‘Sopranos’ actress testified that Harvey Weinstein raped her. An expert may now shed light on why Annabella Sciorra stayed quiet for years – CNN
“The Sopranos” actress testified Weinstein entered her Manhattan home in the winter of 1993-1994, chased her around and pinned her to the bed before sexually assaulting her.
“I felt overpowered because he was very big,” Sciorra told jurors Thursday.
Sciorra is one of six women expected to testify that they were attacked by Weinstein as state prosecutors, who opened their case this week, aim to establish a pattern of sex crimes against multiple victims to support two predatory sexual assault charges.
Due on the stand Friday is Dr. Barbara Ziv, a forensic psychiatrist who testified for the prosecution in the trial of Bill Cosby. Prosecutors in Weinstein’s case plan to have Ziv testify about why victims may delay disclosing a sexual assault, factors that determine whether and how a victim may interact with their attacker after an assault, and why a victim may lack signs of an outward trauma after an assault.
Prosecutors allege the movie tycoon raped and sexually assaulted young women and actresses over decades. Sciorra first publicly spoke about the attack in an October 2017 New Yorker story as part of a wave of accusations against him.
Weinstein’s attorney during opening statements this week aimed to discredit the state’s “prior bad acts” witnesses, attacking their credibility and picking apart their time lines. Ziv, meantime, will offer only speculation based on her expertise with sexual assault victims — not the witnesses in this case — defense attorney Damon Cheronis said Wednesday.
Weinstein also faces three other charges related to his alleged rape of Jessica Mann and for allegedly forcing oral sex on Mimi Haleyi. Sciorra’s claims fall outside the statute of limitations for other crimes.
Sciorra says she confronted him after the assault
Sciorra is best known for her Emmy-nominated role on “The Sopranos” as Gloria Trillo, Tony Soprano’s mistress.
She met Weinstein at an industry event in the early 1990s and became part of Miramax’s circle, attending events and dinners around New York City, Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast said in the trial’s opening statements.
In the winter of 1993-1994, after a dinner at an Irish restaurant in Manhattan, Weinstein offered Sciorra a ride to her apartment, she testified. She went in, put on a nightgown and was getting ready for bed when he knocked on the door. When she opened it, he pushed his way inside, Sciorra said.
Weinstein unbuttoned his shirt, she testified, grabbed her arm and dragged her into a bedroom.
Sciorra kicked, punched and fought him until he held her arms above her head on the bed and raped her, she testified. Weinstein pulled out of her to ejaculate on her duvet and her nightgown, she said. He then performed oral sex on her.
Sciorra did not put up much of a fight, she testified, because her body began shaking. She did not tell police about the incident, and she does not remember telling anybody about it for years, she said.
“I thought he was an OK guy. I felt confused,” Sciorra testified. “I felt … like I wished I had never opened the door.”
He showed up at her hotel room, Sciorra said
The attack left Sciorra shocked and traumatized, Hast told jurors Wednesday. She grew thin and sad, and began drinking and cutting herself, the prosecutor said.
Sciorra confronted Weinstein about the incident weeks later at a dinner in New York, the actress testified Thursday. His response was “very menacing,” she said.
“That’s what all the nice Catholic girls say,” he said, according to her testimony. He leaned into her and said, “This remains between you and I,” she said
Less than a year after the alleged rape, Weinstein sought Sciorra out in London, where she was filming a movie. He showed up at her hotel room and became angry when she refused to open the door, Hast said.
At a different event at the Cannes Film Festival in France, Sciorra learned she was in a hotel room next door to Weinstein, the actress testified. One morning, she opened the door and found him standing there in his underwear, with a bottle of baby oil in one hand and a movie tape in the other, she said.
She ran to the back of her room and began hitting the call buttons on the hotel phone, she testified. Hotel employees eventually came and Weinstein left, she said.
Defense attorney Donna Rotunno pressed Sciorra on her lack of memory on specific details and dates.
In opening statements, the defense team told jurors Sciorra’s friend will testify that she described having consensual sex with Weinstein.
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