Harvey Weinstein’s defense lawyers grilled accuser Jessica Mann on Monday, as the former actress testified that the movie mogul once asked her if she “ever had a golden shower” before he urinated on her.
“We were in the shower... and he asked, ‘Have you ever had a golden shower?’ and I said, ‘no,’ and then I felt him peeing on me,” Mann said Monday at Weinstein’s sex-crimes trial. “I was in shock by it, it was gross. I turned into the corner of the shower and just looked away.”
During the second day of cross-examination, defense attorney Donna Rotunno sought to portray Mann as a manipulative opportunist, repeatedly asking her why she continued to send friendly emails to the disgraced producer even after he allegedly raped her in a New York City hotel room in March 2013.
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“There was a reason my behavior was like this,” Mann said. “It’s just keeping him happy. I felt safe on email.”
Her testimony was cut short on Monday after she 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.
In the letter, she wrote that she admired Weinstein because he “validated” her Hollywood dreams and “encouraged” her to pursue acting.
“Harvey was my father’s age and he gave me all the validation I needed,” Mann wrote in the email. “I think he liked me because in a way he couldn’t get me, and I didn’t take from him. I didn’t have an agenda other than my own wounds, playing out subconsciously.”
“I remember the day I realized I was controlling my world because I was sexually assaulted and that story played out where I played into sexual dynamics with people to feel like I would never be taken advantage of again,” Mann read, as she began to uncontrollably cry in the courtroom, forcing Justice James Burke to call for a break.
When she returned to the stand 10 minutes later, Mann was still inconsolable, and the judge ruled her testimony should resume Tuesday.
Mann, 34, testified in graphic detail 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.”
The former actress admitted that she had a brief but twisted relationship with Weinstein, during which they also had multiple consensual sexual encounters, including a threesome, Mann testified.
During cross, Weinstein’s defense lawyers argued that the struggling actress “manipulated” and “used” the producer to jump-start her career in the entertainment industry. To bolster her case, Rotunno pointed to emails that Mann sent to Weinstein, including one from April 2013, a month after Weinstein allegedly raped her at a DoubleTree hotel in Manhattan.
“As always happy to see your smile and I hope to see you sooner than later,” Mann wrote to Weinstein, adding, “I hope some of your genius rubs off on me.”
“You knew that your words were a problem in your testimony,” Rotunno told Mann. “You sent him emails telling him how wonderful he was. You sent him emails thanking him. You sent him emails asking for things.”
The lawyer later insisted, “You made a choice to have sexual encounters with Harvey Weinstein when you weren’t sexually attracted to him. You liked the parties and you liked the power.”
Dressed in a black suit, Weinstein dozed off several times during Mann’s emotional testimony.
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.
At least 80 alleged victims have accused the Oscar-winner of sexual misconduct. He’s repeatedly denied all claims of nonconsensual sex.
Mann, who was born on a dairy farm in Washington state and raised in the evangelical faith, garnered audible gasps in the courtroom Friday as she described her “manipulative” relationship with Weinstein, whom she met at an engagement party in the Hollywood Hills in 2013.
While their first meetings were purely professional, in early 2013, Weinstein invited her and a friend back to his hotel room, where he performed oral sex on her, even as she begged him to stop, she testified.
Despite her revulsion over the assault, she said she “made the decision to be in a relationship” with Weinstein. The former actress, who previously described Weinstein’s body as “deformed” with “extreme scarring,” also stated Monday they would sometimes participate in “role play.”
“I would put on the face and do what I said earlier, which was like role-playing,” Mann said. “When I didn’t think he could have actual sex, I thought we were creating a fantasy as if he were having actual sex. Often times before we would engage in something sexual, there would be a negotiation.”
Mann said she made plans to meet Weinstein for breakfast in New York City on March 18, 2013, when he unexpectedly showed up to the DoubleTree hotel where she was staying. There, he raped her in his hotel room after injecting his penis with “medication” to maintain an erection, she testified.
Mann acknowledged she never reported the incident and even sent Weinstein numerous emails afterward, because “his ego was so fragile” and she “wanted to be perceived as innocent and naive.”
When asked if she was manipulating Weinstein, Mann conceded, “There was an aspect where my flattery was going above and beyond, yeah.”
Mann elaborated further, stating she believed she “engaged with my abuser because of what I believed in my mind and the perception of the society I lived in... it was always in my best interest to feel that the temperature gauge between us was going to be OK.”
Months later, in November 2013, Mann said Weinstein raped her again after she finally told him about her new relationship with a “well-known actor.”
The former actress said she “was too scared to confront him” about the rape and previous assaults, and didn’t tell anyone until 2017—when she spoke to authorities.
In another email sent days after the alleged assault in November, Mann wrote to Weinstein that her “heart was hurting.” She added that she wanted to “do right” by her new boyfriend and thanked the movie mogul for helping her grow.
“Next time I get to see you, can we please make time where we can be in a setting where I feel like I can best discuss the relationship,” Mann wrote in the Nov. 12, 2013, message. “Thank you for your unfailing support and kindness.’
“You pick the restaurant. Preferably cheeseburgers,” Weinstein responded.
According to Rottuno, Mann also changed her number at least five times between 2013 and 2017—sending her new contact information to Weinstein each time.
“The reason Miss Mann is because you still wanted the benefit of what he had to offer,” Rotunno said. Mann, frustrated by the accusation, shot back, “That’s your version.”
When asked why she could not find “one email in five years that showed that Mr. Weinstein was negative or pushy or difficult in any way,” Mann forcefully stated, “Well, I knew him, and I knew how to read between the lines in some of his responses.”
In addition to the tearful testimonies from Haleyi and Mann, jurors have heard from Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein violently raped her in her apartment in 1993 or 1994. On Wednesday, Dawn Dunning and Tarale Wulff both testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted them in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
