Harvey Weinstein ‘not giving up on life,’ according to spokesman
Despite potentially facing more than two decades in prison, Harvey Weinstein is “not giving up on life,” according to his spokesman, Juda Engelmayer.
Engelmayer spoke to CNN after visiting Weinstein on Friday in the prison ward at New York’s Bellevue Hospital.
Weinstein was taken to the hospital instead of Rikers Island on Monday after being convicted of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree against Miriam Haley and rape in the third degree against Jessica Mann.
He was acquitted of the more serious charges of predatory sexual assault involving the two women and one count of first-degree rape. Weinstein maintains his innocence of all charges.
“Is he sad that he made people feel angry and made people feel sad and made people feel that they felt they needed to do this? Yes,” Engelmayer said. “Does he think he did anything illegal or wrong to them? No.”
Weinstein is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11. Engelmayer said Weinstein is “melancholy, reflecting on what happened, from second guessing decisions to praising his team.”
One of Weinstein’s most vocal accusers, actress Rose McGowan, spoke about the verdict in a newly released episode of “The Catch and Kill Podcast With Ronan Farrow.” “I haven’t exhaled in so long. I know that every woman who’s been affected by him and everybody who’s even been affected by this period had this collected breath held,” she said.
Although Weinstein has not had visits from any of his five children, Engelmayer says the former movie producer has been in contact with the two younger children he shares with his ex-wife, Georgina Chapman, and that their well-being is his primary concern.
“He feels bad that they might have to bear the mark of being his children and he doesn’t want that pain for them but doesn’t want to lose them in his life either,” Engelmayer said.
Weinstein’s legal team has previously told CNN that they plan to appeal the verdict. He faces charges of sexual assault and rape in separate incidents in Los Angeles.
Engelmayer said Weinstein “looks at the future in an ominous way, it’s going to be an uphill road and he knows it.”
