Harvey Weinstein is having a hard time dealing with his newly acquired status as convicted rapist, his spokesperson has said.
Weinstein has been accused by dozens of women of predatory sexual assault. This week, a New York jury found him guilty of engaging in a criminal sexual act with former aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and raping former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.
Weinstein is facing between 4 and 29 years in prison; he is set to learn his sentence on 11 March, after which he will face two separate charges of rape and assault in Los Angeles. These could land him up to another 28 years in jail.
“It’s scaring him. I think he’s melancholy. He’s very, very low right now,” Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Reuters after visiting him on Friday. “He doesn’t like being left alone. When no one’s there, he said he’s just staring at the four walls. He can go stir crazy just staring at the emptiness.”
Weinstein, 67, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan on Monday after complaining of chest pains and has remained there to date. The first post-conviction photos, obtained by the channel PIX11, showed him watching a wall-mounted TV while sitting in a leather chair, a wheelchair by his side.
“He is free to roam and is not handcuffed,” a source said. “He is being treated like any other person.”
Engelmayer revealed that the producer of Shakespeare in Love and Kill Bill was given a “bare room” with a bed, a stainless steel toilet with no seat and large windows, with guards stationed outside. He is also said to be allowed limited phone calls.
However, his description of a cheerless Weinstein contradicts a somewhat upbeat account of attorney Arthur Aidala, who visited Weinstein on Tuesday.
“He’s in pretty good spirits. He’s energised,” Aidala told AP of his client. “There is a portion of him where he’s just scratching his head and he doesn’t know how this happened, but he’s cautiously optimistic.”
Weinstein, who has denied all accusations of non-consensual sex, is looking forward to appeal his conviction.
