Former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam Haley was back on the witness stand Wednesday testifying in graphic detail how disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her 19 years ago at his Manhattan apartment and, later, for a second time, at a New York City hotel.
Sobbing on the stand, Haley told the court that during the first alleged assault in June 2006 she repeatedly told Weinstein “no” and that she was menstruating, but that did not deter the Hollywood producer who “just continued pushing, continued insisting, pushed me onto bed holding me down.”
“He put his mouth on my vagina, before and after he pulled out the tampon, he put his mouth on my vagina forcefully,” Haley testified. “I was mortified, I was embarrassed, in disbelief.”
Haley said the next month Weinstein, who had arranged for her to get the TV production assistant job, lured her to his room at the Tribeca Grand Hotel where he immediately “pulled me towards the bed.”
“I was just like, ‘Oh no, no again,’ and he basically proceeded to undress me,” she said. “I felt so stupid. I kind of just went numb and he proceeded to have intercourse with me and I just lay there like a dead fish.”
Haley’s account was a reprise of the testimony she provided five years earlier at Weinstein’s first trial, which resulted in a landmark 2020 conviction that was overturned last year.
Then and now, Haley insisted that Weinstein would not take no for an answer and that he violated her in June 2006 in a bedroom with what appeared to be kid’s drawings on the walls.
“I could not get off or get away from his grip, and I realized that I’m getting raped,” she told the court.
Haley said she wondered whether “screaming rape, will anyone hear me.”
“My brain was calculating what was the best course of action at that moment,” she said. “The risk of him turning to violence, and I decided in that moment that the smartest thing to do is just to check out and endure it and leave.”
Haley, 48, took the stand for the second time to recount the alleged assaults after the state Court of Appeals in April 2024 overturned Weinstein’s conviction after concluding that the judge at his first trial tipped the scales against him by allowing women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Weinstein is charged with one count of engaging in a criminal sex act in connection with Haley’s allegations that he forcibly performed oral sex on her in June 2006. He is also charged with one count of third-degree rape for allegedly assaulting actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
Mann also testified at Weinstein’s first trial and is expected to take the stand again at his retrial.
New to the retrial is an additional charge of engaging in a first-degree criminal sexual act for the alleged assault of a Polish former model named Kaja Sokola.
Sokola, who was not part of the 2020 trial, claimed in a lawsuit that she was 16 when Weinstein in 2006 performed oral sex on her without her consent at a Manhattan hotel. She, too, is expected to testify at Weinstein’s retrial.
Weinstein, 73, has denied assaulting the three women.
Prosecutors contend Weinstein used his Hollywood clout to prey on young women like Haley who were searching for jobs in the TV and film industry — and to silence them after the alleged assaults.
“He knew how addictive Hollywood dreams were,” Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey said during opening arguments. “He knew how the promises of success worked.”
Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg, Haley said she was too embarrassed and afraid of what Weinstein would do to her to go report the alleged assaults to the police.
“I had no idea there were other people in the same situation,” Haley said. “I thought it was just me.”
Weinstein’s lead lawyer, Arthur Aidala, then objected and moved for a mistrial saying “she just told the jury there were others.”
Manhattan Judge Curtis Farber denied Aidala’s request for a mistrial.
Aidala has characterized Weinstein’s sexual encounters with the accusers as “transactional” and “consensual.”
On Tuesday, Haley said she met Weinstein in 2004 at the after-party for the movie premiere of “The Aviator.” She said she reconnected with Weinstein several years later at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Haley said she was looking for an opportunity as a production assistant in New York and agreed to meet him at his hotel.
But when she got there, Haley said Weinstein began pressuring her to give him a massage.
Haley said she felt “humiliated” and rebuffed Weinstein’s advances.
Haley said Weinstein did arrange for her to work on “Project Runway,” even though he knew she lacked a U.S. work visa. She was raised in Finland and Sweden.
