A former model tearfully testified Thursday that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her when she was 16, calling it the most "horrifying thing I ever experienced." Four years later, she said, Weinstein assaulted her again. Kaja Sokola detailed the allegations in front of a jury for the first time as she testified at Weinstein's #MeToo retrial, reports the AP. She is the second of three accusers to testify, and the only one who wasn't part of the onetime Hollywood honcho's first trial in 2020. Weinstein faces a criminal sex act charge based on the later allegation—forcibly performing oral sex on Sokola at a Manhattan hotel in 2006, just before her 20th birthday. The earlier alleged assault exceeded the statute of limitations. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty.
His lawyers have said that all Weinstein's accusers consented to sexual encounters in hopes of advancing their careers. The Polish-born Sokola began modeling at 14, but told jurors she was always more interested in acting, so she was hopeful when she was introduced to Weinstein in 2002 and he invited her to lunch to talk about acting. Instead, he steered her to his Manhattan apartment and told her to take her clothes off, saying that actors had to be comfortable disrobing, she testified. Sokola took off her blouse and followed him into a bathroom because, she said, "I was 16 years old, and I was alone with a man for the first time, and I didn't know what else to do."
Weinstein, 73, looked down as she spoke. Sokola, now 39, became emotional again as questioning turned to the 2006 allegation. "I never wanted anything else from Harvey Weinstein other than to honestly say if I have a chance to be an actress," said Sokola, who became a psychotherapist. In 2006, Weinstein arranged for her to be an extra for a day in The Nanny Diaries, and agreed to meet Sokola and her visiting sister. After the three chatted, Sokola said, Weinstein told her he had a script to show her in his hotel room. There, she said, "My soul was removed from me." She said nothing to her sister about being assaulted, both siblings testified. Sokola went to authorities a few days into Weinstein's first trial.
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