Forensic psychologist Dawn Hughes testifying at Weinstein, Diddy trials

In the coming weeks, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will go on trial in separate Manhattan courtrooms.

In the coming weeks, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will go on trial in separate Manhattan courtrooms. The two defendants face different charges, different judges and different potential punishments.

But the proceedings will share at least one element in common: testimony from a clinical and forensic psychologist named Dawn Hughes.

The upcoming court cases will not be the first time Hughes has played a key role in dramatic legal sagas at the nexus of celebrity and power in the post-#MeToo era. In recent years, Hughes has taken the witness stand in other high-profile sexual misconduct trials that drew national attention.

When the NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere went on trial in 2019, Hughes was on hand to explain to jurors how serial sexual abusers “gaslight” their victims. Two years later, Hughes testified at R. Kelly’s federal trial, telling jurors that the R&B singer had subjected victims to “psychological entrapment.”

Raniere was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and possession of child pornography. R. Kelly was convicted in 2021 on one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, a law that bars transporting people across state lines “for any immoral purpose.”