British actress Charlotte Lewis, 56, remains devastated after LOSING a French defamation case against Roman Polanski after accusing him of raping her as a teenager and then waging a ‘smear campaign’ against her

British actress Charlotte Lewis broke down in a French courthouse today after losing a libel case against Roman Polanski after accusing the filmmaker of raping her as a teenager and then waging a “smear campaign” against her.

A devastated Mrs Lewis, 56, said she felt let down by the verdict and would appeal. “I feel sad,” she said. “It’s not over for us yet.”

The 90-year-old Polanski was not present at the judgment of the Paris criminal court on Tuesday.

Lewis told the court in March that she became the victim of a “smear campaign” that “nearly destroyed” her life after she spoke out about the alleged abuse in the 1980s.

“He raped me,” the actress told the court, explaining that it had taken her time to put a name to the incident that took place in Paris when she was 16.

The verdict of this court, which specializes in media cases, concerns only the accusation of defamation and not the accusation of rape made by the actor against Polanski.

Polanski (pictured in 2019), 90, was not in court on Tuesday for the Paris criminal court’s ruling. Lewis told the court in March that she became the victim of a “smear campaign” that “nearly destroyed” her life after she spoke out about the alleged abuse in the 1980s.

The filmmaker, whose credits include the Oscar-winning “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown” and “The Pianist,” did not attend the trial hearings.

His lawyer Delphine Meillet called him to announce the news. She said the court recognized his right to challenge people who make accusations against him.

She noted that the verdict came on the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival, calling it “a symbolic day.”

“It’s a victory for the rights of the defense,” the lawyer said.

Polanski is wanted in the United States for the 1977 rape of a 13-year-old and faces several other sexual assault allegations that date back decades and have exceeded the statute of limitations – all claims he has denied.

In 1978 he fled to Europe.

Lewis accused Polanski in 2010 of abusing her “in the worst possible way” as a 16-year-old in Paris in 1983 after she traveled there for a casting session.

She appeared in his 1986 film ‘Pirates’.

The French-born filmmaker responded that it was a “heinous lie” in a 2019 conversation with Paris Match magazine.

Lewis (pictured left with her lawyer) accused Polanski in 2010 of abusing her “in the worst possible way” as a 16-year-old in Paris in 1983 after she traveled there for a casting session

Lewis, pictured today, appeared in Polanski’s 1986 film “Pirates.”

According to Paris Match, he pulled out a copy of a 1999 article in the now-defunct British tabloid newspaper News of the World and quoted Lewis in it: “I wanted to be his lover.”

Lewis has said that the quotes attributed to her in that interview were not accurate.

She filed a complaint for defamation, and the film director was automatically charged under French law.

Stuart White, who wrote the 1999 News of the World article that Polanski referred to, was also in the courtroom.

“The interview I gave to Stuart White was not the interview that was in the newspaper,” Lewis said, adding that she did not discover the article until years later.

White said he interviewed Lewis twice after the newspaper paid 30,000 pounds ($38,000 at today’s rates) for exclusive rights.

He insisted she had agreed to a “vice girl” angle on the 1999 story, but said he could not remember whether she had asked to approve the text before it was published.

In this file photo taken on May 8, 1986, film director Roman Polanski (right) and British actress Charlotte Lewis (left) pose prior to the screening of the film ‘Pirates’ during the Cannes International Film Festival. Lewis was 16 when she appeared in the film

In 2010, Lewis said she decided to speak out against suggestions from Polanski’s legal team that the 1977 rape case was an isolated incident.

Switzerland, France and Poland have refused to extradite Polanski to the US.

Between 2017 and 2019, four other women came forward with claims that Polanski also abused them in the 1970s, three of them as minors.

He has denied all allegations.