“I will mentor you and teach you, whatever, but you have to relax with me, have fun, enjoy, you know.
“A massage, something fun.
“If you don’t trust me, then we have no reason to do anything and you will lose big opportunities.”
Harvey Weinstein’s distinctive drawl is undeniable in the secret recording Ambra Battilana made of her second interaction with the once untouchable movie mogul.
The secret audio from 2015 provides evidence of Weinstein pressuring a then 22-year-old Ambra into his hotel room.
Weinstein handed over a million dollars to have that audio destroyed after bringing the aspiring model to her knees with tactics like intimidation, attack dogs, and media manipulation. But when it came to Ambra Battilana, he very much underestimated her bravery.
The now 27-year-old has recently released never before heard snippets of the audio and started speaking out again – very much violating her Weinstein gag order.
WATCH: Here’s a clip of Ambra’s interview on 60 Minutes last night. Post continues after video.
Right now we are waiting to hear the verdict from Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial in New York.
The jury appears to have reached a verdict on three of the five counts facing him, but are deadlocked on the most serious charge – predatory sexual assault.
Those counts involve sex crimes against more than one woman, and carry the stiffest sentence of all, at least 10 years in prison and possibly life behind bars.
The jury is picking up its deliberations on Monday (New York time).
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez had just moved to New York to further her modelling career when she was head hunted by Weinstein and called in for a casting at his office.
But at the 'business meeting' in Manhattan in 2015, Weinstein allegedly touched her chest and put his hand up her skirt without her consent.
"He stared at me and asked me 'is your breast real?' and I'm like 'what?'" Ambra told 60 Minutes last night.
She says Weinstein put his hand on her breast, and then on her leg before trying to kiss her.
Horrified, she fled the office and broke down in tears outside before going straight to the police.
"When I spoke to the police I said, 'Harvey Weinstein assaulted me' and he answered 'again?' and I'm like 'What do you mean again? This happened before?'" Ambra said.
The police asked Ambra to wear a wire and meet Weinstein for a drink at his hotel bar the next night.
"Why yesterday you touch my breast?" the audio captures Ambra asking.
"Oh please. I'm sorry. Just come on in. I'm used to that," Weinstein replies.
"You're used to what?" she asks.
"Yes, come in. Please come in. On everything. I'm a famous guy," he says.
"I'm feeling very uncomfortable right now," Ambra says to Weinstein's reply of "I will never do another thing to you. Five minutes. Don't ruin your friendship with me for five minutes".
The day after the recording was made, Weinstein was hauled in by police for questioning and Ambra's allegations were widely reported, and then widely smeared thanks to tactics by Weinstein's team.
Eventually they were dropped and no charges were laid.
In the midst of the salacious and discrediting reporting, Ambra decided to meet with the District Attorney's sex crimes chief but realised after the first question that she was in trouble.
"The first moment I saw her I said, 'great, she's a woman'. And then the first question she asked me was, 'Were you a prostitute?'" Ambra told 60 Minutes. "I walked out of that room, and I said inside my head 'that's not good.'"
She found out later Weinstein had hired a friend of the DA to dig up dirt on her and feed it back to them.
Eventually, she gave up and caved in to the constant harassment, signing a non disclosure agreement in return for a million dollars. She was ordered to destroy every piece of evidence of the recording.
But she downloaded a secret copy and hid it away for two years.
As she told 60 Minutes she wanted people to believe her, but it was like "David and Goliath".
In 2017, part of the audio recording emerged and was published by The New Yorker, in which Weinstein tells Ambra to "don't embarrass me in the hotel".
Now, more of the exchange has come to light – Weinstein asking for a massage.
When asked by 60 Minutes reporter Tom Steinfort how it felt to have the audio in circulation, she said: "I think that day I smiled for 20 hours straight".
"I did something that helped others and that's what I was most proud of myself for doing," she explained.
You can watch the whole interview with Ambra on 9Now.
Feature Image: Nine.
Top Comments
It is the sentence, not the verdict that matters. If he gets a pathetic sentence, the #metoo movement must go next level until the message gets across. Weinstein must not be allowed to be restored to his old life.
Powerful men, particularly sports stars, are frequently getting off lightly and allowed to make comebacks after similar disgraces. Look at the hero’s send-off recently that an accused (and virtually admitted) Sports star rapist got.
I understand that everyone is entitled to a defence, but honestly, do these lawyers have any conscience whatsoever? Do they go home at night thinking that they've done a good days work, trying to ruin a young woman's reputation and help a pervert like Weinstein? Or is the money enough to make up for it?
It sounds like the woman running his defence is more than happy to believe that her client is a powerful man being vicitmised by lying women, but maybe she's just angling for a job in the White House, or with Fox News. It's certainly an advertisement for any other rich old men needing legal representation in court.
They think life is just a game of money and power- not all psychopaths become serial killers, they’re vastly over represented as a % of CEOs, and I’m guessing within the most cutthroat legal firms too. His lawyer made it quite clear that she seems victims of sexual assault as being beneath her and foolish. I bet she feels the same about her for signing the NDA. But hopefully she also realises that taking the money and copying the tape was brilliant, the lawyers definitely lost that round.
Well I hear you. However the system allows everyone to have legal defence and if you have money you can buy a good one, just ask OJ. Sometimes that even results in the innocent getting off, again, just ask OJ. Lawyers are required to do everything they can within the Law to protect their client, it’s not optional or the system wouldn’t work.
If she took a million dollars never intending to honour her signed NDA, well, that’s not good either as an aside. She should have to return the money at a minimum.
We shall see what the jury comes back with regards to Weinstein.
No. NDA’s should be abolished and no woman should never, ever sign one again. Always blaming the women, aren’t you Les!