The ex-mistress of a French champagne magnet has been convicted of harassment, including chasing him with a knife and threatening to cut off his penis.
Samira L, 48, was given a one-year suspended sentence for pursuing Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, whose family are producers of the famous champagne brand of the same name, outside the family estate in Reims.
In addition to making death threats and harassing him, the 70-year-old’s former mistress was also found to have harassed his wife Claire, their daughter Vitalie – who currently heads the company – and another alleged mistress. That reports the Times.
But Pierre-Emmanuel’s victory in court was bittersweet. Samira L, an accountant, used the trial to make lurid allegations about their sex life that would ruin a happy retirement for him and his wife.
Taittinger first went to the police in 2017 to report a three-year campaign of harassment by his former mistress. The couple had started a relationship in 2011, which ended in 2014, much to the dismay of Samira L.
Samira L, 48, was given a one-year suspended sentence for stalking Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger (pictured with his wife Claire), whose family are producers of the famous champagne brand
The court heard that after Taittinger complained to the police about her behaviour, Samira L bombarded the businessman with text messages threatening to emasculate and kill him, before taking a train to the family home to confront him.
There she took out a knife and chased him in the middle of the street.
In a text afterwards she told him: ‘If I had had running shoes I would have caught you and killed you,’ according to The Times.
This was the culmination of three years of disturbing behavior, the Paris court was told. The woman admitted that she pursued Taittinger because she felt abused and manipulated when he broke off their affair.
He had put her up in a flat in Paris and even agreed to pay her €2,470 a month rent for four years in an attempt to calm her anger.
She also accused him of forcing her to live a life of drinking champagne while taking her on visits to the libertine sex clubs in Paris.
In court, Samira L said he would pick out outfits for her, “as well as the make-up and hair removal” and claimed he had “picked the men I was supposed to have sex with.”
She also claimed she was raped in the clubs. The managers said they had not received any such complaints from her, The Times reported.
In an effort to ruin Taittinger’s reputation, the court heard she also attempted to spread unfounded allegations of pedophilia and pimping.
Samira L chased Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger with a knife and threatened to cut off his penis at the champagne magnet’s family estate (pictured), court heard
Taittinger – grandson of Pierre Taittinger, the founder of the Champagne company, has long had a reputation for being somewhat eccentric.
Le Monde described him in 2021 as “an exuberant playboy.”
In an interview with the Irish Times in 2016he said, “I get paid to drink, I get paid to sometimes eat and make love, and sometimes I drink fine champagne.”
“Champagne is not just a wine, it is a symbol of happiness, a symbol of delicacy, of elegance,” he said at the time. He once compared sparkling wine to Viagra.
On its website, the Taittinger company describes the man as “an aesthete, an epicurean and a humanist, at the same time a dreamer and a determined man.”
In 2016, he even briefly ran for the French presidency, but quit after two days because of “a serious personal event”.
As well as making death threats and harassing him, the 70-year-old’s former mistress was also found to have harassed his wife Claire, their daughter Vitalie (pictured) – who currently heads the company – and another alleged mistress , reports The Times.
Talking to France Le Parisien newspaperAccording to Samira L’s attorney, Taittinger had exercised toxic control over his client.
“There was no loving man on one side and a manipulative woman on the other. Her existence was devoted to Taittinger… He controlled her entire life.” said Tom Michael. She felt tainted. She wanted to do the same to him.’
Nicolas Hubsch, Taittinger’s lawyer, said the judges presiding over the case clearly did not take any of Samira L’s allegations into account.
“None of this lady’s allegations have led to prosecution,” he told L’Union. “This lady has used slander to harm, intimidate and pressure my client.
She continued to use slander to defend herself, but the court was not fooled: she imposed a sentence twice what the prosecutor had asked for.
“This is a clear sign of what the judges thought of her defense,” he added.
He added that the six-year affair had “deeply affected my client morally and psychologically,” during which Taittinger was “stupidly in love” with his mistress.
A psychiatrist’s report submitted to the court stated that Samira L. had a “theatrical personality,” a disorder defined by exaggerated emotionality.
Taittinger also runs the Evremond brand, a Franco-British sparkling wine vineyard in Kent
The Taittinger Champagne company was sold to Starwood Capital, a US investment company, in 2005, causing deep divisions within the family, but Pierre-Emmanuel bought the company back a year later for €746 million.
After handing over the baton to his daughter in 2020, he is now honorary chairman of the company. He also runs the Evremond brand, a Franco-British sparkling wine vineyard in Kent.
In the Irish Times interview, he said his retirement would be a day of mixed emotions.
“I will be sad because I love my job… but I am already preparing. It will be a beautiful day. They offer me two small dogs because I want to take care of two dogs. The conversation will be great. I will have no more mistress. My wife will be happy.’