Paul Haggis 'slobbered' over publicist before alleged 2013 rape

2022-10-20

Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis ‘slobbered’ over PR before raping her in 2013, leaving victim too traumatized to have sex since, court hears: Defense says she bragged about it after

The Crash director, 69, is faces a civil trial for rape in Manhattan
Haleigh Breest, 36, says the director raped her after a movie premiere in 2013 at his Soho loft when he was nearly 60
On Thursday Haleigh told the court Haggis ‘slobbered’ as he approached her open mouthed at his loft apartment
Haggis’ defense team argues the sex was consensual and that the woman texted her friend the next day to brag about the oral sex she performed on the director
He denies the allegations and says he has been the victim of lies since he left The Church of Scientology in 2009
Haggis was recently arrested in Italy on separate sexual assault claims but the charges were dropped

A former publicist described Thursday to a Manhattan jury how a ‘slobbering’ Oscar-winning director brought her back to his Soho apartment in 2013 for a drink before allegedly raping her.

Paul Haggis, 69, faces a civil trial in New York for the 2013 encounter with then 26-year-old publicist Haleigh Breest. On Tuesday, jurors were told details of the alleged attack, which is said to have happened at the Crash director’s SoHo loft.

Breest’s attorney, Zoe Salzman, told the jury Wednesday that the alleged attack left her client suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder such that she has only attempted to have sex a single time since the encounter nearly 10 years ago.

She was unable to do so.

Salzman says Breest experienced ‘flashbacks’ so severe from the alleged encounter that the sex she later attempted was unsuccessful.

Haggis’ attorney, Priya Chaundhry, said in his opening statement that Breest’s story has changed many times since the incident.

She alleges that the day after Breest texted a friend to brag about the oral sex she performed on Haggis.

Chaundhry further claims that Breest has concocted the claims to try and get ‘a lot of money’ from Haggis.

The famed director has also claimed that the Church of Scientology, which he left and renounced in 2009, has orchestrated a number of the claims against him in revenge.

Oscar-winning director Paul haggis, 69, arrived for another day of court on Thursday in Manhattan, where he is on trial for rape

Accuser Haleigh Breest said Haggis brought her back to his Soho apartment after an Upper West Side movie premiere and raped her despite her disinterest in him

Haleigh Breest, 36, arrived at court in Manhattan. She has accused Haggis of raping her in 2013 after a movie premiere

Haggis has maintained his innocence and claimed that his character has been assassinated by the vengeful Church of Scientology, which he renounced in 2009

The New York City apartment where Breest says she was raped by Haggis in 2013

Breest one year before the alleged 2013 attack

Breest is one of four Haggis accusers, though so far the only one to take her allegations to court.

She told jurors Thursday that the night of the encounter, Haggis became ‘agitated’ when she suggested the pair go to a public bar instead of his Manhattan home.

‘I didn’t want to go to his apartment,’ Breest, 36, told the jury.

Haggis maintains the sex was consensual. He says he has been smeared with false allegations of sexual misconduct ever since he left the Church of Scientology in 2009.

The fallout from his departure from the church will be a key part of his defense.

Breest filed her civil suit against the ‘Crash’ director in 2017 at the height of the #MeToo movement, claiming the renowned director had raped her on January 31, 2013, when she was 26 and working as a freelance publicist.

She said Haggis offered her a ride home after a movie premiere on the Upper West Side and over her objections took her to his loft home on Mercer Street.

Breest on Thursday recalled her cell phone being dead as she entered the director’s doorman-less building and boarded an elevator to his penthouse.

She described the kitchen and living room area and said: ‘I put my bags down, he walked toward me with his mouth open trying to kiss me.’

The director, she recalled, ‘slobbered’ as he pinned her against the refrigerator and made contact with her lips.

‘I said, ‘How about that wine?” testified Breest. ‘I wanted to remind him why I was there, for a drink and wanted to let him know without offending him.’

‘He was an important guest. He was a friend of my boss and I didn’t want to make an enemy,’ she said.

Therapist, Dr. Catherine Baker-Pitts, who treated Breest from 2017 to 2019, testified that the accuser ‘lived in a constant state of fear.’

The first witness at the trial, a publicist for a Canadian TV show, testified via video shot in 2019 that Haggis raped her while they worked together on the show Due South.

The anonymous woman is one of the four Haggis accusers. Two more of the women are expected to testify against Haggis.

One of the director’s three daughters is expected to testify on his behalf.

Haggis co-wrote the screenplays for Bond blockbusters Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, won two Oscars for Crash in 2006 and was also behind Million Dollar Baby.

According to a 12-page complaint filed in 2017, Breest claims Haggis led her to a bedroom where he removed her tights, took off his own Banana Republic boxers, and forced her to perform oral sex, instructing her to ‘put my d**k in your mouth.’

Haggis then digitally penetrated Breest, telling her ‘you’re nice and tight’, and saying he liked ‘anal sex.’

She says he then raped her without using a condom, saying: ‘I’ve had a vasectomy, so you’re fine. You can’t get pregnant.’

After the alleged attack, she says she ‘lost consciousness’ in the bedroom and later woke up to find him in a different part of the apartment.

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