Actress Annabella Sciorra accuses Weinstein of rape

Annabella Sciorra, an actress who starred in The Sopranos has become the latest woman to accuse Harvey Weinstein of rape.

The latest allegation was made in an interview with The New Yorker magazine.

Ms Sciorra told the magazine that Weinstein forced his way into her New York apartment and assaulted her in the early 1990s.

Now more than 50 women have made allegations ranging from sexual harassment to rape against the disgraced movie mogul, who is now subject to police investigations on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ms Sciorra told the magazine that the incident happened after she had filmed The Night We Never Met, which had been produced by Weinstein.

She broke her silence in the interview, having previously denied that the producer had ever behaved inappropriately.

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In reality, Ms Sciorra had been living in fear of Weinstein, even taking the precaution of sleeping with a baseball bat by her head.

On the night in question, Ms Sciorra alleged, Weinstein had forced his way into her apartment and refused to leave.

He then pushed the actress onto the bed and raped her.

"I struggled, but I had very little strength left in me," she said. 

"Like most of these women, I was so ashamed of what happened. And I fought. I fought. But still I was like, Why did I open that door?... I felt disgusting."

Weinstein continued to sexually harass her over the next few years, she alleged.

In the aftermath of the incident, which was not reported to the police, Ms Sciorra’s career suffered, with rumours suggesting that she was difficult to work with.

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“I think that that was the Harvey machine," Ms Sciorra added.

Another actress, Daryl Hannah, also alleged in the New Yorker that she had been subject to repeated sexual harassment.

On one occasion he hammered on her hotel room door, on another she barricaded herself in her hotel room for her own safety. Ms Hannah also alleged that Weinstein asked if he could touch her breasts.

“I am a private person, with a rule of speaking to the press only for professional reasons,” she told the magazine.

She had spoken out because she felt a moral obligation to support women who had suffered “more egregious transgressions”.

A spokesman for Weinstein issued a statement saying the mogul unequivocally denies any allegations of non-consensual sex”.

source: AFP