Gavin Newsom's wife is one of Harvey Weinstein's accusers in the case against him for rape and sexual assault, which started on Monday.
One of Harvey Weinstein's accusers who will testify is the documentary director Jennifer Siebel Newsom, according to her counsel.
Elizabeth Fegan, Newsom's lawyer, said in a statement, "Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a claimed business meeting that turned out to be a trap." In order to help survivors receive some justice and as part of her life's work to better the lives of women, she plans to testify at his trial.
On 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving Newsom and four other women, Weinstein has entered a not-guilty plea. In the eight-week trial in a Los Angeles court, where jury selection started on Monday, each of them will give testimony as Jane Doe.
Weinstein, 70, was found guilty in New York and is currently serving a 23-year jail term. Weinstein has been given authorization to appeal his 2020 conviction for a sex crime to the State of New York Court of Appeals.
On Monday, he was wheeled into the Los Angeles courtroom where the jury selection process was starting.
Between 2002 and 2011, Newsom, 48, made numerous brief film and television appearances. She just directed the documentaries "Fair Play" from this year and "The Great American Lie" in 2020. Both discuss gender issues in society.
After many reports made Weinstein a target of the #MeToo movement, she wrote about her encounter with him in a 2017 essay, but she provided little details. The trial takes place five years after the #MeToo movement erupted in response to women's accounts of Weinstein.
Like Newsom, Weinstein utilised Beverly Hills and Los Angeles as his California headquarters, where he could be seen during award season and throughout the year. Most of the episodes in his indictment occurred there under the pretence of business meetings.
Four of these happened in the week leading up to the 2013 Oscars, when Weinstein released "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Django Unchained" would take home the best picture prize.
