The Cut - What If E. Jean Carroll Doesn’t Win?

“I was born in 1943,” E. Jean Carroll said by way of explanation. That Carroll is old is a salient fact in her civil case against Donald Trump, almost as important as her charge that the former president raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1995 or 1996 when she was already 51 or 52. Corroborating witness Jessica Leeds is, at 81, also old and testified that Trump felt her up as if “he had 40 zillion hands” when she was seated next to him in first class on an airplane in the late ’70s. She said she had considered the risk of being assaulted on a plane simply part of the “rigors of travel” for working women. Even when the women are younger, like 58-year-old Natasha Stoynoff, their accusations go back decades; Stoynoff provided testimony that Trump assaulted her 18 years ago when she was 40 and he was 59.

Carroll’s point was that women dealt with assault and rape differently back then. “I’m a member of the silent generation,” Carroll said on the stand in a Manhattan courthouse, describing how women her age “were taught to keep our chins up and to not complain.” She added, “The fact that I never went to the police is not surprising for someone my age.” Her testimony was, like the public persona she developed over years of writing advice to other women for Elle, by turns frank, emotional, and no-nonsense. At one point, asked to weigh whether she regretted having come forward with her allegations, Carroll paused for a long time and began to cry. “Being able to get my day in court finally is everything to me, so I’m happy,” she said, quickly composing herself. “I’m in court. This is my moment. I’m not going to sit here and cry and waste everybody’s time.”

Sign up to get the Cut Shop newsletter, our stylish weekly guide to what’s worth your money.