Weinstein Jane Doe breaks silence about her trauma, quest for justice

For nearly a decade, Evgeniya Chernyshova said she lived with the secret trauma that has haunted her.

But in 2017, with the support of her teenage daughter, she filed a police report with investigators and became Jane Doe No. 1 in Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial. The jury convicted Weinstein only on the criminal counts related to Chernyshova's incident.

Her emotional and candid testimony in court was the critical factor in bringing Weinstein to justice even after he was convicted for other assaults on the East Coast.

Last week, Weinstein was sentenced to 16 additional years in prison in a Los Angeles court for a rape conviction on top of the 23-year prison sentence for rape convictions in New York.

Chernyshova, compelled to come forward fully in the hopes of helping others, spoke with "Nightline" for her first televised interview about her encounter, and how an alleged sexual assault incident involving her teenage daughter compelled her to seek justice for herself and other victims.

"I want my story to be an example. That you can stand, you can fight the monster [and] you can win," she told Nightline.

Chernyshova, a Russian-born Italian model, actress and mother of three, said she was staying at a Los Angeles hotel during the 2013 Los Angeles Italia Festival when she said Weinstein banged on her door. She let him in and he sexually assaulted and raped her.

Chernyshova said she was traumatized by the incident but didn't tell anyone.

"It was a moment that I cannot be like [a] mom or touching my kids or taking care of them. I separated from my husband because my marriage had been affected," she said.

Chernyshova and her three children moved to Los Angeles for work. In 2017, she was with her daughter Maria, who was 15 at the time, at the same festival when she said Weinstein approached their dinner table.

Chernyshova said she felt paralyzed and left the table. For years, she kept the assault a secret even after other victims of Weinstein's sexual harassment and abuse came forward with their stories and began the MeToo movement.

A few months after her and her daughter's encounter with Weinstein, the mother and daughter told "Nightline" that they would suffer another shock that would push them to seek justice.

Maria Chernyshova said she was sexually assaulted and told her mother because she was scared for her safety.

"I just blurted it out really. I didn’t think there was a perfect way to tell something like this to my mom, I didn’t know how she would react," Maria Chernyshova told "Nightline."

Maria Chernyshova said she was shocked when her mother told her that she, too, was a victim. Evgeniya Chernyshova said her daughter's pain made her rethink keeping her assault to herself and the two made a promise to go to the police together and report their incidents.

Evgeniya Chernyshova said she was afraid of the harsh trauma that her daughter would face if they didn't go to the authorities.

"She will repeat my mistake. She will hide this and will live with this forever," Evgeniya Chernyshova said. "Everyone from the old generation, all of us [were] encouraged to deny. I decided to break this cycle."

Maria Chernyshova received a restraining order against her alleged perpetrator and in 2020 Los Angeles prosecutors announced they filed charges against Weinstein for sexual assaults and rapes that investigators said took place between 2004 and 2017.

Evgeniya Chernyshova was listed as one of the two Jane Does in that case. Weinstein, who was convicted and sentenced in 2020 on rape and sexual assault charges in a New York court, and his attorneys denied that he had met Chernyshova, but she testified against him and reiterated the incident and her trauma.

Maria Chernyshova also testified to back up her mother's allegation.

"In that moment I felt that I was getting my closure," she said. "And I walk out of that courtroom crying and I tell her, 'Mom, I feel amazing. I feel good, and I feel like I felt like myself again. And it's been a long time."

Weinstein was convicted by the L.A. jury on three of seven counts he was charged with, all of which were tied to Evgeniya Chernyshova's rape. The jury found Weinstein not guilty of one count -- sexual battery by restraint of Jane Doe 3 -- and it was hung on three counts, including forcible rape of Jane Doe 4.

He was sentenced last week to 16 years in prison, which will be served consecutively after his New York sentence.

Other Weinstein accusers praised Chernyshova for her courage following the sentencing.

"I'm so happy that our voices are heard now because you messed with the wrong girl, Harvey Weinstein," Louisette Geiss, a Weinstein accuser, told reporters.

Weinstein's lawyers, who maintain their client did not sexually assault the accusers in the criminal trials, are appealing his New York conviction.

In the meantime, Evgeniya Chernyshova said she has since found a bigger purpose after coming forward, and her resolve to fight for other victims is stronger than ever.

"You have to stand up," she said as she held back tears. "You have to go forward. You have to fight just for yourself. Just for other victims, for our kids. And you can win. My story is an example."

ABC News' Kelley Robinson and Karin Weinberg contributed to this report.