Claiming that Roman Polanski’s legal team is wrongly spinning the story of his sexual abuse of a minor over three decades ago “as an isolated incident,” British actress Charlotte Lewis piped up on Friday to declare that the director had “forced himself” upon her when she was 16 years old.
“He sexually abused me in the worst possible way,” Lewis said during a press conference with her lawyer — guess who? — Gloria Allred by her side. According to Lewis, Polanski assaulted her in 1982 in his apartment in Paris, after he had already fled the U.S. for Europe. –KA
The Wrap:
Lewis, now 42, who read from a prepared statement, appeared composed as she said Polanski “met me and forced himself upon me in his apartment in Paris” in 1982. She later worked on the director’s movie “Pirates,” released in 1986.
Lewis said she came forward because she heard Polanski was fighting extradition to the U.S., where he’s supposed to face sentencing in the 1977 case involving a 13-year-old girl. She said, “His legal team is portraying his previous offense against a minor as an isolated incident.
“In addition to the fact that both myself and his previous victim were underage, I believe that there are other similarities in the crimes that he committed,” Lewis said.