Harvey Weinstein allegedly name-dropped Oscar winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Penélope Cruz during an alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old aspiring actress, according to testimony from the accuser.
Poland native Kaja Sokola claimed she screamed after the alleged attack during her testimony in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday, per The Post.
“I raised my voice to scream,” she claimed. “He got upset and he said that I have to work on my stubbornness.”
Sokola, now 39, further testified that Weinstein then dropped Paltrow and Cruz’s names as examples of the A-list stars whose careers he’d launched, allegedly telling her, “I have to listen to him if I want to proceed with that career.”
“I’d never been in a situation like this,” Sokola said of the alleged encounter, per NBC News. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”
She also claimed the disgraced Weinstein Company founder warned her that “this has to stay between us.”
Per The Post, Sokola became emotional while testifying about the alleged assault, which she claimed took place when Weinstein and his driver picked her up for what she believed was a business lunch.
He instead allegedly transported her to his loft in Soho in New York City and instructed her to remove her clothing.
Weinstein allegedly touched her vagina and made her touch his penis in the bathroom, Sokola testified, calling the alleged incident “the most horrifying thing I’ve ever experienced until that time.”
He allegedly used Sokola’s hand to stimulate him after which he “ejaculated on the floor,” she testified.
Weinstein, 73, sat in his wheelchair during her tear-filled testimony without showing emotion, according to The Post.
During the alleged assault, she recalled looking into the mirror to see Weinstein’s eyes and described them as “black and scary.”
“I will never forget this,” she added.
Sokola testified she was frightened of the Miramax founder and continued to hold out hope that he’d help her with her career as an actress, so she met with him again in 2004.
She testified that Weinstein groped her breasts as they rode in a car together to a gym in the West Village of New York, with a driver present.
During the 15-minute drive, Sokola claimed she rejected the powerful producer’s sexual advances.
Sokola is also expected to testify about an alleged 2006 incident during which Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her.
She claimed she was 19 at the time. Weinstein pleaded not guilty and has denied Sokola’s accusations.
“Mr. Weinstein categorically, and emphatically, has denied, and continues to deny, the allegations made against him by Ms. Sokola,” Weinstein attorney Imran H. Ansari told the Hollywood Reporter in part in 2023.
“Importantly, Mr. Weinstein strongly contends that the timeline of events, corroborated by other evidence, will refute Ms. Sokola’s allegations of sexual abuse as a minor.”
Weinstein was convicted in 2020, but the felony sex crime conviction was overturned by the New York State Court of Appeals in April 2024.
Sokola did not testify in the previous trial. This is her first time publicly testifying about the alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein.
Read the full article here
