People
LOS ANGELES — Mel Gibson can testify about what he learned from one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, a judge ruled Friday in the rape and sexual assault trial of the former movie mogul.
The 66-year-old actor and director was one of many witnesses, and by far the best known, whose identities were revealed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The judge and attorneys had taken a break from jury selection for motions on what evidence will be allowed at the trial, and who can testify. The witness list for the trial is sealed.
Judge Lisa B. Lench ruled that Gibson can testify in support of his masseuse and friend, who will be known as Jane Doe Number 3 at the trial. Weinstein is accused of committing sexual battery by restraint against the woman.
Prosecutors said that after getting a massage from the woman at a California hotel in Beverly Hills in May 2010, a naked Weinstein followed her into the bathroom and committed a sexual act in front of her. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty, and denied any non-consensual sexual activity.
Judge Lench said Gibson's testimony will depend on how the accuser describes the exchange with him when she takes the stand, and she may choose to rule against it at that time.
In one of several similar rulings Friday, Lench also found that “Melrose Place” actor Daphne Zuniga could testify in a similar capacity for a woman known at the trial as Jane Doe Number 4, whom Weinstein is accused of raping in 2004 or 2005.
Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for a 2020 conviction for rape and sexual assault in New York.
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“Don’t Worry Darling” director Olivia Wilde, 38, is addressing speculation that she has put her role as a mother on the back burner.
“I share custody of my kids with my ex [fiance Jason Sudeikis],” Wilde said in an interview with Elle. “If I’m photographed not with my kids, people assume I have abandoned them, like my kids are just somewhere in a hot car without me. The suggestion is that I have abandoned my role as a mother.”
Wilde said paparazzi photographs of herself and children Otis, 8, and Daisy, 6, are rare “because I don’t let them get photographed.
“Do you know the lengths that I go to to protect my kids from being seen by you?” she continued.
Wilde’s personal life has drawn even more attention of late than her hotly anticipated sophomore feature, partly due to the real life romance it spawned with her star Harry Styles.
News of Wilde and Sudeikis splitting up was first reported in November 2020. This spring, Wilde was served custody papers while on stage to promote “Don’t Worry Darling” at CinemaCon.
Sudeikis said in a statement that he had “no prior knowledge” the move would be made on such a large scale, but Wilde told Variety in August, “It was my workplace. In any other workplace, it would be seen as an attack. It was really upsetting. It shouldn’t have been able to happen.”
She challenged his claim that he’d been unaware of where she would be served, noting the protocol required to enter the venue.
“This was something that required forethought,” said Wilde.
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Surgery has given Oprah a leg up.
The 68-year-old billionaire shared that she underwent double knee surgeries.
“I had knee surgery in August,” she told People. “And then I had another knee surgery in November.”
“When I came home the first time, I literally could not lift my leg. I couldn’t lift my heel off of the bed, and I vowed if I was ever able to get up, walk around, and move again — that I would take advantage of movement, exercise and of being able to be fully in my body.”
The experience, she said, gave her a new “appreciation for every organ and every limb,” and led her to take up hiking, according to People.
“Every day, I tried to hike more and do more,” said Winfrey.
From combined wire services
