A former model who accused Harvey Weinstein of rape revealed what the onetime producer said about Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz.Â
Kaja Sokola, aged 39, testified in New York City and tearfully recounted being raped and molested by the disgraced movie mogul who purported to assist her acting career.
When she tried to leave at one point, she said Weinstein became angry and told her he made Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz’s careers.
Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in the Weinstein-produced film Emma in 1996 and later starred in Shakespeare in Love, winning the Best Actress Oscar for her performance.
In 2017, Paltrow was among the first women to accuse the disgraced producer of sexual assault. She described how Weinstein placed his hands on her and proposed they exchange massages in his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel shortly after casting her in the lead role of Emma.
Cruz, meanwhile, starred in Vicky Christina Barcelona in 2008, for which she won the Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actress.
One year later, she went on to star in the romantic musical comedy Nine, also produced by Weinstein.
However, she never claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the movie mogul.Â
Kaja Sokola, now 39, testified in court on Thursday what Harvey Weinstein once said about actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz
He allegedly claimed he made Paltrow and Cruz’s careers
That was not the case for Sokola, who told a New York City jury that Weinstein held her down on a hotel bed and forced oral sex on her just days before her 20th birthday in 2006.
‘He forced himself on my vagina – he raped me,’ she declared to the court on Thursday, her voice rising with pent-up disgust and outrage.
Sokola, who weighed only 125lbs at the time, alleged Weinstein used his much greater mass to hold her down, and she couldn’t push him off.Â
She described how Weinstein’s left hand was on her stomach, and his right hand was on her left thigh as he allegedly forced the sex act on her.Â
‘He pinned me to the bed, I couldn’t move under him… his whole body was pining me to the bed… it was like a rock was on me, it was too heavy,’ she told the jury.
‘My legs were becoming numb, he was so heavy.
‘I felt like I was dead – I was completely numb… my hope had died.’
But Juda Englemayer, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, told DailyMail.com that the movements she described were implausible.
‘His hand’s over here, his other hand’s over there, his mouth is here – all while he’s holding her down – it doesn’t work,’ he said.
‘Imagine Harvey playing Twister, that’s what it’s like. If people get past their disgust of Harvey and think about it, it doesn’t make sense.’
Kaja Sokola, now 39, tearfully recounted how she was allegedly raped and molested by the disgraced movie mogul twice under the guise of helping her acting career
Disgraced movie mogul Weinstein is on trial in the New York Supreme Criminal Court accused of sexually abusing three aspiring actresses including Sokola
Cruz starred in Vicky Christina Barcelona in 2008, for which she won the Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actress, while Paltrow starred in the Weinstein-produced film Emma in 1996 and went on to star in Shakespeare in Love two years later, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress
Earlier in the day, Sokola broke down on the stand, sobbing uncontrollably, as she told the jury about another time Weinstein allegedly abused her when she was just 16.
She told the jury he groped her vagina under her underwear, and forced her to touch his penis in 2002 after luring her to an apartment.
The naive teen, who had barely even kissed a boy before, was forced to watch the alleged assault in a bathroom mirror, Weinstein’s ‘black and scary’ eyes staring back at her, she told the court.
Weinstein stared at Sokola as she gave her testimony for the first time, sometimes putting his hand over his mouth and constantly chewing cough drops.
At two other points during Thursday’s proceedings, Weinstein appeared to doze off with his head slumped to his right, and had to be prodded awake by his lawyers.
Sokola, meanwhile, stared straight at Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey as she testified, refusing to even look at Weinstein when she entered the courtroom.
Sokola wearing United Bamboo Spring 2005 during Olympus Fashion Week Spring 2005 in NYC
Sokola attends INSPIRED Exhibition Curated By Beth Rudin DeWoody at Steven Kasher Gallery on July 14, 2010 in NYC
Weinstein faces a New York Supreme Criminal Court jury in Manhattan for his retrial on rape and sexual assault charges.
The ailing 73-year-old was convicted of sexually assaulting aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and raping production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006.
But last year, the New York Court of Appeals astonishingly ruled that Weinstein did not receive a fair trial – and tossed out his 23-year sentence.
