Harvey Weinstein Accuser Testifies for Third Time About 2013 Hotel Room Assault

Emotional Testimony in Retrial

Jessica Mann broke down sobbing as she told jurors for the third time that Harvey Weinstein trapped her in a Manhattan hotel room and sexually assaulted her in 2013, saying "I said 'no' over and over, and I tried to leave" and "he just treated me like he owned me." The 40-year-old hairstylist and actor is testifying six years after she first gave jurors her account of a consensual, if complicated, relationship that veered into rape.

Weinstein — the Oscar-winning movie producer who became a symbol of the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct — looked on steadily, sometimes sipping water, as Mann detailed what she says he did to her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013. Jurors watched intently, several with pens poised to take notes, as Mann went through a second day of testimony that sometimes brought her to tears, as it did at the two prior trials. After she declined a couple of times to take a break, the court called one when she got flustered during questions about interactions with Weinstein after the alleged rape.

A Relationship That Turned Violent

Mann met Weinstein at a Los Angeles-area party around early 2013. She had done some acting work but was hoping for a big break. Their subsequent get-togethers bounced between professional advice, invites to glitzy industry events and advances that Mann said made her uncomfortable but that she didn't refuse, though she had an emotional "meltdown" during an episode involving Weinstein and another woman.

Mann said she accompanied Weinstein to the room to sort things out privately. But he barked at her to undress, she recalled. She said she begged, "Please don't. I don't want to," and tried twice to open the door, but the taller, heavier Weinstein slammed it shut, grabbed her wrists and held them crossed in front of her face. "That was really scary, so I remember just like kind of like — just shutting down and giving up, because I had been fighting and arguing. So I obeyed," by undressing and lying on the bed, she testified. After a trip to the bathroom, where Mann said she later found a used syringe for an erectile-dysfunction drug, Weinstein returned and raped her, she said.

Complex Aftermath

Afterward, she said, she went downstairs with him to breakfast with her friends, feeling shocked but not outwardly showing it. Mann told no one, at the time, about the alleged rape. She accepted Weinstein's invitation to extend her trip, attend a movie screening and have tea with him and his daughter. "I just wanted everyone to act like everything was normal," she said.

She continued consensual sexual encounters and friendly email exchanges with Weinstein. He helped the financially struggling Mann get hired at a hair salon, though she declined an envelope from him that she believed contained $1,000 in cash: "It felt wrong," she told jurors. But in person, Weinstein became enraged on learning her then-boyfriend was an actor, according to Mann. "You owe me one more time!" Weinstein shouted before raping her again in a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, she told jurors, as she has before.

Legal Stakes and Future Impact

Weinstein, now a 73-year-old prison inmate, denies sexually assaulting anyone and is appealing sex crime convictions stemming from other women's accusations on two U.S. coasts. His attorneys haven't yet had their chance to question Mann at this retrial but have argued that everything that happened between the two was consensual.

This retrial represents a critical moment for both the #MeToo movement and the broader legal system's approach to sexual assault cases. The case tests whether prosecutors can secure convictions when victim testimony includes complex post-assault behavior that defense attorneys often use to challenge credibility. Mann's willingness to testify repeatedly demonstrates the ongoing challenges survivors face in seeking justice, while the legal system grapples with evolving understanding of trauma responses and consent.