FILE - Director Roman Polanski appears at an international film festival, where he promoted his film,"Based on a True Story," in Krakow, Poland, on May 2, 2018. A woman has sued director Polanski, alleging he raped her in his home when she was a minor in 1973. The woman aired the allegations, which the 90-year-old Polanski has denied, in a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. , alleging he raped her in his home when she was a minor in 1973.
She said she became groggy, and Polanski drove her home. She next remembers lying next to him in his bed. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in June under a California law that temporarily allowed people to file claims of childhood sexual abuse after the statute of limitations had expired. Under the law, Polanski also could not be named initially, so the lawsuit was not reported on by media outlets. It seeks damages to be determined at trial.
At the time, the woman who has now filed the civil lawsuit gave her first name and middle initial and said she was 16 at the time of the assault. A major figure in the New Hollywood film renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s, Polanski directed movies including “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown.”