A British actress who accuses Roman Polanski of raping her sold a story about her life as a 14-year-old prostitute for £30,000, a French court has heard.
The interview by Charlotte Lewis, now 56, also contained lurid details about how she romantically pursued the film director, intending to become his lover.
The will is key evidence in a defamation trial against Polanski, 90, who denies attacking Lewis when he was 16 in 1986.
His lawyers told the Paris Correctional Court that Lewis never reported the attack to police.
Instead, he waited until 2010, when he made the claim during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival.
Charlotte Lewis (pictured) went public with rape allegations in 2010 during a press conference at the Cannes film festival.
Roman Polanski (pictured right, in 1986) is being sued by Charlotte Lewis for defamation in France.
Lewis sold his story to the now-defunct News of the World in 1999 for £30,000, and journalist Stuart White (pictured) took on the story.
When, in 2019, Polanski defended himself in a Paris Match article, portraying Ms Lewis as a liar and a former child prostitute, she sued him for defamation.
Referring to the 1999 interview he sold to the now-defunct News of the World for £30,000, he told the Paris court: ‘People believed what was written in the articles about me. They called me a prostitute.’
But Stuart White, the British journalist who wrote the article, said he defended its accuracy.
White, 77, told the court it was written with the full co-operation of Mrs Lewis and told the story of how she became “a high-end prostitute at fourteen.”
Mr White said: ‘Mrs Lewis and I discussed at length how best to reveal and write these new revelations.
“Our intention, as I told you, was to be as compassionate as possible and write the story accordingly.”
Mr White said: “I remember she was pleased with the way she had presented the story, making it clear that she had been a victim of predators.”
In 2019, Lewis asked White to make a sworn statement saying he had made up the prostitute story, but he refused.
Mr White recalled saying: ‘Charlotte, if you think we made up this story, why did you wait twenty years to complain?
“You could have sued the News of the World next week.”
Ms Lewis responded that she had only read the article 10 years later, something Mr White described as “absurd and incredible”.
White was the only witness called by the defense in the day-long defamation trial, which ended around midnight Tuesday.
Polanski pleaded guilty to having illegal sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl in 1977
In 2019, Lewis asked White to make a sworn statement saying he had made up the prostitute story, but he refused.
It was the first time Polanski, a married father of two, has faced justice since he fled the United States in 1977.
It was the first time Polanski, a married father of two, has faced justice since he fled the United States in 1977 after pleading guilty to having unlawful sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl.
Despite this, he stayed out of court and let his lawyers defend him against accusations he vehemently denies.
Polanski, whose hit films include Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist, used the 2019 interview with Paris March to describe the rape allegation as an “egregious lie.”
She also produced a copy of the News of the World article, which quoted Mrs Lewis as saying: “She was fascinated by him and wanted to be his lover.”
Polanski remains a fugitive from American justice after having sexual relations with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in Hollywood in 1977, after having entertained her with champagne.
He then fled to his home country, France, which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.
He is now married to actress Emmanuelle Seigner, 58, with whom he has two children who are now actors: Morgane Polanski, 31, and Elvis Polanski, 26.
Polanski’s defamation trial has already concluded and the sentence will be handed down on May 14.