White Filmmaker Accused Of Raping Underage Actress For 3 Years
A French filmmaker has been arrested after bombshell accusations that he sexually abused an underage actress in the early 2000s.
Christophe Ruggia was taken into custody Tuesday after Adèle Haenel alleged in 2019 that he molested her between the ages of 12 and 15.
The 55-year-old child rapist could be charged with sexual harassment and sexual assault of a minor by a person of authority, according to Paris’ prosecutor’s office.
Haenel, now 31, claims the harassment commenced in 2002, while promoting the child rapist’s film “Les Diables — which was also her movie debut.
The sex terrorist has previously denied the allegations, according to BBC News.
The filmmaker supposedly developed an unhealthy fascination with his young star during filming of “Les Diables,” according to an investigation.
He offered Haenel an invitation to his home, where he tried kissing her and confessed to being in love with her in 2002, according to the actress.
Three years later, she claimed to have attempted to sever ties with the monster while seeking assistance from members of his inner circle. But few, according to her, were empathetic.
Haenel decided to speak out after viewing “Leaving Neverland,” the 2019 documentary that explored Michael Jackson’s relationship with kids, reported Variety.
“It changed my perspective,” recalled Haenel after viewing it. “It made me see I had too long clung to the version of Christophe Ruggia, that it had all been a story of love. . . . It made me understand the mechanisms of control and fascination.”
Although the pedophile has denied molesting Haenel, he has conceded to making “errors” in his conduct.
“I did not see that my adulation for her, and the hopes I placed in her, might — given her young age — come across at times as irksome," Ruggia had previously said. "If this is what happened . . . I ask her pardon.”
Haenel has won two Césars — the French equivalent of the Academy Awards. She currently stars in the critically acclaimed drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”