Weinstein Cries in Prison, Says He ‘Just Flirted’ with Gwyneth.
Harvey Weinstein has broken his silence behind bars with a defiant—and at times bewildering—interview, even as explosive testimony from actress Jessica Mann paints a far darker picture of the disgraced Hollywood mogul.
In a new prison interview released by political commentator Candace Owens, Weinstein clung to his innocence while offering an eyebrow-raising concession: “I definitely made a pass” at Gwyneth Paltrow. He insists that’s all it was. No coercion, no assault, just a misguided moment with a young actress he had just cast as the lead in Emma.
“It’s a complete fabrication about my relationship with Gwyneth,” he said, gripping a prison phone with both hands. “I didn’t put my hands on her. I didn’t touch her.”
Yet Paltrow, now 51, has long maintained she was stunned and frightened by Weinstein’s alleged behavior when she was just 22. “I was alone in a room with him. It was out of the blue. I was blindsided.”
Owens—who has emerged as one of Weinstein’s few outspoken defenders—argued that his case represents a miscarriage of justice. “I don’t think Harvey is a moral man,” she said. “I just also do not believe that he is a rapist.”
But back in the New York courtroom where Weinstein is facing a retrial after a 2020 conviction was overturned, his accusers tell a very different story—one of power, coercion, and manipulation cloaked in the promise of fame.
Jessica Mann Testifies: “He Turned Into a Monster”
On Monday, Jessica Mann took the stand and described Weinstein’s erratic, controlling behavior during what she called a twisted relationship. “I referred to him as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” she said, recounting a cycle of charm and menace that left her confused and emotionally battered.
Mann told jurors she was just starting out in Hollywood when she first met Weinstein at a party in 2013. After an unsettling incident of unwanted oral sex in a hotel room—what she called a “battle”—she admitted she chose to stay in contact with him, even entering a relationship she now views as a survival strategy.
“I just decided to have a relationship with him,” she said through tears. “I just wanted to buy time because I didn’t know how to handle it.”
The most serious charge Weinstein faces in this retrial is the alleged rape of Mann in a Manhattan hotel room in March 2013. Mann described trying to resist, pleading with hotel staff not to give him a room, only to be cornered and overpowered.
“This is about the moment where I just gave up,” she recalled, sobbing on the witness stand.
“I Wasn’t For Sale”
Although Weinstein allegedly tried to offer her cash and auditions, Mann said she refused his financial help. “It just felt like you’re trying to pay me like a dirty prostitute. I never wanted his dirty money.”
Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair throughout the trial, shook his head repeatedly during her testimony. His defense team has argued that Mann continued to engage with him and even sent flattering messages in the months after the incident.
But Mann pushed back, saying she felt Weinstein was a narcissist—and she did what she needed to “keep the peace.”
“They Broke Me in Half”
In his interview with Owens, Weinstein wiped away tears as he said the years of legal battles and incarceration have “broken” him.
“They are frightened to death that they’re going to be canceled,” he said, referring to the alleged silence of former friends and colleagues who support him privately but stay quiet publicly. “I’ve asked to have lie detectors brought into the prison… I know they’re not admissible, but I want the world to know.”
Yet for many, Weinstein’s pleas ring hollow. More than 60 women have accused him of sexual misconduct over the past decade, helping to spark the #MeToo movement and forever altering the power dynamics of Hollywood.
And while he awaits the outcome of his retrial, testimony like Mann’s is giving the jury—and the world—another harrowing look into what really happened behind the closed doors of hotel rooms, casting calls, and whispered promises of stardom.
