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Youngest Weinstein accuser on how the alleged sexual assault ‘ripped’ her dreams
Kaja Sokola said that allegedly being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was just 16 years old ripped up her “dreams, dignity and self.”
Sokala — who is the youngest known victim of the infamous movie producer’s alleged assaults — met Weinstein in 2002 at a modeling event. Hearing she was interested in acting, he invited her for lunch a few days later.
But instead of going out to eat, the then 50-year-old mogul took her back to his apartment where he allegedly molested her. As she fought back tears and screamed while attempting to leave, Weinstein allegedly blocked the door and yelled that she needed to calm down and work on her stubbornness.
Weinstein claims he never met Sokola.
“It’s been very tough for a long time,” the Polish-born model turned psychologist told Page Six exclusively at the New York Film Festival premiere of “She Said.”
“When you are a kid you don’t know any better, at least me, I was full of trust,” she explained. “I was in my home full of love and secure and then I ended up here being completely alone, it’s not time to talk but the fashion industry is not the best.
“So, yes, it definitely harmed me in many ways and I’m not talking just about sexual abuse, I’m talking about ripping up my dreams, my dignity, my self.”
Sokola, who is working on a book of her own, shared that the traumatic event has reverberated through her life.
“I know that so many choices I made later in my life, relationships that I was continuing, were based on the trauma, co-dependency and emotional abuse.”
“Mr. Weinstein strongly contends that Ms. Sokola’s allegation of being 16 years old when she met him is incorrect and that a timeline of events, corroborated by other evidence, including witness testimony, will refute Ms. Sokola’s allegations of sexual abuse as a minor,” per his attorney, Imran H. Ansari.
Also on the red carpet for the premiere was another alleged Weinstein accuser — model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez — who went to the police to file a complaint when Weinstein reportedly sexually assaulted her in 2015 while they were reviewing her portfolio.
Gutierrez told Page Six that she didn’t think she was courageous at the time. Instead, she “just took action.” She added, “I felt like I was doing the right thing.”
The model told us that when she told the police what had happened, they allegedly said, “Again?”
“So I just felt inside like a very bad anger … like I’m going to do whatever I can do to stop this person because this was absolutely wrong what he did,” she noted.
Weinstein was given a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual abuse.
“She Said” is an adaption of the book by the same name, written by two New York Times journalists who published the sexual abuse allegations against Weinstein.
Starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, the movie covers the time Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey worked together to expose Weinstein. The two stars were also at the premiere, rubbing the shoulders with the accusers.
“She Said” comes out on theaters Nov. 18.
