Dancer says fear of Harvey Weinstein dulls her response to sexual assault – NBC10 Philadelphia

Lawyer for Harvey Weinstein on Friday repeatedly challenged the woman about why she no longer objected or left the hotel room in Puerto Rico where she said he sexually assaulted her while filming a movie in 2003.

Attorney Mark Werksman asked the woman, known at Weinstein’s Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial only as Ashley M., whether she ever had second thoughts when she said to herself, “I’m just going to walk back out that door ? »

“I was worried,” she said. “I knew he was big, and I didn’t know what to do.”

The woman was a 22-year-old dancer on the set in Puerto Rico of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which was produced by Weinstein’s Miramax company.

On the first day of her testimony Thursday, Ashley M. said she went to the hotel with Weinstein because she was assured she was going to a meeting to discuss future opportunities, but she said when they were alone, Weinstein pushed her onto the bed , saddled her and masturbated.

Werksman asked her if she really wasn’t expecting something sexual after Weinstein, according to her earlier testimony, mentioned a “naked massage” from her during their first conversation on set.

She reiterated that the woman, who was Weinstein’s assistant at the time, assured her that she would stay with them and that he only wanted to discuss future projects.

“I just basically did what I thought the people running the meeting wanted me to do. I really had no interest in being an actress. “I spent my whole life dancing,” she said. – I was engaged and married. I wanted to finally start my life, maybe finally wanted to start a family at that time.”

She and Weinstein went into the room, but the aide did not follow them, instead closing the door behind them, she said.

Ashley M. said she wasn’t sure if they were going to a private room or if they were going to an office or another room in the hotel.

Werksman asked if she thought to herself, “I’m going into the hotel now, it’s not about work.” Did it occur to you at any point?”

She said she was honored because Weinstein was “the main one,” a feeling she got from others on set.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexually assaulting a former production assistant and raping an aspiring actress.

Werksman repeatedly asked her why she was no longer protesting.

“Did you express out loud the panic you were feeling?” Werksman asked.

She answered yes.

Earlier in her testimony, she said she knew she told him to stop but kept most of her objections quiet out of fear.

“I was too scared,” she said.

She said Weinstein told her, “It’s okay, it’s not like we’re having sex.”

Werksman asked her if she answered that.

“I was just trying to get away,” she said. “I was just hoping nothing worse would happen.”

Werksman asked how she was dressed. She said she doesn’t remember but doesn’t think she was wearing the orange dress that was her wardrobe for the shoot.

Ashley M. is not one of the five women Weinstein accuses of sexual assault. She is one of four others allowed to testify at trial about his propensity for such crimes.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and has denied engaging in non-consensual sex.

The 70-year-old former movie mogul is already serving a 23-year sentence in New York, which is under appeal.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they have come forward publicly.

Ashley M. told her story to the New York Times in October 2017, when newspaper reports about women who said Weinstein had sexually assaulted them put the movie executive at the center of the #MeToo movement.

Her testimony in court was the first time she had told her story in a courtroom.

She was followed on the stand by Ashley M.’s mother and ex-husband. Both testified that she told them about her assault, with very few details, in phone calls from Puerto Rico shortly after it happened.

Jurors on Friday also examined photographs of Weinstein’s body to see if they matched descriptions provided by witnesses.

Another six defendants have yet to appear before the court. The trial is expected to last another five weeks.

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Follow AP Entertainment writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: twitter.com/andyjamesdalton

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For more on the Harvey Weinstein trial, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-weinstein