Filmmaker Roman Polanski has been accused of raping French actor Valentine Monnier in 1975 when she was 18 years old.
According to Le Parisien via Variety, Monnier said the director raped her at a ski chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, in 1975. "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.
Monnier, now 62, 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. The memory does not fade. It becomes a ghost and it follows you, and it changes you insidiously" she said. Polanski's lawyer, Herve Temime, told Le Parisien the 86-year-old director "firmly denies all accusations of rape, adding the allegations which date back 45 years have never been reported to judicial authorities."
The director 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 ran away to France when ordered to serve the remainder of his 90-day sentence. Attempts by the US to extradite him from Europe have been unsuccessful. The case is still ongoing, despite Geimer's requests to have it dismissed.
In 2017, Polanski was also was accused of raping former German actress Renate Langer in Gstaad in 1972, when she was 15.
