A key witness in the Harvey Weinstein sex crime trial took the stand on Friday, providing a graphic description of the defendant's genitalia.
"The first time I saw him fully naked, I thought he was deformed and intersex," Jessica Mann said in court, as reported by the Daily Beast. "He has extreme scarring that I didn’t know if he was a burn victim but it didn’t make sense. He does not have testicles and it appears that he has a vagina."
Mann is a 34-year-old former actress who claims to have met Weinstein back in 2013 at a Hollywood Hills party. She told jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court she initially considered the encounter to be a "blessing," as she believed Weinstein would help launch her acting career; however, Mann claims it was the beginning of a manipulative and abusive relationship.
The woman claims that shortly after she met Weinstein, he had invited her to the Peninsula Hotel for a dinner meeting to discuss her career. But in the middle of their sit-down, Weinstein allegedly became annoyed by an intrusive fan and asked the waitress to send their food to a hotel room. Mann told the court that once they arrived to the room, the situation became uncomfortable, as Weinstein had offered to give her a massage. The woman said she declined the offer, but gave one to Weinstein instead.
Despite that awkward meeting, Mann said she continued to meet with Harvey and attend Weinstein Company parties. She recalled one instance in which she and a friend spoke to the movie producer about potential roles in Vampire Academy. And just like the first meeting, this one allegedly ended in Weinstein's hotel room. Mann said that once they entered his room, Weinstein separated her and her friend. She said the now-67-year-old mogul had taken her into a room and performed oral sex on her, despite her verbal objections.
"He laid me down on the bed and that’s when he went down on me," she said. "I started to fake an orgasm to get out of it."
Mann said she never told anyone about the incident because she was both confused and scared.
"I entered into what I thought was a real relationship with him and it was extremely degrading from that point on," she said. "He would talk very dirty to me about fantasies and things and compare me to other actresses he said were doing kinky, dirty stuff. He always wanted to film me."
Mann said she remained in contact with Weinstein out of fear—fear for her career and family.
During a trip to NYC in March 2013, Mann had agreed to meet Weinstein for breakfast. Those plans were scrapped, however, shortly before their meeting, as Weinstein allegedly showed up to her hotel completely unexpected.
"I waited as long as I could before I felt like I had to go down there," Mann recalled. "So I go downstairs and when I get downstairs, Harvey is checking into the hotel, and then I really freaked out."
Mann said she became angry with Weinstein, so much so that he ended up leading her to his hotel room because he did not want to be "embarrassed." Once they were alone, he allegedly ordered her to undress before raping her.
"Once I was naked and laid on the bed, he went into the bathroom and sort of closed the door behind him," she said. "The door was still kind of open a little bit. And then he came out naked, and then he got on top of me and that’s when he put himself inside me."
Mann claimed that once the assault was over, she ran into the bathroom and discovered a syringe, which she believes he had used to inject himself with an erection drug.
"I was just trying to collect myself for a minute and I see a needle in the trash can and I flip out," she said. "It was the realization that he stabbed himself with a needle and there had to be blood and he was inside of me. I was in shock over that."
Mann told jurors Weinstein did not use a condom during the rape.
Weinstein is facing two counts of predatory sexual assault, two counts of rape, and one count of a criminal sex act. The charges are based on Mann's allegations and those of Miriam "Mimi" Haleyi, a former Project Runway production assistant who claims Weinstein raped her in 2006. Weinstein faces life in prison if convicted on all charges.
