Weinstein’s Star Accuser Leaves His Rape Trial in Tears After Defense Hammers Her With Evidence of Their Years-Long, On and Off Romance

The woman accusing the disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, in his third trial on the same charge, finished five days of testimony on Friday. She left the courtroom in tears. “I feel like you guys are mudding the waters a little bit – everybody here,” the former aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, told an assistant district attorney, Nicole Blumberg during her re-direct examination on Friday afternoon. The 40-year-old witness appeared tired and exhausted. For five long days, prosecutors and defense attorneys had questioned her about her on-and-off again intimate relationship to Weinstein, 74, and about excruciatingly private details of their sexual encounters. Some of these encounters, Ms. Mann admitted, had been consensual, but not the one at the DoubleTree hotel in New York in 2013, when he raped her.The alleged rape has now been a focus of three trials. The first time Ms. Mann brought her rape charge against Weinstein was in 2020. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office had charged her rape as a first-degree and also a third-degree count. The jury found the producer guilty only of the third-degree charge. Former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court for the re-trail of his rape case on May 1, 2026 in New York City. Kena Betancur-Pool/Getty ImagesThen in 2024, New York’s Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, and another conviction involving a different woman, citing procedural mistakes by the trial judge. Weinstein remained incarcerated because he had also been found guilty in California for other sexual offenses and sentenced there to 16 years behind bars. When Manhattan prosecutors brought the case again in 2025, Weinstein’s health had deteriorated significantly. He had been hospitalized for double pneumonia and had undergone an emergency heart surgery. He suffered from diabetes, bone marrow cancer, and a tongue infection. The presiding judge granted him permission to stay at Bellevue Hospital for the duration of the trial, rather than at New York’s notorious Rikers Island, where Weinstein is currently incarcerated.Ms. Mann also testified in 2025 but could not convince the jury. The twelve Manhattanites could not agree on a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial. Weinstein, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges both in New York and in California, refused to take a guilty plea. The prosecutors and Ms. Mann decided to take a third shot at their case and returned to court on April 14. The key witness was called to the stand on Monday, and for five days attorneys from both sides dug through her personal life, her upbringing, her relationship with her parents, as well as relationships with other men, citing emails and other forms of communication. Harvey Weinstein in court on May 1, 2026. Kena Betancur-Pool/Getty ImagesMs. Mann and Weinstein met in Los Angeles at a party in 2013. He was 60 years old then, shared five children with two wives, was still married to his second wife, and had succeeded as an Oscar-winning film producer. Ms. Mann, then 27, dreamed of becoming an actress and worked as a hairdresser. Weinstein pursued her and their relationship, which according to her own testimony, was at times sexual and other times platonic, lasted until about 2017. In October 2017, investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker brought to light decades of sexual harassment and assault allegations against Weinstein. Drawing on accounts from numerous actresses and employees, the reports helped galvanize the global #MeToo movement, ultimately leading to Weinstein’s ouster from his company, widespread public condemnation, and criminal trials. On Friday, defense attorney Teny Geragos entered into a evidence a conversation Ms. Mann had via Skype with a friend about her relationship problems in July 2014, which she had recorded on her phone.At that time, one year after the alleged rape, Ms. Mann was involved with another man but still kept in touch with Weinstein. “So last night Harvey emailed me,” Ms. Mann could be heard telling her friend, saying she hadn’t yet responded, but that Weinstein had informed her he would be coming to Los Angeles the following week and wanted to see her. Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court on Friday, May 1, 2026, in New York. Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, PoolMs. Mann could then be heard saying that she finally “felt comfortable” telling her boyfriend about the “history (that) went down” between her and Weinstein, whom she referred to as her “powerful friend.” She did not elaborate on what exactly that “history” entailed; instead she went on to describe Weinstein as someone who could help her sell her screenplays. “If I write a screenplay,” Ms. Mann said during the skype call, “I can go to the top and he (Weinstein) can not necessarily guarantee that my film will get made but facilitate the process so much more easily for me. He is one of those people.” Ms. Mann went on to say that, “If I wanna take myself seriously, that’s taking care of me.” But she was concerned and “sensitive,” she said on the call, about her boyfriend’s “feelings of the situation.” The call illustrated that Ms. Mann was well aware of Weinstein’s influence in Hollywood, that the two shared a “history,” but it did not answer the bruning question of whether or not he actually raped her at the DoubleTree hotel. The defense also showed the jury a photograph Ms. Mann had sent to Weinstein of herself visiting Berlin, Germany. Jessica Mann arrives for Harvey Weinstein’s trial in criminal court, in New York, Monday, April 27, 2026. AP Photo/Richard Drew“I wanted to know what were his thoughts on the Berlin Film Festival,” Ms. Mann explained, saying she had thought about “going over there” and Weinstein would know “how to navigate” the festival scene and could perhaps help her. The jury heard an email Ms. Mann sent to Weinstein in July 2014, when her mother was visiting her in Los Angeles. “It would be great to see you,” she wrote to the producer, and he replied she and her mother could either stop by his office or meet him at Soho House, a branch of the members-only club. Ms. Mann replied that her mother “would love to meet” him, and if he did, he would see “how good my genes are.” The defense established successfully that Ms. Mann and Weinstein had a casual, friendly and at times even loving relationship. But it still did not address the actual scene at the DoubleTree Hotel in New York. On Thursday, the attorney even showed the jury a love note that Ms. Mann had written to herself two days after the alleged rape occured, in which she admitted that she had become “emotionally attached to someone,” asking herself, “Do I love him or the idea of him?”Nicole Blumberg, left, assistant Manhattan district attorney, arrives at Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault re-trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13, 2025 in New York City. Bing Guan-Pool/Getty ImagesBy Friday afternoon, Ms. Mann was visibly drained. When the prosecutor questioned her for a second time around 4 pm in the afternoon, she started sobbing. The prosecutor wanted to clarify and repair some of the damage the defense had done to her case. She asked the witness, why she didn’t write about the rape. If she wrote about love, she could have also written about the rape. “Did you write anywhere about the abuse?” Ms. Blumberg asked. “I don’t have to write that down,” Ms. Mann answered. “I didn’t write it. I am sorry.” She said before she broke down crying. Ms. Blumberg also asked why she hadn’t told anyone about the rape. “I didn’t want anyone to know because I just felt rapable,” Ms. Mann said. “Those were some of the thoughts I was having. There was a lot going on. I am sorry… I don’t know how to answer right now.” The judge attempted to help the prosecutor, who was constantly being interrupted by objections from the defense, to phrase her questions in such a way that they were not leading the witness to an answer. But even the judge couldn’t stop Ms. Mann from crying. “I feel like I have said everything that I have been asked for,” she finally replied. And when the prosecutor excused her, she stormed out of the courtroom weeping. The trial will continue on Tuesday.

Weinstein’s Star Accuser Leaves His Rape Trial in Tears After Defense Hammers Her With Evidence of Their Years-Long, On and Off Romance

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