An Italian actress testified at Harvey Weinstein’s sex-crimes trial on Tuesday, describing how the disgraced producer allegedly “manipulated” her and accuser Jessica Mann into a failed threesome at a Los Angeles hotel in 2013.
Emanuela Postacchini, 32, told jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court that she first met Mann, a key witness in Weinstein’s trial, at a party for the Weinstein Company at SoHo House in February 2013. The next evening, Weinstein invited her for drinks at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills—but immediately directed her upstairs to his room instead.
Once inside, she said she was “surprised” to see Mann “standing in the living room of the suite.”
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“He told us to do something—directed us to do something together,” Postacchini said. At one point, Mann left the bedroom crying, she testified.
“Jessica left the room, ran away, crying. I ran after her. She was crying in the fetal position on the ground, so I just tried to calm her down,” Postacchini said. When Mann left, Weinstein allegedly got frustrated and exclaimed, “What is she doing?”
The actress, best known for her role in This Is America, stressed Tuesday that she felt manipulated into the situation with Weinstein, but he did not physically force them to participate in the scenario, and she willingly went to the hotel room.
“I can’t recall exactly what he was telling us to do,” the actress said when asked what Weinstein “directed” the pair to do. “Me interacting with a female.”
“It was shocking and traumatizing,” she added. “Obviously I felt manipulated into a situation I didn’t want to be in.”
Postacchini also said that before the failed threesome, Weinstein invited her to brunch, but instead met her in a bathrobe, and asked for a massage. She did not state whether she agreed to Weinstein’s proposal.
“He showed up in a bathrobe and was naked underneath and asked me for a massage,” she testified, adding she didn’t tell anybody about the incident because “to be honest, I just wanted to forget about whatever had happened and I wasn’t to move on with my life and I didn’t want to be involved.”
The actress’ testimony corroborated some claims made by Mann, who emotionally told jurors on Friday how Weinstein allegedly assaulted her multiple times after the two met at a party in 2013—including raping her in a Manhattan hotel room and then attacking her again at a Beverly Hills hotel, ripping off her pants after screaming that she owed him “one more time.”
Despite wanting to sever contact with Weinstein, Mann has maintained she had a brief but twisted relationship with the movie mogul, during which they also had multiple consensual sexual encounters, including the threesome.
“Harvey was telling us orchestrations like, ‘I want you to go down on her,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know how to do that,’ and I think that I grabbed her boob,” Mann testified about the incident with Postacchini on Friday, adding that she “ran out of there into the bathroom and started crying.”
Mann’s testimony was cut short on Monday after the former aspiring actress broke down in tears while reading a May 2014 email to a former boyfriend, in which she revealed her relationship with Weinstein to him for the first time and mentioned a previous sexual assault.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to five sex-crime charges, including three that are related to his alleged encounters with Mann. The other two charges are for allegations made by Miriam Haleyi, a former Project Runway production assistant who testified that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at his SoHo home in 2006.
During cross-examination, Weinstein’s defense attorneys have sought to portray Mann as a manipulative opportunist, repeatedly asking her why she continued to send friendly emails to the Pulp Fiction producer even after he allegedly raped her in a New York City hotel room in March 2013.
Mann has maintained she was trying to “protect” herself and her budding career by keeping herself on Weinstein’s good side—despite the abuse. “There was a reason my behavior was like this,” Mann said. “It’s just keeping him happy. I felt safe on email.”
Often speaking in a barely audible tone, Mann resumed her third day of testimony on Tuesday, with Weinstein’s defense again questioning her about the affectionate email relationship she maintained with the toppled titan years after the alleged sexual assaults.
Defense attorney Donna Rotunno pointed to dozens of emails between the two, including one from February 2015, in which Mann asks Weinstein for a referral for membership to the SoHo House.
“You want the ladies and the gentlemen of this jury to believe the person you wanted to sponsor you was your rapist?” Rotunno asked.
“I do want the jury to know he is my rapist, and I want to continue to explain the dynamic,” Mann responded, before stating the sponsorship to the members-only club is “irrelevant.”
“It is relevant,” Rotunno responded, visibly annoyed.
Mann was also showed another email from 2016, in which she arranged to meet Weinstein at a Beverly Hills hotel. During the hotel meeting, Mann alleges Weinstein tried to film the pair having sex on his phone camera—causing her to freak out.
“Your input is always a blessing in my life,” Mann wrote in an email setting up the meeting. Four hours later, Mann emailed, “I feel so fabulous and beautiful. Thank you for everything!”
As Rotunno continued questioning Mann about the many emails she exchanged with Weinstein until 2017, the former actress began to cry.
In one contentious moment, Rotunno grilled Mann about her inability to recount a timeline of her relationship with Weinstein—arguing she was purposefully being vague about specific dates because of the friendly emails.
“I do know the emails. I’m not ashamed of them—that’s why I’m still here,” Mann said. “I know it’s complicated and difficult, but it doesn’t change the fact that he raped me.”
When Rotunno raised her voice and suggested that she is “making excuses” for her behavior, Mann snapped, “It’s not about making an excuse. This is something I want to explain that is important for people to understand. I don’t need an excuse, I own my behavior.”
Mann is among at least 80 alleged victims who have accused the Oscar-winner of sexual misconduct—which he has repeatedly denied.
