- Thursday, May 01, 2025
By: Vibhuti Pathak
Former Project Runway production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haley returned to the witness stand in Manhattan on Wednesday, offering harrowing and emotional testimony in the retrial of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Her graphic account marked the second time she publicly described being sexually assaulted by Weinstein nearly two decades ago — once at his Manhattan apartment and again at a New York City hotel in 2006.
Now 48, Haley broke down in tears as she recalled the first alleged assault, which occurred in June 2006 after Weinstein invited her to his apartment. Despite her repeated protests and her attempts to stop him — including informing him that she was menstruating — Weinstein, she said, overpowered her.
“He just continued pushing, continued insisting,” Haley testified. “He pushed me onto the bed, held me down, and put his mouth on my vagina. Before and after he pulled out the tampon, he forced himself on me. I was mortified, embarrassed, and in disbelief.”
She went on to recount a second incident that took place the following month at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, where Weinstein had invited her under the pretense of a meeting. “He pulled me toward the bed and started undressing me,” she said. “I felt so stupid. I went numb. He had intercourse with me and I just lay there like a dead fish.”
Haley’s testimony closely mirrors her statements from Weinstein’s original trial in 2020, which ended in a conviction that was later overturned in April 2024 by New York’s highest court. The court ruled that the judge had unfairly allowed testimony from women whose allegations were not part of the formal charges, thus necessitating a retrial.
This time, Weinstein faces one count of engaging in a criminal sex act related to Haley’s accusation of forced oral sex in June 2006, as well as a count of third-degree rape linked to actress Jessica Mann, who testified during the first trial and is expected to appear again. Additionally, a new charge has been added — first-degree criminal sexual act — based on allegations by former Polish model Kaja Sokola. She claims Weinstein assaulted her in a Manhattan hotel in 2006 when she was just 16.
Haley’s testimony painted a picture of calculated abuse. She described feeling trapped, confused, and fearful during the alleged assaults, questioning whether anyone would hear her if she screamed. “I was calculating what would be the safest way out,” she said. “I decided in that moment the smartest thing to do was to check out, endure it, and leave.”
Prosecutors argue that Weinstein used his considerable influence in the entertainment industry to manipulate and exploit women seeking career opportunities. Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey noted in her opening arguments, “He knew how addictive Hollywood dreams were. He knew how the promises of success worked.”
Haley, who met Weinstein in 2004 at the premiere after-party for The Aviator, said their paths crossed again in Cannes several years later. When she came to New York looking for TV production work, she met him again — and was soon pressured into giving him a massage at his hotel. She later secured a job on Project Runway, despite lacking a valid U.S. work visa, which she said Weinstein was aware of.
Under Assistant DA Nicole Blumberg’s questioning, Haley said shame and fear kept her from reporting the alleged assaults. “I had no idea there were other people in the same situation,” she said, sparking a mistrial request from Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala, who argued she improperly suggested a pattern of behavior. Judge Curtis Farber denied the request.
Weinstein, now 73, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains that all encounters were consensual. His defense has framed the relationships as transactional, part of a pattern of mutually beneficial arrangements in the competitive world of film and television.
With more witnesses expected to testify, including Jessica Mann and Kaja Sokola, Weinstein’s retrial continues to shine a spotlight on systemic abuse in Hollywood and the long road to justice for survivors.
