A Former Actor Testified That Harvey Weinstein Offered Her A Job In Exchange For A Threesome

Dawn Dunning in 2019.

A former actor took the stand Wednesday in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial telling the court that the disgraced Hollywood mogul offered her a movie role in exchange for a threesome with him and his assistant.

Dawn Dunning testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in 2004 and a few weeks later later asked her to have a threesome in exchange for a movie part. Addressing the court Wednesday, Dunning said that after her alleged assault she stopped going to auditions and pursuing an acting career, adding that testifying against Weinstein is the hardest thing she’s ever done and that she is not getting anything out of coming forward in court.

“I’m losing time, I’m losing money, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” she said, wiping away tears.

Dunning is the third victim to testify in the trial against Weinstein. Weinstein has not been charged with assaulting Dunning. Her testimony will be used by prosecutors to illustrate Weinstein’s “prior bad acts” to demonstrate a pattern of abuse.

Dunning said she first met Weinstein in 2004, when she was a waitress at a New York City nightclub.

“Bottle service was a new thing then, so my job was to hang around kind of convincing wealthy clients and celebrities to get a table and buy a bottle of alcohol,” she said. “I hated my job at the time, so I used to kind of hang out in the back corner of the club.”

Dunning said Weinstein was dining near the back of the club one night when they struck up a conversation — she had heard of Harvey Weinstein but did not recognize him at the time.

Harvey Weinstein arrives at court.

When she told him that she was a struggling actress, she said Weinstein told her he would help her get roles in the acting industry.

Over the next few months, Dunning said she had several meetings with Weinstein, including reading for parts in his films. She and her fiancé also socialized with Weinstein and his then-wife, Dawning said, adding that he once invited the couple to Whoopi Goldberg’s birthday party.

In 2004, Dunning said she met Weinstein and his then-assistant at a boutique hotel in Soho. During the meeting, Dunning said Weinstein put his hand under her skirt, inside her underwear, and inserted his fingers inside her.

“There were no red flags in our conversation or anything that told me this was going to happen,” she said. “I kind of froze at first and then stood up. He was talking really fast and saying stuff like ‘don’t make a big deal about it, it won’t happen again.’”

Dunning said she left the hotel but decided not to tell anyone about what happened.

“I was embarrassed, I wanted to pretend like it didn’t happen,” she said. “I didn’t want to be a victim.”

A few weeks later, Dunning met with Weinstein and his assistant once again at another hotel in New York City. Dunning said she expected the meeting to take place at the hotel’s restaurant, but when she arrived, the assistant told her Weinstein was waiting for them in his suite.

When Dunning got to the suite, she said Weinstein opened the door wearing nothing but an open bathrobe. She said there was a stack of papers on a coffee table in the room, and that Weinstein told her he would sign the contracts for three films for her if she agreed to have a threesome with him and his assistant.

Dunning said she laughed when Weinstein suggested they have a threesome, but when she looked over at the assistant, whose face went blank. She added that, “at that point, everything became very tense, he began screaming at me. He just kind of towered over me and shouted, ‘You’ll never make it in this industry! This is how I made three actresses! That’s what everyone does!’”

When the prosecutor asked her if Weinstein had named the three actresses, Dunning recalled that he named Charlize Thereon and Salma Hayek, but she could not recall the name of the third.

Hayek has previously described Weinstein as a monster who sexually harassed and threatened to kill her. Thereon has previously spoken about Weinstein, saying he frequently lied to manipulate women, pitting them against each other professionally and sexually.

In his cross-examination, Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala questioned Dunning on why she laughed at Weinstein’s suggestion of a threesome.

“You thought he was joking weeks after he had put his fingers inside your most personal space in the planet — your vagina?” he said.

Tarale Wulff, a model and former aspiring actress, is expected to testify on Wednesday that Weinstein raped her in 2005.

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