Convicted rapist and former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein injured himself during a fall at Rikers Island jail on Sunday, his publicist said.
"Harvey says his head throbs all the time and thinks he has a concussion. He has not been officially diagnosed," Juda Englemayer, a spokesperson for Weinstein, told CNN after Weinstein fell and hit his head. Englemayer added that, in addition to his fall, Weinstein is also experiencing heart troubles. Doctors reportedly inserted a stent into Weinstein's heart on Wednesday and moved him to an infirmary unit on Thursday.
Weinstein is due to be sentenced on Wednesday after being convicted of rape and criminal sexual assault, although in their sentencing recommendation prosecutors are bringing up sex crime and sexual harassment accusations about Weinstein going back to 1978. Weinstein is eligible for a maximum of 29 years in prison.
Weinstein was convicted of committing a criminal sexual act against his former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, including forcibly performing oral sex on her. He was also convicted of third degree rape against former actress Jessica Mann in 2013. Four other women testified at Weinstein's trial with claims of rape, sexual assault and other forms of sexual misconduct, all of which had passed the statute of limitations.
Englemayer also confirmed that Weinstein does not have a walker in jail, even though he used a walker to get in and out of court during his trial. Some of Weinstein's accusers involved in his upcoming Los Angeles trial claim that he is either faking or exaggerating his supposed infirmities in a bid for sympathy.
After he was convicted last month, Louisette Geiss described Weinstein as "a very good actor" and said "this is a man who knows how to manipulate the press and clearly he's done so with his iconic walker; let's just say I know women who are literally dying who are also victims and I say let's give them the help." Another, Lauren Sivan, noted that although Weinstein was taken to a hospital with chest pains after being convicted, "I think we should all take a moment to realize that if that this wasn't Harvey Weinstein and was just anyone that didn't have money and power and couldn't afford world's best attorneys, they would be in jail, they wouldn't get to go to the hospital."
Englemayer released a statement to USA Today on Monday in which he depicted Weinstein as remorseful for being "mean" in the past, but did not admit to the rape and sexual misconduct accusations against him.
"Harvey has had time to himself in an environment he appreciates to be vastly different from what he had known," Engelmayer wrote to USA Today in an email. "In this short, but overwhelming period, he has been humbled so much more than he could have known.
He added, "He was mean, he didn't often show respect, he treated some people with disdain, and he acknowledges it. He recognizes what put him here, and he will continue working on himself to be a better person."
Overall approximately 100 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. When the accusations against him became part of the mainstream news cycle in 2017, they prompted other women to come forward with their own stories of sexual abuse with the hashtag #MeToo. The subsequent #MeToo movement led to public accusations against other powerful men who, their accusers alleged, had engaged in various forms of sexual misconduct against them.
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