LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and thewife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, took the stand Monday at the rape trialof Harvey Weinstein.
Siebel Newsom spent 15 minutes on the stand at the downtown Los Angelescourtroom before a lunch break, becoming the fourth woman Weinstein is accusedof sexually assaulting to testify at the former movie magnate’s trial.
The 48-year-old Siebel Newsom was “a powerless actor trying to make her way inHollywood” in 2005 when Weinstein raped her during what she thought was goingto be a meeting to discuss her career at a Beverly Hills hotel, DeputyDistrict Attorney Paul Thompson said during the trial’s opening statements.
Weinstein’s lawyers say the two had consensual sex and that she sought to usethe powerful producer to advance her career.
When asked by a prosecutor if she saw the person in court that she met at aToronto film festival in 2005, she went silent then burst into tears beforemanaging to mutter “yes” into the microphone.
“He’s wearing a suit, and a blue tie, and he’s staring at me,” she said whenasked to describe him. She had only described their initial meeting before thecourt broke for lunch.
Siebel Newsom is known as Jane Doe #4 at the trial, and like the othersWeinstein is charged with raping or sexually assaulting, her name is not beingspoken in court. But both the prosecution and the defense identified haveidentified her as the governor’s wife during the trial and Siebel Newsom’sattorney confirmed to the AP and other news outlets that she is Jane Doe #4.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have beensexually abused unless they have come forward publicly.
Weinstein has had many famous accusers, including A-list actors, since hebecame a magnet for the #MeToo movement in 2017. But none of the women tellingtheir stories at the Los Angeles trial have had anywhere near the prominenceof Siebel Newsom, first partner to the man who last week sailed to a secondterm as governor of the nation’s most populous state and may make a run forthe White House.
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“She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justicefor survivors, and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women,”her attorney Elizabeth Fegan said in a statement at the start of the trial.
Weinstein attorney Mark Werksman told jurors during opening statements thatSiebel Newsom “a very prominent citizen of California” who has made herself “aprominent victim in the #MeToo movement.”
“Otherwise,” Werksman said, “she’d be just another bimbo who slept with HarveyWeinstein to get ahead in Hollywood.”
Actor Daphne Zuniga, star of “Spaceballs” and “Melrose Place,” tested abouther friend at the trial last week.
Zuniga said she and Siebel Newsom were on a hike when she told her she’d had ameeting with Harvey Weinstein. When asked how it went, Zuniga said SiebelNewsom told her “not good, I don’t want to talk about.”
“I always had known her to be positive, upbeat, looks you in the eye, lovelyenergy,” Zuniga said, but here “she seemed upset, squirmy, agitated.”
Prosecutors said that — in a pattern described by many other Weinsteinaccusers — Siebel Newsom had expected they would be meeting in a public spacewith others in attendance, but instead found herself alone with him in hissuite.
Judge Lisa Lench is allowing the defense to use an email Siebel Newsom sent toWeinstein in 2007 asking him for help in dealing with the media surrounding ascandal involving her husband, who was mayor of San Francisco at the time.
Already serving a 23-year sentence for a conviction in New York, Weinstein haspleaded not guilty to four counts of rape and seven counts of sexual assaultinvolving five women. He has denied ever engaging in non-consensual sex.
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter:twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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