Salma Hayek and Charlize Theron’s names have emerged in testimony against Harvey Weinstein during his rape trial in New York City’s Supreme Court.
Dawn Dunning took the witness stand to testify in the trial regarding Weinstein’s intimidation tactics. The costume designer claims that the movie mogul sexually assaulted and intimidated her to participate in a threesome back in 2004. While Dunning isn’t a formal accuser in the case, she is testifying as a “Molineux” witness. Prosecutors of the trial called on Molineux witnesses to determine a pattern in Weinstein’s broader conduct.
According to Dunning, she had met Weinstein twice as an aspiring actress believing that she was being considered for roles in Derailed and two other films. At their first meeting in a hotel, she claims that the producer slipped his hand under her skirt and proceeded to insert a finger into her vagina. This prompted her to stand up in shock and leave immediately as Weinstein apologized and told her not to “make a big deal of it.”
Dunning and Weinstein met again a month later at a Midtown hotel suite where he proposed a threesome. Dunning declined the offer which provoked Weinstein into a screaming fit.
Brandishing contracts for the film roles while wearing an open hotel bathrobe, Weinstein told her
“I’ll sign these today if you’ll have a threesome with us.” Dunning testified that he was referring to his assistant at the time.
Dunning told prosecutors, “He got really angry. He said, ‘You’ll never make it in this business! This is how the industry works!” Weinstein then mentioned Theron and Hayek as examples of actresses who got ahead with their careers based on what they were willing to do.
