LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and the spouse of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, burst into tears a couple of mins into her testimony Monday when requested to spot Harvey Weinstein from the witness stand at his trial.
Siebel Newsom spent quarter-hour at the stand within the downtown Los Angeles court sooner than a lunch damage, changing into the fourth lady Weinstein is accused of sexually assaulting to testify on the former film wealthy person’s trial.
Requested by means of a prosecutor if she noticed the individual in courtroom that she met on the Toronto World Movie Pageant in 2005, she went silent then burst into tears sooner than managing to mutter “sure” into the microphone.
Instructed to explain the 70-year-old Weinstein for the document, she appeared towards the protection desk the place he was once sitting, endured crying and mentioned, “He’s dressed in a swimsuit, and a blue tie, and he’s gazing me.”
The 48-year-old Siebel Newsom was once “a powerless actor looking to make her approach in Hollywood” in 2005 when Weinstein raped her right through what she concept was once going to be a gathering to speak about her occupation at a Beverly Hills resort, Deputy District Lawyer Paul Thompson mentioned right through the trial’s opening statements.
Weinstein’s legal professionals say the 2 had consensual intercourse and that she sought to make use of the tough manufacturer to advance her occupation.
Siebel Newsom described their preliminary assembly, announcing that she was once an actor and manufacturer who had performed a couple of small roles when she went to the competition in September 2005 with a gaggle of leisure trade pals.
Siebel Newsom mentioned a crowd of folks in a resort foyer house looked as if it would transparent as he approached her: “It felt just like the purple sea was once parting,” she testified. “I don’t know if it was once deference or worry.”
She mentioned Weinstein, then on the top of his Hollywood energy, was once “the kingmaker” to these within the room.
“I felt a little bit intimidated,” she mentioned. “He was once captivating. He handled me first of all like he was once in point of fact fascinated about me. Possibly flattered is how I felt?”
She and a chum later met up with him on the resort bar.
“I felt like there was once a real hobby in speaking about my paintings,” she mentioned.
Siebel Newsom is referred to as Jane Doe #4 on the trial, and just like the others Weinstein is charged with raping or sexually assaulting, her identify isn’t being spoken in courtroom. However each the prosecution and the protection known have known her because the governor’s spouse right through the trial and Siebel Newsom’s legal professional showed to The Related Press and different information retailers that she is Jane Doe #4.
The AP does now not generally identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they’ve come ahead publicly.
Weinstein has had many well-known accusers, together with A-list actors, since he become a magnet for the #MeToo motion in 2017. However not one of the girls telling their tales on the Los Angeles trial have had any place close to the prominence of Siebel Newsom, first spouse to the person who final week sailed to a 2nd time period as governor of the country’s maximum populous state and would possibly make a run for the White Area.
“She intends to testify at his trial as a way to search some measure of justice for survivors, and as a part of her lifestyles’s paintings to reinforce the lives of girls,” her legal professional Elizabeth Fegan mentioned in a observation at the beginning of the trial.
Weinstein legal professional Mark Werksman instructed jurors right through opening statements that Siebel Newsom “an overly outstanding citizen of California” who has made herself “a outstanding sufferer within the #MeToo motion.”
“Differently,” Werksman mentioned, “she’d be simply some other bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get forward in Hollywood.”
Actor Daphne Zuniga, big name of “Spaceballs” and “Melrose Position,” testified about her pal on the trial final week.
Zuniga mentioned she and Siebel Newsom had been on a hike when she instructed her she’d had a gathering with Harvey Weinstein. When requested the way it went, Zuniga mentioned Siebel Newsom instructed her “now not excellent, I don’t need to speak about.”
“I at all times had identified her to be sure, upbeat, seems to be you within the eye, beautiful power,” Zuniga mentioned, however right here “she appeared disenchanted, squirmy, agitated.”
Prosecutors mentioned that — in a trend described by means of many different Weinstein accusers — Siebel Newsom had anticipated they might be assembly in a public house with others in attendance, however as a substitute discovered herself on my own with him in his suite.
Pass judgement on Lisa Lench is permitting the protection to make use of an e-mail Siebel Newsom despatched to Weinstein in 2007 asking him for lend a hand in coping with the media surrounding a scandal involving her husband, who was once mayor of San Francisco on the time.
Already serving a 23-year sentence for a conviction in New York, Weinstein has pleaded now not accountable to 4 counts of rape and 7 counts of sexual attack involving 5 girls. He has denied ever attractive in non-consensual intercourse.
Want lend a hand? Seek advice from RAINN’s Nationwide Sexual Attack On-line Hotline or the Nationwide Sexual Violence Useful resource Middle’s site.