Evgeniya Chernyshova received a message on December 19 while she was driving to select a Christmas tree close to her Los Angeles home. She had been anticipating this message for five years in one way or another. “We have a verdict,” said the text from Chernyshova’s attorney, Dave Ring. The mother of three, 43, came to a stop in the middle of the road, turned on her emergency flashers, and started crying.
Chernyshova discovered that Harvey Weinstein had been found guilty of raping her in a hotel room in 2013 as she sat in her car with her 16-year-old daughter and 23-year-old son. Russian-born Chernyshova confesses, “I had to ask my daughter if I understood the English correctly. Why are you doing this, she asks.For Weinstein’s victims, the LA trial had a mixed result: Chernyshova’s case was the only one to result in a conviction out of the four women the former businessman was accused of raping and assaulting there. She was the first of the 44 witnesses named by the prosecution to testify during the trial, and the only witness who was permitted to make a statement during Weinstein’s sentencing on February 23.
For forceful rape, forcible oral copulation, and penetration by foreign object, the judge gave Weinstein a 16-year sentence. It is almost certain that the 70-year-old former producer will will away in prison as a result of serving that time in addition to the 23-year term he is already serving in New York. Weinstein has always refuted the charges.
Starting when she reported the crime to police in 2017, Chernyshova, a former model and actress, went through the process of coming forward about Weinstein anonymously, known only as Jane Doe 1. Until now. “I’m tired of hiding,” says Chernyshova, speaking publicly for the first time. “I want my life back. I’m Evgeniya, I’ve been raped. This is my story.”
Over a long, often tearful interview in the Manhattan Beach office of her attorney, Chernyshova spoke about her violent encounter with Weinstein, her decision to come forward at the urging of her daughter and the lonely experience of being a Jane Doe, which she says prevented her from connecting with other victims and being open with friends and acquaintances about what she was living through. “I did it because I was ashamed and humiliated,” Chernyshova says of remaining anonymous. “I thought it was a good decision to protect my kids. But it was a horrible decision for myself because I’ve been cut off from everyone. It isn’t right to go through this hell alone.”
