‘Sopranos’ Actress Annabella Sciorra Details Rape Allegation at Harvey Weinstein Trial

The Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra gave a detailed account of her alleged rape by Harvey Weinstein during his sexual abuse trial on Thursday in Manhattan. On Friday, Birds of Prey actress Rosie Perez took the stand to back up Sciorra’s claims, giving details of how Sciorra told her she was raped in 1993. Weinstein pleaded not guilty to the charges in the trial.

Sciorra testified that she met Weinstein in the winter of 1993-1994 for dinner, reports the New York Daily News. After the dinner, Weinstein showed up at her apartment uninvited, she said. Weinstein allegedly forced his way inside, removing his shirt even as Sciorra tried to stop him. She said she realized Weinstein wanted to have sex with her, and she tried to fight him off but he “overpowered” her.

“He kept coming at me,” Sciorra said. “I felt overpowered because he was very big. He grabbed me… and he led me into the bedroom … and he shoved me on the bed. I can’t tell you exactly when his pants came off or exactly what happened. I was just trying to get away from him and he put my hands over my head to hold me back, and he got on top of me and he raped me.”

Sciorra, 59, said Weinstein ejaculated on her leg before telling her, “I have perfect timing.” He then performed oral sex on her, even as she begged him to stop.

“It was just so disgusting that my body started to shake,” Sciorra said. “That was very unusual. I didn’t really know what was happening. It was like a seizure.”

Weinstein left the apartment, and Sciorra woke up alone. She said she tried to imagine it never happened “because I wanted to get on with my life,” but Weinstein continued contacting her. He once sent her a box with chocolate penises. In another instance, he showed up at her Cannes Film Festival hotel room wearing only underwear and carrying baby oil.

Sciorra was on the witness stand for five hours and was the first of Weinstein’s accusers to take the stand. She never referred to Weinstein by name, only calling him “the defendant.”

On Friday, Perez and model Kara Young testified. Perez, 55, told the court Sciorra called her in 1993 to arrange plans to hang out. During the call, Scorra started crying.

“She said something bad happened and she said, ‘I think I was raped,’ and her voice started shaking,” Perez said, reports NBC News. “She started crying.”

Perez said she asked Sciorra if she knew who the attacker was, but Sciorra did not say. A few months later, Sciorra told Perez it was Weinstein, so Perez asked Sciorra to go to the police.

“I can’t,” Sciorra replied, Perez recalled. “He’d destroy me.”

One of Weinstein’s lawyers, Damon Cheronis, pressed Perez on why she did not ask Sciorra about the rape “every day” after the initial call.

“When you have a friend who tells you something like that, a very close friend, you don’t know what to do,” Perez replied, reports BuzzFeed. “I was in shock, I was in a panic, I kept calling her, over and over again, crying, praying that she would pick up the phone.”

Later Perez said she spoke with Sciorra a week after the first call and “thought I was being respectful by leaving her alone,” noting, “It was very traumatic for me, so I knew it was very, very traumatic for her.”

Young testified seeing cuts on Sciorra’s thigh, and said the actress admitted she was cutting herself. Another of Weinstein’s lawyers, Arthur Aidala, asked Young several rapid-fire questions about what she did after seeing the scars, ignoring objections from the prosecution. Judge James Burke interrupted Aidala’s questions and had a private meeting with the lawyers. Young was dismissed, and left the courtroom in years.

Weinstein’s charges relate to the allege rape of a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another woman in 2006. He is also facing sex crime charges in Los Angeles.

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