Rosie Perez testified in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual-assault trial Friday afternoon, telling jurors how a distraught Annabella Sciorra told her, “I tried to fight back, I tried, I tried,†after disclosing that the producer had raped her.
Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi asked Perez how she knew Sciorra.
“I know Annabella Sciorra from the acting world,†Perez said, later explaining, “We are very, very good friends.â€
“Do you know a man named Harvey Weinstein,†Illuzzi asked.
“Yes, I do,†Perez said.
“Do you see him in the courtroom today?†she said.
Perez looked over. Weinstein gestured his hand upward.
“Right there,†Perez said, pointing to him.
Perez testified that in late 1993, she called Sciorra to see if she was up for a night out.
“Hey Annabella, wanna hang out? And she responded in a very weird voice. She was whispering like that,†Perez said, dropping her own voice to a whisper. “And I said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ And she said, ‘I think something bad happened.’â€
“And I said, ‘What do you mean something bad happened? What happened?’ And she said, ‘I think I was raped,’†Perez testified. “I said to her, ‘You think, or did it happen?’ And she said, ‘I think it was rape,’ and she started crying.â€
Perez said she asked, “Who did it?â€
“And she said, ‘I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,†Perez recounted. “I hear her crying and she said, ‘I woke up on the floor and my nightie was up.’â€
Perez said she asked Sciorra about going to the police.
“She said, ‘I can’t, I can’t,’ and she hung up the phone,†Perez said. “And I kept trying to call her back all night long, and I was so upset, and she wouldn’t pick up the phone.â€
Perez said that months later, when the two women were on the phone, Sciorra revealed her alleged rapist’s identity.
“She told me that it was, in fact, Harvey Weinstein that raped her,†Perez said.
“She told me that he showed up at her door, and she was confused why he was there, standing there, and that he pushed his way through the door,†Perez told jurors. “And she was crying and saying, ‘I tried to fight back, I tried, I tried.’
“And then she said that she ended up in the bedroom with her hands pinned over her head and that he raped her, and then he pulled out and, um, he came on her leg and on her nightgown,†Perez said.
“She swore […] me, never to tell anybody and I told her, ‘You should go to the police,’†Perez said. “She said, ‘I can’t. He will destroy me. He will destroy my career.’â€
Perez explained how Weinstein came up during that phone conversation, which took place when Sciorra was staying in London for a film shoot.
Perez told Sciorra that she’d heard that Weinstein was harassing her.
During the call, Sciorra said “that she was scared he was going to get her again.â€
“When she made that statement, that’s when I put two-and-two together,†Perez said. “She said, ‘How do you know?’ I said, ‘I didn’t know, you just told me, you confirmed my speculation.’â€
“Then she started screaming, ‘Oh my God, oh my God,’†Perez said. “That’s when she started telling me, in detail. She was very, very, very distraught.
I said, ‘Annabella, for the love of God, please call the police.’ But she was too scared to.â€
Sciorra testified Thursday about the alleged assault, which she said took place in late 1993 or early 1994, after a business dinner. Weinstein offered to drive Sciorra home from the dinner, and Sciorra said as she was getting ready for bed, she heard someone knocking on the door of her Gramercy Park apartment.
Believing it could be a doorman or neighbor, Sciora opened it. Weinstein allegedly shoved into the apartment. After physically overpowering Sciorra, she claims Weinstein raped her, including forcibly performing oral sex on her.
Update, February 24: Harvey Weinstein’s verdict has been announced.