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A former publicist described before a jury in Manhattan on Thursday how a “drooling” Oscar-winning director brought her back to his Soho apartment for drinks in 2013 before allegedly raping her.
Paul Haggis, 69, faces a civil lawsuit in New York for his 2013 meeting with then 26-year-old publicist Haleigh Breest. On Tuesday, jurors were told details of the alleged attack, which allegedly took place at the Crash director’s SoHo loft.
Breest’s attorney Zoe Salzman told the jury on Wednesday that the alleged assault left her client suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, such that she has only attempted sex once since meeting nearly 10 years ago.
She was unable to do so.
Salzman says Breest had “flashbacks” so severe from the alleged encounter that the sex she later tried was unsuccessful.
Haggis’ attorney, Priya Chaundhry, said in his opening statement that Breest’s story has changed many times since the incident.
She claims Breest texted a friend the next day to brag about the oral sex she performed on Haggis.
Chaundhry further alleges that Breest made up the claims to try to get “a lot of money” from Haggis.
The famed director also claimed that the Church of Scientology, which he left and denounced in 2009, orchestrated some of the claims against him in revenge.
Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis, 69, arrived Thursday for another day of court in Manhattan, where he is on trial for rape
Prosecutor Haleigh Breest said Haggis took her back to his Soho apartment after a movie premiere on the Upper West Side and raped her despite her disinterest in him.
Haleigh Breest, 36, arrived at the Manhattan courthouse. She has accused Haggis of raping her in 2013 after a movie premiere
Haggis has maintained his innocence, claiming that his character was murdered by the vengeful Church of Scientology, which he renounced in 2009.
The New York City apartment where Breest says he was raped by Haggis in 2013
Breest a year before the alleged attack in 2013
Breest is one of four Haggis accusers, but so far the only one to take her charges to court.
She told the jury Thursday that on the night of the meeting, Haggis became “agitated” when she suggested the couple go to a public bar instead of his Manhattan home.
“I didn’t want to go to his apartment,” 36-year-old Breest told the jury.
Haggis insists the sex was consensual. He says he has been infested with false accusations of sexual misconduct since he left the Church of Scientology in 2009.
The consequences of his departure from the Church will be an important part of his defense.
Breest filed her civil suit against the ‘Crash’ director in 2017 at the height of the #MeToo movement, alleging that the famous director raped her on January 31, 2013, when she was 26 and was working as a freelance publicist.
She said Haggis offered her a ride home after a movie premiere on the Upper West Side and took her to his Mercer Street loft over her objections.
Breest recalled on Thursday that her cell phone was dead when she entered the warden’s doorless building and climbed an elevator to his penthouse.
She described the kitchen and living room and said, “I put my bags down, he walked up to me with his mouth open and tried to kiss me.”
The director, she recalled, “drooled” as he pressed her against the refrigerator and made contact with her lips.
‘I said, ‘What about that wine?’ Breest testified. “I wanted to remind him why I was there for a drink and 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 videotape in 2019 that Haggis raped her while they were working together on the show Due South.
The anonymous woman is one of the four Haggis prosecutors. 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.
Haggis out of court in Manhattan on Monday morning with his attorney Priya Chaudhry. He denies the allegations and says he is being blackmailed
Oscar-winning producer Paul Haggis (pictured left as he arrives at court today) faces a rape charge in civil court. He has not been arrested
Haleigh Breest will leave court on Monday. She demands unspecified damages from Haggis
Breest with her lawyer at lunch on Monday. She says she waited ‘years’ to bring Haggis to justice
According to a 12-page complaint filed in 2017, Breest alleges that Haggis led her into a bedroom where he took off her pantyhose, took off his own Banana Republic boxer and forced her to have oral sex, instructing her “my d**k in your mouth.’
Haggis then digitally invaded Breest, telling her “you’re nice and tight” and saying he liked “anal sex.”
She says he then raped her without a condom, saying, “I 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 another part of the apartment.