The woman had been testifying for hours in the 2020 trial of Harvey Weinstein when she broke into sobs.
The witness, Jessica Mann, had told a Manhattan jury about a yearslong relationship with Mr. Weinstein, during which she said the Hollywood producer had raped her in 2013. During the defense cross-examination, she had to reveal that she had been sexually assaulted when she was younger.
She cried as she was asked to read from an email about how the abuse had affected her relationship with Mr. Weinstein. When she could not compose herself, the judge adjourned the trial for the day.
After she had left the stand, her screams could be heard from a back room.
Now, five years later, Ms. Mann is expected to take the stand again in a closely watched retrial of Mr. Weinstein, whose treatment of women catalyzed the #MeToo movement.
On Wednesday, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, led by Alvin L. Bragg, and Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers will give opening statements. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.
The jury is composed of five men and seven women, a reverse of the demographics in the first trial. For both sides, the core arguments of Mr. Weinstein’s interactions with the women are likely to follow closely what they had told the jury in 2020.