A woman testifies that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room during the Toronto Film Festival in 1991, then did it again when she went to confront him in the same hotel at the same festival 17 years late.
Kelly Sipherd told a Los Angeles jury on Monday that she was an aspiring 24-year-old actress at the 1991 festival and didn’t know who Weinstein was until she met him at a party.
He said his friends were buzzing over the man whose Miramax company had become at the forefront of independent film and made his mark at the Oscars.
He said they both left the party for a glass of wine at a nearby bar and then went with him to his room at the Four Seasons hotel because he said he had a script for a movie with a role that would be perfect for him. .
Once there, he went to the bathroom and came out wearing only an open shirt and a warm towel in his hand, Sipherd testified.
He said he took off his skirt, put the towel on her and said “my wife loves it.”
She testified that she felt “nauseated, scared, terrified” and repeatedly told him to stop and asked, “What are you doing?” “
He said he held her down and sexually assaulted her with his mouth and hand. He then he got on top of her and started raping her, but she managed to slip away and get out of her room.
Sipherd testified that Weinstein called her several times at her home in the following weeks and that she often hung up, but eventually spoke to him.
Sipherd eventually accepted an offer from him to come to New York and talk to a woman casting for him, but hired a friend with the intention of constantly keeping her by his side.
In New York, she said Weinstein called her to her hotel room from the lobby and told her to get rid of her friend and he was on his way. She refused and left New York without ever seeing him or the casting agent.
Already serving a 23-year sentence in New York, Weinstein, 70, pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving five women in Los Angeles and denied having had non-consensual sex.
He is not accused of the alleged assaults described in Monday’s testimony. Sipherd, along with three others, can testify so that prosecutors can try to show Weinstein’s penchant for the crimes he’s accused of.
Sipherd testified that she didn’t see Weinstein again until 2008, when she was 41 and temporarily living at the Four Seasons with her husband and children. She met Weinstein in the lobby during the festival that year.
“My blood has somehow stopped,” he said. “I was very angry.”
When Weinstein’s aide came to her room to say he wanted to meet her, she accepted.
“I wanted to face it,” he said.
“I felt like I was ready to give it to him.”
Once in her room, she remembered asking, “How does it feel to be faced with the only woman who said no to you?”
Weinstein then dismissed his assistant from the room and quickly guided her to a door. She told her before realizing she was in a locked bathroom with Weinstein, where she was blocking her way out.
She said Weinstein grabbed her breasts and masturbated in front of her before letting her leave the room.
Sipherd said she hasn’t told anyone about the second assault for years out of “sheer embarrassment” that it happened again.
His testimony appears to be the first time he has told his story in public.