A former publicist on Thursday described to a Manhattan jury how a “drooling” Paul Haggis took her back to his Soho apartment for a drink in 2013 before allegedly raping her.
The Oscar-winning Crash director, 69, is on trial in New York for meeting publicist Haleigh Breest, then 26, in 2013.
Breest’s attorney, Zoe Salzman, told jurors Wednesday that her client suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the alleged assault, such that she has attempted sex only once since the encounter nearly 10 years ago.
She wasn’t able to.
Salzman says Breest experienced such violent “flashbacks” from the alleged encounter that the sex she later attempted was unsuccessful.
Haggis’ attorney, Priya Chaundhry, said in his opening remarks that Breest’s story has changed many times since the incident and that the day after, Breest texted a friend to brag about the oral sex she performed on Haggis .
The famous director has also claimed that the Church of Scientology, which he left and renounced in 2009, has orchestrated a series of lawsuits against him.
Oscar winner Paul Haggis, 69, arrived Thursday for another court day in Manhattan where he is on trial for rape
Prosecutor Haleigh Breest said Haggis brought her back to his Soho apartment after a film premiere on the Upper West Side and raped her despite her disinterest in him
Haleigh Breest, 36, arrived in court in Manhattan. She has accused Haggis of raping her after a film premiere in 2013
Haggis has maintained his innocence, claiming that his character was murdered by the vengeful Church of Scientology, which he abandoned in 2009
The New York apartment where Breest says she was raped by Haggis in 2013
Breest a year before the alleged 2013 attack
Breest is one of four haggis accusers, although so far the only one to have arrested her
allegations in court.
She told jurors Thursday that Haggis was “excited” the night of the encounter when she suggested the two go to a public bar instead of his Manhattan home.
“I didn’t want to go to his apartment,” Breest, 36, told jurors.
Haggis claims the sex was consensual. He says he has been smeared with false allegations of sexual misconduct since leaving the Church of Scientology in 2009.
The consequences of his leaving the Church will be a key element of his defense.
Breest filed her civil lawsuit against the ‘Crash’ director in 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement, alleging that the renowned director raped her on January 31, 2013, when she was 26 and working as a freelance publicist.
She said Haggis offered to drive her home after a film premiere on the Upper West Side and, despite her objections, took her to his Mercer Street attic.
Breest recalled on Thursday that her phone was dead when she entered the building without the principal’s bouncer and boarded a lift to his penthouse.
Describing the kitchen and living room area, she said, “I put my bags down, he came up to me with his mouth open and tried to kiss me.”
The principal, she recalled, “drooled” as he held her against the fridge and touched her lips.
“I said, ‘How about that wine?'” Breest testified. “I wanted to remind him why I was there, have 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.
The therapist dr. Catherine Baker-Pitts, who treated Breest from 2017 to 2019, testified that the accuser “lived in a constant state of anxiety.”
The first witness at the trial, a publicist for a Canadian television show, testified via video taken 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 accusers. Two more of the women are expected to testify against Haggis.
One of the director’s three daughters is said to testify for him.
Haggis co-wrote the screenplays for the Bond blockbusters Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, won two Oscars for Crash in 2006, and is also the creator of Million Dollar Baby.
Haggis in court in Manhattan Monday morning with his attorney Priya Chaudhry. He denies the allegations and says he is being blackmailed
Academy Award-winning producer Paul Haggis (pictured left arriving at court) faces a rape charge in civil court. He wasn’t arrested
Haleigh Breest leaves court on Monday. She demands damages from Haggis in an unspecified amount
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 Haggis led her into a bedroom where he removed her pantyhose, removed his own Banana Republic boxer shorts and forced her to perform oral sex by instructing her to ” to set my tail”. k in your mouth.’
Haggis then digitally penetrated Breest and told her “You’re nice and tight” and said he likes “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 said she “lost consciousness” in the bedroom and later woke to find him in another part of the apartment.