‘I’ve never raped a woman’: French director Luc Besson denies sex attack on actress Sand Van Roy and eight other women as he speaks publicly about allegations for first time

  • Actress Sand Van Roy claims he raped her four times in 'controlling professional relationship'
  • Besson said they were in a consensual relationship at the time of allegations
  • Eight other women also said French film director assaulted or harassed them 

French film director Luc Besson has denied raping actress Sand Van Roy and has dismissed all other allegations of assault, but admits he 'made some mistakes'. 

A judge reopened a rape investigation into the director of 1997 science fiction film, The Fifth Element, on Friday, eight months after Paris prosecutors dropped a case brought by Van Roy, a Dutch-Belgian actress.

Van Roy, 28, told police last year she was repeatedly raped by Besson, 60.

Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy, 28, told police last year that she was repeatedly raped by Besson, 60, during an on-off relationship with him
French film director Luc Besson denied raping the young actress, as he speaks publicly for the first time about the sex allegations against him

Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy, 28, says she was repeatedly raped by French film director Luc Besson. He has denied raping the young actress, as he speaks publicly for the first time about the sex allegations against him

Sand Van Roy attends the screening of 'A Hidden Life'  during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2019. Van Roy first went to the police with the allegations of sexual assault in May 2018 after spending a night with Besson in a luxury Paris hotel

Sand Van Roy attends the screening of 'A Hidden Life'  during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2019. Van Roy first went to the police with the allegations of sexual assault in May 2018 after spending a night with Besson in a luxury Paris hotel

She is one of nine women who have said they were assaulted or harassed by the powerful director and producer, whose 2017 space odyssey, 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets', was the most expensive European film ever made. 

Van Roy had minor roles in his 2018 film, 'Taxi 5' and in the 2017 film 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'.

Besson has admitted having a relationship with Van Roy but dismissed her as a 'fantasist'.

'This case is a lie from A to Z. I did not rape that woman, I have never raped a woman in my life,' he told French media outlet BFMTV.

'I have never lifted a hand to a woman, I have never threatened a woman...' he said in extracts from the interview, which will be broadcast in full today. 

The maker of hits such as 'Nikita', whose legal problems have coincided with a run of box office failures, also denied ever harassing women or holding them against their will.

However, Besson said that he had a relationship with Van Roy and had made 'some mistakes'.

'I betrayed my wife and my children. It did not only happen once, it happened several times during our 20 years of marriage,' he added.

Van Roy first went to the police in May 2018 after a meeting with Besson in a luxury Paris hotel.

Two months later she said that she had been raped four times over the two years when she had been 'in a controlling professional relationship' with the director.

She said she had feared for her career if she complained.

Police questioned Besson about the accusations in October 2018.

One actress later told prosecutors that she had to escape on 'her hands and knees' from an audition in Besson's Paris office in 2002.

A source close to the new investigation said preliminary inquiries into accusations by another woman are still underway in Paris.

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