California First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who is also a filmmaker, testified Harvey Weinstein raped her after she met him in his suite at the swanky Peninsula Hotel to talk about a film project in 2005. Weinstein has denied her allegations.
Explosive testimony as the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom takes on her accused rapist: Harvey Weinstein.
California First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who is also a filmmaker, testified she agreed to meet Weinstein in his suite at the swanky Peninsula Hotel to talk about a film project in 2005.
Fighting back tears, she testified that Weinstein told his assistant to leave the hotel suite. When Weinstein returned, she says, he was wearing just a robe. She claims he then carried or pushed her onto the bed and raped her.
“I’m trembling. I’m like a rock, I’m frigid. This is my worst nightmare. I’m just this blow-up doll!” she testified. “I was so violated, and I don’t know how that happened. I didn’t see the clues and I didn’t know how to escape.”
But under intense cross-examination, Weinstein's defense lawyer fired back, questioning why she corresponded with Weinstein after the alleged rape and asked about an email she sent to Weinstein two years after the alleged rape asking for Weinstein's advice when Gavin Newsom was mayor of San Francisco.
Siebel Newsom began dating Gavin Newsom in 2006. They married in 2008 and now have four kids.
The defense painted her as a witness who has changed her story over time. When the defense went into graphic detail about the alleged encountered, she cried, calling the line of questioning so gross.
Weinstein's attorney has tried to rip into Siebel Newsom’s credibility, saying sex with Weinstein was consensual.
“She’s made herself a prominent victim in the #MeToo movement … otherwise she’d be just another bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead in Hollywood,” attorney Mark Werksman said.
The trial in California comes after Weinstein was found guilty in 2020 in New York of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape after The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017 reported on his alleged history of sexual abuse, harassment and settlements made in secret. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York. He has maintained his innocence. New York’s highest court in August agreed to hear his appeal in the case.
