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The California governor’s wife burst into tears in court on Tuesday on her second day of testifying against Harvey Weinstein, describing how she faked an orgasm as an attempt to stop being raped.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, 48, is the fourth woman to testify in Los Angeles against the Hollywood producer – who is already serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for rape and assault.
Emotional and angry on the stand, she defended staying in touch with Weinstein after the alleged attack, pointing to his immense power in her industry and her ambition to succeed.
“He ruined my life, I put it in a box and I wouldn’t continue my entertainment career because of what happened,” she said.
Siebel Newsom stepped off the stands Tuesday afternoon after two grueling days and was still crying as she left the courtroom.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, is photographed in court Tuesday as she testifies against Harvey Weinstein
Siebel Newsom, 48, claims Weinstein assaulted her in a Beverly Hills hotel in 2005
Siebel Newsom met her now-husband Gavin in 2006 – the year after the alleged assault
Weinstein is pictured at the 2014 Oscars. He is serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York, but will be tried in Los Angeles on rape charges
Now a mother of four and the First Lady of California, she was an aspiring actress aged 30 in 2005 when she met Weinstein.
She unexpectedly found herself alone with Weinstein in a suite at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, where she had agreed to go with him to a meeting. She said she assumed others would be there and they would talk about her career.
He came out of the bathroom in a robe with nothing underneath and began groping her as he masturbated.
Siebel Newsom, who went on a blind date with her now-husband in 2006, said she faked an orgasm to end her ordeal.
“It was to expedite his experience so I could get out of there,” she told the court.
She rejected the summary by Mark Werksman, Weinstein’s attorney, who said, “The purpose of your orgasm was to get him to stop having sex with you.”
She replied, “He didn’t have sex with me.
“I made some noises to make him stop, he had already raped me.
“It was at the very end after I was already attacked. And I left immediately.’
Siebel Newsom is pictured in 2018 with her husband, Gavin Newsom
Siebel Newsom said she had no recollection of telling police and the district attorney that she touched his penis, as part of her effort to end the ordeal.
Werksman began reading from a transcript of the interview, in which Siebel Newsom said Weinstein “asked you to jerk him off.”
Siebel Newsom, now a successful documentary maker, was put under pressure by Werksman about e-mails she had sent him after the attack.
Werksman noted that in March 2007, “you emailed him 18 times and saw him at least two or three times.”
Siebel Newsom insisted it was because she refused to be defined by the alleged attack and wanted to continue her career.
Later, during cross-examination, Siebel Newsom told Marlene Martinez, Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, that she was trying to regain control of her life.
“I tried not to feel like a victim, and to be able to live my life and take back control from someone who had hurt and violated me,” she said.
The mother of four children is seen as a witness against Weinstein on Monday
Martinez asked, “When you went to the Peninsula, did you intend to have sexual intercourse with Harvey Weinstein?”
Siebel Newsom replied, sobbing profusely, “No!”
Martinez asked if she told Weinstein no.
‘I did! I did it with my voice and with my body.
“I tried to be nice – I did it by slapping my legs together.
“I tried to get out of there, I tried, I tried so hard.”
The questioning of a distraught Siebel Newsom ended and she quickly walked out of the courtroom.
Her husband was waiting elsewhere in the courthouse, The New York Times reported; an aide said he would not comment on his wife’s testimony.