Gavin Newsom’s wife will testify against Harvey Weinstein at new sex abuse trial
Jennifer Siebel Newsom will provide testimony of assault at ‘purpoted business meeting’
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Award-winning documentary filmmaker and actor Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who is married to California governor Gavin Newsom, is set to testify against disgraced ex-film producer Harvey Weinstein along with other accusers.
The 48-year-old actor had earlier spoken about the sexual assault at the hands of Weinstein in a 2017 op-ed and will now testify about the incident that took place on the pretext of a “business meeting”, her attorney said.
“Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap,” Elizabeth Fegan, an attorney for Ms Siebel Newsom told Insider.
“She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors, and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women.”
The 70-year-old movie mogul has gone on a trial in Los Angeles, more than two years after he was convicted of first-degree sexual crimes and third-degree rape charges. He is serving a 23-year jail term at a New York prison.
In Los Angeles, the once-influential movie producer faces 11 further charges of abuse which occurred during a pivotal Oscar week in the city’s hotels between 2004 and 2013. The disgraced film producer had pleaded not guilty to all charges last year.
The selection for an eight-week trial began on Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Five women are set to testify in open court in a trial that will bring Weinstein face-to-face with his alleged victims, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The women will take the stand to reveal the producer’s alleged pattern of abuse.
“Some of these victims, people will recognise them. Some of these women, you’ve seen them in movies, they’ve been in ad campaigns, a couple of them have achieved some success as actresses or models,” Mark Werksman, one of Weinstein’s defence attorneys, told the outlet.
Ms Siebel Newsom, who has been married to the governor since 2008, had accused Weinstein of assault in October 2017, writing an op-ed in Huffington Post just a day after The New York Times published its bombshell report on the accusations against the producer.
He was accused by several women of sexual misconduct after which news reports helped further fuel the #MeToo movement to encourage women to speak out against abuses committed by powerful and influential men.
“I was naive, new to the industry, and didn’t know how to deal with his aggressive advances – work invitations with a friend late-night at The Toronto Film Festival, and later an invitation to meet with him about a role in The Peninsula Hotel, where staff were present and then all of a sudden disappeared like clockwork, leaving me alone with this extremely powerful and intimidating Hollywood legend,” she wrote at the time.
The women who accused him include Hollywood celebrities Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong’o, Ashley Judd, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The women who will testify against him will be referred to as Jane Does or with their first names and last initials during the trial, in which their faces will not be obscured.
Ms Newsom will be identified as “Jane Doe 4” in charging documents, people familiar told the LA Times. Jane Doe 4 accused Weinstein of rape in an incident that took place in 2004-05.
Weinstein faces an additional 135 years in prison if convicted, according to prosecutors.