A former girlfriend of actor Danny Masterson testified Monday that she awoke one night in November 2001 to find that he was raping her.
The woman — who is identified in court as Christina B. — told jurors that she yelled at him and tried to shove him away. But he just pressed down harder, pinning her down, she said.
“I was screaming at him to get off me,” she said. “‘I don’t want to have sex. No. Get off me.’ I just kept screaming that over and over.”
The woman was the second accuser to testify in Masterson’s trial, which began last week. She appeared nervous, and often spoke so softly that the court reporter — seated just a few feet away — could not hear her. At times she became emotional and took several deep breaths. But when the lead prosecutor and the judge asked if she wanted to take a break, she insisted on continuing.
“I’m OK,” she said. “I’m really sorry.”
Christina B. has separately filed a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and Masterson under her full name, alleging that she has faced stalking and harassment in retaliation for going to the police.
She testified Monday that she met Masterson in 1996, when she had just arrived in Los Angeles as an 18-year-old model. Within two weeks of their first date, she had moved in with him.
“I believed he was very charming and I fell for him,” she said.
And within a few months, he convinced her to convert to Scientology. Fairly soon, she said, her entire social circle was made up of Scientologists.
“I was told that my parents were suppressive people, and I disconnected from my family, my friends,” she said.
She testified that after about a year, Masterson became more sexually aggressive, and could be both physically and emotionally abusive. She recalled one incident in particular, in which she did not want to have sex, and he called her fat and dragged her by the hair across the floor and into the hallway.
Masterson, seated at the defense table, watched the testimony without any reaction.
On the night in November 2001, she testified that while Masterson was on top of her, she got her left arm free and grabbed him by the hair.
“He has rules,” she said. “And he would say this to me and everyone — ‘No Touch Face rule, No Touch Hair rule.’ He was very sensitive over his hair. And so I felt like if I pulled his hair that would get him off me.”
She said that Masterson responded by hitting her hard on the face.
“I felt shocked by it. I felt angry. I started screaming,” she said.
She said Masterson got off and stood next to the bed.
“He stood up over me and spit on me and called me white trash,” she said.
Her testimony is set to continue on Tuesday.
The prosecution had planned to call Marty Singer, the attorney who represented Masterson in a civil settlement with the first accuser, on Monday. He did not appear. Outside court, the prosecutors said they are still negotiating Singer’s appearance.
Masterson is facing three counts of forcible rape that could send him to prison for 45 years to life.
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