‘Sopranos’ star details rape accusation against Weinstein
NEW YORK — A distraught Annabella Sciorra, her voice cracking and eyes tearing, delivered a devastatingly detailed account Thursday of her alleged rape by producer Harvey Weinstein inside her Manhattan apartment.
Sciorra, testifying before a hushed courtroom, also recounted how the Oscarwinning producer menacingly reminded her weeks later to keep her mouth shut about the sexual encounter in which she fought in vain to repel Weinstein.
The high-powered Hollywood honcho appeared at her apartment door about 20 to 30 minutes after the two said goodnight following dinner at a restaurant in the winter of 1993-94, Sciorra told the Manhattan jury on direct testimony.
“There was a knock at the door,” the actress recounted, her eyes filling with tears. “I just opened it up to look out. The defendant was there, and he pushed the door open.”
Once inside, Weinstein began to remove his shirt as a frightened Sciorra asked him to leave. Weinstein ignored her protestations, Sciorra recalled, and she soon realized he intended to have sex with her. She punched, screamed and kicked in vain at the much larger assailant but couldn’t fight Weinstein off, Sciorra said.
“He kept coming at me,” she said. “I felt overpowered because he was very big. He grabbed me ... and he led me into the bedroom ... and he shoved me on the bed. I can’t tell you exactly when his pants came off or exactly what happened. I was just trying to get away from him and he put my hands over my head to hold me back, and he got on top of me and he raped me.”
Sciorra, after barely choking out the last sentence, recalled how Weinstein ejaculated on her leg before delivering a twisted one-liner.
“I have perfect timing,” he told the victim. Weinstein then performed oral sex on Sciorra, who begged him to stop but was too overwhelmed to fight back.
It was just so disgusting that my body started to shake,” she testified. “That was very unusual. I didn’t really know what was happening. It was like a seizure.”
Weinstein simply exited the apartment, leaving Sciorra to wake up alone on the bedroom floor with her nightgown pulled up.
“I pretended that it never happened because I wanted to get on with my life,” testified the actress, whose resume includes roles in the movies “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle,” “Jungle Fever” and “Cop Land.”
The two spoke briefly about the night of the rape when they crossed paths a few weeks later, the Brooklyn-born Sciorra recalled.
“I told him how I woke up and that I blacked out, fainted,” she testified. “And he said, ‘That’s what all the nice Catholic girls say.’ Then he leaned into me and said, ‘This remains between you and I.’ It was very menacing. His eyes went black, and I thought he was going to hit me right there.”
The one-time star of “The Sopranos” became the first accuser to testify at a criminal trial against Weinstein, who stands accused by dozens of women for his allegedly violent sexual behavior. Weinstein is accused in this trial of sexually abusing two other women, with Sciorra called to illustrate the defendant’s history of prior bad acts.
“Did he physically force you when he was having intercourse with you?” asked Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi.
“Yes,” replied Sciorra, who was crying near the end of her direct testimony.
“Did he physically force you when he was having oral copulation with you?” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes,” Sciorra responded again.
The 67-year-old Weinstein meekly peered at the witness box before averting his eyes downward at the defense table as Sciorra took the stand.