Harvey Weinstein accuser Ambra Battilana Gutierrez talks about facing him in court: "It's a feeling of being powerful again"
One day after a jury in Los Angeles found former film producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault, one of his first accusers to go public, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, joined "CBS Mornings" in her first broadcast interview since his conviction.
Gutierrez went to police in New York seven years ago and was asked to wear a wire by authorities to obtain evidence against Weinstein.
"In 2015, when I worked with the police, they were able to put it on tape and had him saying what he did to me," she said on "CBS Mornings" Tuesday. "It was recorded, and there was video footage on security cameras."
Gutierrez, a model, said police tried to help her but Weinstein was able to avoid charges at the time.
"The police tried to help me, they tried to do as much as they could," she said. "But he was so powerful, he was able to just make me not believable."
Gutierrez said she had to leave New York and "go somewhere else," adding that "it wasn't easy." Weinstein was later tried and convicted in New York on charges involving two other women.
Facing him in court in his Los Angeles trial gave Gutierrez a sense of strength.
"It's a feeling of being powerful again," she said.
Even so, she worried Weinstein would walk. She said her Catholic upbringing taught her to forgive people, but that she never saw "regret in his eyes."
"It felt unbelievable when I was there on the stand, looking at him," she said.
Weinstein, 70, was found guilty Monday on charges of rape and sexual assault against one of four accusers. Weinstein was already serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault that is under appeal after a New York jury convicted him in 2020. He could get up to 24 years in California when he's sentenced.
The allegations brought against Weinstein in Los Angeles directly involved four women. All were referred to as Jane Doe in court, and an additional four appeared in court to testify. Two accusers remained anonymous.
Weinstein, once a powerful Hollywood mogul and co-founder of the entertainment company Miramax, which produced movies like "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," became the focus of a myriad of allegations that helped spark the rise of the #MeToo movement five years ago.
More than 80 women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against Weinstein stretching back several decades. Many of them spoke out on the heels of 2017 reports by The New York Times and New Yorker that initially exposed the allegations and shared some women's stories — including Gutierrez's.
Meanwhile, Gutierrez said she is working to push forward the Survivors Act in New York state and any other laws that can help accusers of sexual assault.
"I am at a point where I know my story is relevant, and will help other people."