WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A former model tearfully testified Thursday that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her when she was 16 years old, calling it the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that point.
Kaja Sokola, an aspiring actor at the time, told jurors at Weinstein’s retrial that the onetime movie honcho put his hand inside her underwear and made her touch his genitals at a Manhattan apartment in 2002.
Sokola said she saw Weinstein’s eyes — “black and scary” — staring at her in a bathroom mirror as it happened.
Afterward, she said, he told her to keep quiet about what had happened, touting that he’d made the careers of A-listers like Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz and that he could help her Hollywood dreams come true.
“I’d never been in a situation like this,” Sokola testified, as riveted jurors scribbled notes. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”
Weinstein is not charged with any crime in connection with the alleged assault, which Sokola first detailed in a lawsuit a few years ago. The timing put it outside the statute of limitations for criminal charges.
Sokola is testifying because Weinstein is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel four years later, around the time of her 20th birthday. Prosecutors say it happened after Weinstein arranged for Sokola to be an extra in the film “The Nanny Diaries.”
Sokola reported the allegation to authorities a few days into Weinstein’s first trial in 2020, but was not a part of that case. Prosecutors added her to the retrial, joining two women who testified in the first case, after his conviction was overturned last year.
Weinstein, now 73, looked down and away from Sokola as she recounted the earlier allegation, pressing his left thumb and index finger against his face like a shield.
Sokola testified that she first met the then-studio boss at a Manhattan restaurant in 2002, three or four days before the alleged assault. During the short chat, she said, Weinstein asked her if she wanted to be an actress.
A few days later, she said, he invited her to lunch — ostensibly to talk about acting — but instead took her to an apartment, where led her into a bedroom and then a bathroom, instructed her to take her top off and assaulted her.
“He told me to take my clothes off and I didn’t want to do that. I was panicking,” Sokola testified. “And then he said that if I want to be an actress, that’s what actors do in films, so I should get used to it. If a director says you have to take your clothes off, you have to take your clothes off. I was scared. I was scared of him.”
Sokola avoided looking at Weinstein as she walked to the witness stand — testifying for a second day after detailing on Wednesday her upbringing in Poland, how she got into modeling and her professional career as a psychotherapist and author who recently launched a film production company. She peered briefly at Weinstein when asked Thursday to point him out in court.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting anyone.
His lawyers contend that his accusers consented to sexual encounters with him in hopes of getting movie and TV opportunities, and the defense has emphasized that the women stayed in contact with him for a while after the alleged assaults. The women, meanwhile, say the then-producer used the prospect of show business work to prey on them.
Sokola not part of 2020 trial
Sokola sued Weinstein after industry whispers about his behavior toward women became a chorus of public accusations in 2017, fueling the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. Prosecutors have said Sokola eventually received $3.5 million US in compensation.
Prosecutors have said they began investigating Sokola’s claims in 2020 but set the inquiry aside after Weinstein was convicted. They revived the investigation after New York’s highest court reversed his conviction.
Weinstein’s lawyers fought unsuccessfully to keep Sokola out of the retrial, accusing prosecutors of “smuggling an additional charge into the case” to try to bolster other accusers’ credibility.
One of the others, Miriam Haley, testified last week that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. The third accuser in the case, Jessica Mann, is expected to testify later.
The Associated Press generally does not name sexual assault accusers without their permission, which Haley, Mann and Sokola have given.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.
