Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is “suffering” in a New York City prison hospital as he recovers from COVID and double pneumonia, his spokesperson told Newsweek on Friday.
Weinstein, 72, was taken from Rikers Island jail to the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward on Thursday to be treated for the “myriad of health conditions” that he is still afflicted with daily. This includes diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, fluid on his heart, and lungs, and various other conditions, Craig Rothfeld, Weinstein’s rep and prison consultant, told Newsweek.
The disgraced former filmmaker, who is awaiting retrial in his New York rape case, also tested positive for COVID and contracted double pneumonia in his lungs, he added.
When asked how Weinstein was feeling Friday, Rothfeld replied in an email, “Harvey does not feel well and is suffering but is grateful to be getting the medical treatment he needs from the hospital.”
Rothfeld added there is no timeframe for how long Weinstein will stay at Belleuve but he will continue to work with doctors to ensure “proper medical treatment.”
In April, the former movie mogul spent 10 days in Bellevue Hospital. His lawyer Arthur Aidala described him at the time as “somewhat of a train wreck, health-wise” whose “life is on the line” but is mentally still “sharp as a tack.”
Starting in September 2017, more than 80 women in the film industry have come forward with accusations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse by Weinstein. He was arrested in May 2018 and was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2020. However, the conviction was overturned on appeal in April because of procedural errors.
Aidala told the New York Times the decision was “not just a victory for Mr. Weinstein, but for every criminal defendant in the state of New York, and we compliment the Court of Appeals for upholding the most basic principles that a criminal defendant should have in trial.”
The Weinstein conviction was a huge win for the #MeToo movement which went viral in 2017 when his many accusers came forward, alleging misconduct against one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.
The New York retrial is scheduled to start on November 12. Prosecutors said they intend to charge Weinstein for “additional violent sexual assaults” after more women agreed to testify. Weinstein has maintained his innocence and claimed that all sexual activity was consensual. He will remain incarcerated due to his 16-year prison sentence in California for his conviction in a Los Angeles rape case in 2022.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
