Warning: This article includes graphic details and might be distressing for some readers.
A former Weinstein Company production assistant says that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her after she repeatedly refused his advances.
In a press conference on Tuesday in New York held by lawyer Gloria Allred, Mimi Haleyi claimed the movie mogul forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006. Haleyi was in her 20s at the time, Allred said.
Haleyi said she was watching TV with Heinstein at his New York apartment before he began making sexual advances on her. In graphic detail, she tearfully described him holding her down in what she said appeared to be a child’s bedroom.
“I said, ‘I am on my period. There is no way this is going to happen.’ He wouldn’t take no for an answer and took me into a bedroom … that looked like a kid’s bedroom with drawings on the wall,” Haleyi said.
“He held me down on the bed, I tried to get him off me and kept asking him to stop but it was impossible. He was extremely persistent and physically overpowering.
“He then orally forced himself on me while I was on my period. He even pulled my tampon out. I was mortified. I was in disbelief.”