m a lost cause,” she read from the e-mail.
Her hard sobs caused Justice James Burke to end testimony early for the day.
Mann, 34, a onetime aspiring actress, has acknowledged in testimony she had consensual encounters with Weinstein, whom she says raped her twice, including once at the DoubleTree hotel in Midtown on March 18, 2013.
The note also included Mann talking about how Weinstein “no longer has a working penis.”
She testified last Friday that Weinstein’s genitalia were so “deformed” that she actually pitied him.
Before the climactic moment, defense lawyer Donna Rotunno spent the day trying to cast doubt on Mann, suggesting that she kept seeing the once-powerful Tinseltown tycoon for her own benefit.
Rotunno produced e-mails between Weinstein and Mann that showed friendly exchanges, and the defense attorney pointed out to Mann that on at least five occasions between 2013 and 2017, she changed her phone number, but sent it to Weinstein each time.
“The reason, Miss Mann, was that you still wanted the benefit of what he had to offer,” Rotunno said.
Mann replied, “That’s your version.”
Rotunno asked Mann whether she “manipulated” Weinstein “every single time.”
“I guess there is an aspect to how I felt — I needed to protect myself — that maybe you could say is manipulating,” Mann admitted.
Mann later said that if Weinstein “heard the word ‘no’ or you didn’t give him what he wanted — that’s when this monster would come out.”
Rotunno suggested that Mann “could have walked away” from Weinstein “and never seen him again.”
“Not from my point of view,” said Mann.
When Rotunno asked her if she was “happy” to engage in sexual encounters with Weinstein, Mann responded, “I wasn’t happy to do it . . . often times there would be a negotiation.
“The more I realized I was just being used, I tried not to have sexual encounters with him,” said Mann.
Mann also testified that Weinstein once asked her if she “ever had a golden shower” before he urinated on her in a shower in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, throughout the day of testimony, Weinstein was spotted apparently nodding off at times.
As he exited the courtroom, pushing his walker, Weinstein was asked by a reporter why he was sleeping in court — and responded, “Oh, please.”