Roman Polanski Accused of 'Extremely Violent' Rape of a French Actress When She Was 18 in 1975
Roman Polanski is facing new accusations of sexual assault.
The 86-year-old director has been accused of raping French actress Valentine Monnier in 1975 when she was 18 years old, according to Le Parisien via The Guardian.
In an interview with the French newspaper, Monnier, now 62, alleged the incident occurred at Polanski’s ski chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland.
“I had no links with him, neither personal nor professional and hardly knew him,” Monnier said, adding the alleged rape was “extremely violent.”
“He pummelled me until I gave in and then raped me, making me do all sorts of things,” she claimed.
A French lawyer for Polanski, Hervé Temime, told Le Parisien in a statement that Polanski “firmly denies all accusations of rape, adding the allegations “which date back 45 years have never been reported to judicial authorities.”
Monnier said she came forward with her allegations due to the release of Polanski’s new film J’Accuse, which opens in French theaters next week.
“Rape is a time bomb,” Monnier told the newspaper via Variety. “The memory does not fade. It becomes a ghost and it follows you, and it changes you insidiously.”
Polanski pleaded guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1977 after 13-year-old Samantha Geimer accused him of getting her drunk and giving her part of a quaalude.
He served 42 days in jail due to a plea bargain, however, he fled to France when ordered to serve the remainder of his 90-day sentence.
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Attempts by the U.S. to extradite him from Europe have been unsuccessful. The case is still ongoing, despite Geimer’s requests to have it dismissed.
In October 2017, the disgraced director was accused of raping former German actress Renate Langer at a home in Gstaad in 1972 when she was 15, according to a report by The New York Times at the time.
Temime called the allegation baseless.
Langer filed a report with the Swiss police accusing Polanski of raping her in Feb. 1972, according to the newspaper. She told the Times she came forward in hopes that the law would allow her claim to be investigated. She also explained that she kept quiet about the incident at the time, mostly in fear of her parents’ reaction.
“My mother would have had a heart attack,” she told the outlet