Emmanuelle Seigner was the guest of the program Quelle epoque, broadcast on France 2, this Saturday, October 22. The opportunity for her to return to her shock statement concerning the Roman Polanski affair.
The Roman Polanski affair has been talked about a lot for several years. The filmmaker was accused of rape of a minor in the 1970s by Samantha Geimer, a thirteen-year-old girl at the time of the events. On March 24, 1977, before the judge, the principal concerned pleaded “not guilty”, before returning to these remarks five months later. In August of the same year, he changed his strategy and pleaded guilty to “statutory rape” in order to avoid a public trial in the United States and get away with only 42 days in prison. A strategy that failed and led him to flee the country. Invited from Seven to Eight on October 16, Emmanuelle Seigner made comments that shocked.”I don’t think he needed to rape anyone“, she claimed. On the set of the show what time this Saturday, October 22, the one who shared the life of Roman Polanski wished to return to his words and provide details. “It was a clumsy sentence. I misspoke. I am sorry for that“, she first said before adding: “What I wanted to say is that when I met him, in 1985, he was extremely courted by a lot of women, a lot of young girls and for me, it was not always funny”. Explanations that do not pass.
Emmanuelle Seigner was determined to come back to her words and she then clarified: “He never gave me reason to be jealous, but it wasn’t always pleasant. That’s what I meant. I misspoke“. However, Léa Salamé did not seem convinced and thus retorted that we are not talking about “seducer, we are talking about accusations of rape and sexual assault“, she says before adding: “So to say: ‘all the women wanted to sleep with him’ is not an argument, it is not possible“. A few days earlier, it was on the antenna of TF1 that Emmanuelle Seigner had shocked viewers. “He was a great director, so he attracted a lot“, she had affirmed. About Samantha Geimer, she had recognized that it was “very young” but wanted to add: “It was a very permissive time during which we rented the lolita”. She then clarified: “Having started modeling at age 14, it was not a story that shocked me“, had explained Emmanuelle Seigner. Words that shocked a lot and then caused an uproar.
“I am not a crazy woman”
In his new book, titled A burnt life, Emmanuelle Seigner gives her version of the facts, as the wife of Roman Polanski and explains how she has lived in recent years. Faced with Léa Salamé, she first assures that she is not a “woman under control, in denial, I’m not a crazy woman.” She then states: “My husband is absolutely not violent. I will know it. I’ve lived with him since 1985.” For her, the presumption of innocence has been violated especially because of the MeToo movement. Regarding Roman Polanski, she assures that he feels “guilty of having sex with a teenage girl“, she specified. To date, the director still benefits from the presumption of innocence and he can count on the support of Emmanuelle Seigner.