NEW YORK _ The woman who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her on both coasts in 2013 and called him "my rapist" acknowledged Tuesday that the two later shared an on-and-off consensual sexual relationship.
"I know the history of my relationship ... it's complicated and it's difficult," testified Jessica Mann, who returned to a Manhattan courtroom one day after an emotional meltdown ended her testimony for the day. "I don't need an excuse. I own my behavior."
Defense attorney Donna Rotunno grilled Mann about accepting a Weinstein invitation to a specific event: "Did you know it would look bad for you if you went to an event on Jan. 18th after you (claim) you were raped on Jan. 4th?"
"Ma'am," the witness replied, "this whole relationship was bad for me."
Mann, 34, did acknowledge that her access to the Oscar-winning movie maker could be a positive thing when asked by Rotunno about reaching out to Weinstein for help with a 2016 business venture.
"It is true that knowing him, if (people) know you know him, it can open doors," Mann said on her second day of cross-examination in Weinstein's trial for rape and sexual abuse. "People want to get to him through you."
Weinstein, whose alleged predatory behavior was a catalyst for the #MeToo movement, has been accused by some 90 women in recent years of varying degrees of sexual misconduct. If convicted in the Manhattan trial, he faces the possibility of life in prison.
Weinstein, 67, insisted his sexual relationships with the women were consensual.
In her third day of testimony, Mann regained her composure as Rotunno continued her intense questioning. On Monday, Mann began hyperventilating and weeping uncontrollably on the stand, leading Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke to shut down testimony for the day.
Rotunno, back on cross-examination a day later, asked the witness about accepting a 2015 Oscar party invitation from "your rapist" _ Weinstein.
Mann, turning to face the jury of seven men and five women, declared, "I want the jury to know that he is my rapist and I hope I can continue to explain my dynamic, of why I continued to talk to him."
Last week, under questioning by prosecutors, the former evangelical from Washington state graphically recounted alleged 2013 rapes by Weinstein at the DoubleTree hotel in Manhattan and at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Three years later, Mann and Weinstein were still engaging in consensual sex, the witness acknowledged under cross-examination.
She recalled that her last physical encounter with Weinstein followed the November 2016 death of his 90-year-old mother, Miriam. His mom worked as a receptionist in her sons' first office, and their company Miramax was named after parents Miriam and Max.
"He wanted to talk to me because I understood grief, and when I get there he's naked on a bed and all he wanted to do was something sexual," she recalled. " ... I think he masturbated in the mirror and he put himself in my mouth."
