The concerted public rehabilitation of Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski, 86, took another blow this month after a former French model came forward with a detailed account of a rape that was also supported by two women (including a former girlfriend of Polanski). Valentine Monnier recounted the rape at his chalet to Le Parisien newspaper which allegedly occurred in 1975 when she was 18.
Monnier said that she was a teenager at a ski resort when she was allegedly attacked. She said the assault was “extremely violent” and Polanski “pummelled me until I gave in and then raped me, making me do all sorts of things.”
“I had no links with him, neither personal nor professional, and hardly knew him,” Monnier, a former model who worked in New York, said.
She said the alleged rape was “extremely violent”, adding: “He pummelled me until I gave in and then raped me, making me do all sorts of things.”
Notably, two women have confirmed that Monnier spoke with them after the alleged attack and gave the same details.
Polanski has been repeatedly accused of being a serial abuser of girls and women. He remains a fugitive after admitting that he drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl at film star Jack Nicholson’s house in Los Angeles in 1977.
Polanski was also accused of sexual abuse in 2010 by British actress Charlotte Lewis when she was 16. Another woman in 2017 accused him for sexual assault when she was 16 in 1973. Former actress Renate Langer filed a new complaint in 2017 that she had been raped by Polanski in 1972 when she was 15.
The First Lady of France has forwarded the latest allegations to the government.