WARNING: This story contains disturbing details. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, nearly cried out in tears from the witness stand Monday when she told a court that Harvey Weinstein raped her in a hotel room and spoke of the devastating effects it had on her. her. the 17 years since then. “He knows this isn’t normal!” she shouted during the Los Angeles trial, recalling her thoughts amid the alleged rape in 2005. “He knows this is not consensual!” He then shouted “Oh God!” as if overcome by memory, and gave way to weeping. Weinstein watched from the defense table. Siebel Newsom said she unexpectedly found herself alone with Weinstein in a suite at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, where she had agreed to join him for a meeting. She said she assumed others would be present and talk about her career. When he came out of the bathroom in a robe with nothing underneath and began groping her while masturbating, she described her feelings. “Horror! Horror!” he said. “Tremble. I’m like a rock, I’m frozen. This is my worst nightmare. I’m just this blow-up doll!” She then gave a graphic account of being sexually assaulted and raped by Weinstein in the suite’s bedroom. Weinstein’s lawyers, who cross-examined her only briefly and will resume on Tuesday, say the two had consensual sex and that she sought to use the powerful producer to advance her career. Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for a rape conviction in New York and has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault in California involving five women. Siebel Newsom is the fourth woman Weinstein has accused of sexually assaulting who took the stand in Los Angeles. Her testimony was the most dramatic and emotional so far in the three-week trial. She cried throughout her 2 1/2 hours on the stand, starting when she was asked to identify the 70-year-old Weinstein for the record. “He’s wearing a suit and a blue tie and he’s staring at me,” she said as tears began to flow. Now 48, Siebel Newsom described how Weinstein first approached her to introduce herself at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005. At the time, she was a producer and actress with only a few small roles and he was at the height of his Hollywood power. . “It was like the Red Sea parting,” he said as he watched the others in the room make way for him. “I don’t know if it was respect or fear.” But she said that when they had a drink later in the day he was “charming” and showed “genuine interest in talking about my work”. He was in the Los Angeles area a few weeks later, stopped by her house during a small party to drop off a gift, and invited her to meet at the hotel. She described how nervous she was after being led to his hotel suite. Asked by Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez why she didn’t quit, she said: “Because you don’t say no to Harvey Weinstein.” “It could make or break your career,” he said. Afterwards, she said she felt “so ashamed”. “I was so violated and I don’t know how this happened,” she said through tears. “I didn’t see the signs and I didn’t know how to escape.” Siebel Newsom is known as Jane Doe #4 in the lawsuit, and like the others Weinstein is accused of rape or sexual assault, she is not being named in court. But both the prosecution and the defense have identified her as the governor’s wife during the trial, and her attorney Siebel Newsom has confirmed to the Associated Press and other news outlets that she is Jane Doe #4. The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they have come forward publicly. Weinstein has had a number of famous accusers, including A-list actors, since he became a magnet for the #MeToo movement in 2017. But none of the women who told their stories in the trial had anywhere near the prominence of Sybel Newsom, his wife of the man who last week won a second term as governor of the nation’s most populous state and may run for the White House. The governor was not in the courtroom Monday. During cross-examination, Weinstein’s attorney Mark Werksman repeatedly pressed Siebel Newsom about when she told her husband about the assault, noting in a 2020 transcript of an interview with prosecutors that he said Newsom was “maybe » the first person who said. The attorney was the first to say the name “Gavin Newsom” during the deposition and repeated it frequently. He said he’s been “dropping hints along the way” all these years after meeting him when he was mayor of San Francisco. And she got a full accounting when the women’s stories about Weinstein became widespread in 2017. That’s when she would return former political donations from Weinstein. Werksman suggested the couple solicited the donations from Weinstein at a time when Newsom must have been aware of her history. Did he take money “from someone you implied did something nasty to you?” Werksman asked. “It’s complicated,” Siebel Newsom replied. “So is this just politics,” Werksman asked, “taking money from someone who has done something despicable to your wife unless everyone knows?” Siebel Newsom denied Werksman’s suggestion that new elements of the alleged assault that she had not described in interviews with prosecutors or in grand jury testimony emerged for the first time in her testimony Tuesday. She said she wanted to know why her story changed. “We’ve all heard you are very emotional,” he said. “You’ve had plenty of time to think about it in the last 17 years.” Siebel Newsom said she had spent much of the time trying not to think about it. “It is very traumatic, sir,” he said.
Resources for Sexual Assault Survivors in Canada
If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis: If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, you should call 911. A complete list of sexual assault centers in Canada that offer information, support and counseling can be found at ReeseCommunity.com. You can find resources in your community by entering your zip code. Helplines, legal services and locations offering sexual assault kits in Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia can be found here. National Residential School Crisis Line: +1 866 925 4419 24 hour crisis line: 416 597 8808 Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: +1 833 900 1010 Trans Lifeline: +1 877 330 6366 Sexual misconduct support for current or former members of the Armed Forces: +1 844 750 1648 Read about your rights as a victim here.