Weinstein is still behind bars at Rikers Island prison in NYC serving 16 years for unrelated sex crimes, but is being held at Bellevue Hospital during the new trial due to his declining health.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is once again accusing Weinstein of these crimes – as well as an additional charge of sexual assault against Sokola.
Weinstein is only criminally charged with forcing oral sex on Sokola in 2006, but she sued him in 2019 over the 2002 incident in a case that was settled.
He maintains his innocence and his lawyers told the court the women consented to sex acts with Weinstein as a ‘quid pro quo’ to further their careers.
Sokola alleged in her testimony that Weinstein held her down on a hotel bed and forced oral sex on her days before her 20th birthday in 2006 (pictured on the catwalk in Bryant Park in 2006)
Sokola (pictured in 2022) earlier broke down on the stand, sobbing uncontrollably, as she told the jury about another time Weinstein allegedly abused her when she was just 16
On Thursday, jurors also heard from Sokola’s sister, Ewa, who testified about meeting Weinstein at a restaurant with her sister in 2006.
She told the jury that they had a friendly chat with the movie mogul before he and Kaja left to, Weinstein claimed, read some scripts.
When Kaja returned alone, she was very quiet and said nothing at the table until her sister asked if anything was wrong, but she brushed her off.
Ewa said her sister was ‘extremely tense’ and likened her mood to waiting for the results of a university exam, where you are dreading a bad result.
Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and raping production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006, but his conviction was thrown out last year
Weinstein is still behind bars at Rikers Island prison in NYC serving 16 years for unrelated sex crimes, but is being held at Bellevue Hospital during the new trial due to his declining health
ADA Lucey last month told jurors in her opening statement that the once-renowned movie and television producer preyed on the teen’s desire to be in the movies.
‘This changed Kaja in ways she’s still dealing with today,’ she said.Â
The allegations were previously detailed in a civil suit settled with Disney, Bob Weinstein and Miramax for $3 million, but Kaja Sokola was not identified in the lawsuit.
In the weeks after, Kaja Sokola was photographed with Weinstein and a third person at an event, and his company wrote her a recommendation to the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
The court earlier heard from an official at the school that it had no record of Sokola attending.
Lucey told jurors that power imbalances often ’cause victims to behave in ways that laypersons possibly might not expect.’
Sokola kept quiet about Weinstein allegedly abusing her until after other allegations emerged against Weinstein in 2017, and sued him over the 2002 incident in 2019.
Sokola (pictured on Thursday) stared straight at Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey as she testified, refusing to even look at Weinstein when she entered the courtroom
The court also heard from Sokola’s sister Ewa Sokola (center), who testified about meeting Weinstein at a restaurant with her sister in 2006
Sokola with her lawyers outside the courtroom on Thursday
At issue in the retrial is previous sexual assault charges against aspiring actress Jessica Mann (left) and production assistant Mimi Haleyi that were dropped last year. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has revived those charges
Weinstein’s defense attorney Arthur Aidala in her opening statement countered by portraying Weinstein’s accusers as willing partners in a showbiz quid pro quo.
‘The casting couch is not a crime scene,’ Aidala told the majority-female jury. He then compared prosecutors´ allegations to the preview of a movie that ‘falls flat on its face.’
He conceded that Weinstein did ‘fool around’ with the alleged victims, but argued they did so ‘consensually’ in an effort to ‘cut the line’.
The attorney argued that each of the three alleged victims were ‘flirtatious’ in their interactions with Weinstein because he ‘could change the trajectory of their lives and make dreams come true.’Â
Addressing Sokola’s allegations directly, Aidala claimed they were ‘based on a lie’ as he argued that the young model has a ‘lot of problems’ including an alleged eating disorder and alcohol addiction.
The attorney then went on to praise the disgraced movie mogul, speaking to his notoriety in Hollywood and describing him as ‘generous’ and ‘the greatest movie executive, at the very least of his generation.’
Aidala then asked the jury to look at the full picture, calling the alleged incidents ‘minutes’ of the former producer’s larger story.
Weinstein pleaded not guilty to the two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and one count of third-degree rape.Â
The new trial, presided over by state Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber, is expected to last roughly six weeks.
If he were to be convicted, Weinstein could see decades tacked onto his already lengthy prison sentence.
He is serving 16 years for a separate conviction in Los Angeles in 2022 – though his attorneys are also appealing that conviction.Â
