An Artist from California says controversial director Roman Polanski — a convicted child rapist — molested her at a photoshoot when she was a 10 year old, per Page Six.
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Marianne Barnard spoke to The Sun about the incident when she met Polanski in Malibu back in 1975. He was to take photos of her in a bikini and fur coat on some rocks.
Barnard recalls that Polanski requested she remove her top, but at the time says she thought nothing of it being that she was only a child.
She goes on to say that "he wanted to me to take my bikini bottoms off — I started to feel very uncomfortable," adding that she also realized that her mother, who had accompanied her to the shoot, had then walked away.
Barnard chillingly continued, "I don't know where she went and I didn't really register her leaving but she was no longer there. Then he molested me."
AP
She explained that the abuse has caused her to suffer from PTSD as well as claustrophobia — and added that she chose to finally come forward with her story after the multiple Harvey Weinstein allegations came out.
"I felt like I wasn't doing the right thing by being quiet and I needed to speak out," she told The Sun.
In 1977, Roman Polanski, 84, was charged with raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer. He has continued to work and live outside the United States, directing major Hollywood films like "The Pianist," for which he won an Academy Award for best director.
Barnard is currently working to have Polanski removed from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, as was recently done to Weinstein.
