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Former actress tells of “degrading” relationship with Harvey Weinstein

In the grip ofHarvey Weinstein, she would have started a fictitious relationship with the Hollywood producer. Jessica Mann, one of his accusers, assured Friday, January 31, having been trapped by his naivety and then guided by fear, on the eighth day of the trial of the mogul. Defense presented her as a young opportunistic actress, ready to make the most of this powerful decision maker.

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Jessica Mann is, along with Mimi Haleyi, the only woman whose charges against the former Hollywood tycoon have resulted in prosecution in New York. The alleged sexual assaults by the other three women who testified at trial, Annabella Sciorra, Dawn Dunning and Tarale Wulff, have not been charged. Harvey Weinstein, 67, denies the charges against him and says these relationships were all agreed.

Seduction, humiliation and manipulation

Originally from a small town in Washington State, raised on a homeless farm and for a while, Jessica Mann, 34, contrasts with the other complainants. She is also the only one who had never heard of Harvey Weinstein when she first met him, between the end of 2012 and the start of 2013. Once in the courtroom, on Friday, January 31, she put to cry before even being questioned by the assistant of the prosecutor, Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, and her testimony often seemed confused.

She described her first meetings with the producer and the mixture of seduction, humiliation and manipulation to which Harvey Weinstein would have subjected her. Then, according to her, the relationship changes. In a hotel room in Los Angeles, she would have agreed to massage him. “It made me feel stupid, saying it wasn’t much,” she said.

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“I thought he was going to hurt my father”

Later, while she is in the company of an assistant to the producer, he lures her into a room and tries to kiss her, according to her. She defends herself, verbally resists, but he manages to cunnilingus. “I started to feign an orgasm to get out of there,” she said, delivering a very crude description of the physique of her alleged attacker, with genitals deformed according to her.

“I was lost,” she said of her dealings with the Weinstein Company tycoon. “I decided to have a (continued) relationship with him (…) It was extremely degrading.” A few weeks later, in March 2013, when she was now in a relationship with another man, he allegedly trapped her in a Manhattan hotel and forcibly took her to a room to rape her. She said nothing to anyone. “I was afraid of Harvey,” she said. I thought he was going to hurt my father. ”She also said that she wanted to protect her boyfriend, a“ rather known ”actor whose identity she did not reveal.

“You used Harvey Weinstein”

Even before the trial began, the defense had produced several emails sent by Jessica Mann long after the alleged rape, in which, according to Camp Weinstein, they recognized a “consensual and intimate” relationship. These messages were also driven by fear, she said on Friday. Known for her muscular questions, the lawyer for Harvey Weinstein Donna Rotunno reconsidered this correspondence during cross-examination and pushed Jessica Mann to its limits.

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“Mrs. Mann, you were using Harvey Weinstein,” she said. You were lying to her. ”Donna Rotunno also mentioned a blog, never published, in which Jessica Mann mentions“ an older man with whom (she) had a relationship ”. “You used to call him your boyfriend!” Insisted the lawyer. “You are not talking about the pain I felt,” replied the thirty-something, who has regularly been confused and imprecise. Jessica Mann’s cross-examination is scheduled to continue on Monday, February 3. Charged with five counts, Harvey Weinstein, catalyst for movement #MeToo, risks life imprisonment if convicted.

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