Director Paul Haggis Tells Court Encounter With Accuser Was Consensual

Director Paul Haggis took the stand in a New York courtroom Wednesday morning, pushing back on allegations he raped a publicist at his Manhattan penthouse suite in 2013.

Haggis told the jury that plaintiff Haleigh Breest acted “playful” and “cartoony” when he asked her to come back to his SoHo loft for a late night drink—and willingly kissed him back—after months of exchanging “flirtatious” emails following a Manhattan film premiere on Jan. 31, 2013.

“Why did you invite Ms. Breest over for a drink?” Priya Chaudhry, Haggis’ attorney asked him.

“I was interested in spending much more time with her,” the Hollywood producer said, who also claimed “I’ve always been a flirt.” “I really liked her and I wanted to see where this went.”

“I said let’s go to my place for a glass of wine,” Haggis recounted. “She said ‘OK.’ Then she said something really odd. She said, ‘OK, I’ll come but I’m not going to spend the night’.”

“Why did you describe that as odd?” Chaudhry countered.

“If somebody says they’re not going to spend the night or they’re going to sleep over it’s an odd thing to say when you’re going for a drink,” Haggis explained. “It seemed to indicate that there’s a knowledge things could go further but she’s not going to sleepover. I hadn’t invited her to sleepover. It was just odd.”

Breest, 36, a former publicist who had been working the film premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 thriller Side Effects, where she encountered Haggis on the night of the alleged rape, previously testified that she felt like a “caged animal” as Haggis made unwanted advances on her.

Breest testified she ultimately consented to have a drink at his apartment but stated the incident quickly devolved.

“He’s trying to pull my tights down and I’m trying to pull them up,” Breest testified. “He looked like the devil—he looked totally different than I’d seen him before.”

On the stand Wednesday, however, Haggis was adamant that Breest smiled at him after he kissed her closed mouth shortly after arriving at his luxury building.

“Immediately before you kissed Ms. Breest, what was the expression on her face?” Chaudhry asked.

“Smiling,” Haggis said.

“What was the expression on your face?” Chaudhry replied.

“Smiling,” he repeated. “I leaned forward… and I kissed her closed mouth, like one second.”

He said Breest, who he said acted “surprised,” later used his bathroom, before the pair kissed a second time in Haggis’ kitchen.

“What did Breest do when you kissed her a second time?” Chaudhry asked after displaying images of Haggis’ suite for the jury.

“She was kissing me back,” he said.

Paul Haggis’ Rape Accuser Tells Court ‘He Looked Like the Devil’

Breest, who filed her civil suit in 2017 at the height of the #MeToo movement, testified earlier at trial that she first came forward with the accusations after she saw the Million Dollar Baby writer speak out against convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein on social media and in The Guardian. Breest maintains that Haggis forced her to perform oral sex on him before raping her. She’s seeking unspecified damages.

Breest initially filed her suit after she unsuccessfully attempted to attain a $9 million out-of-court settlement from Haggis, whose lawyers subsequently scoffed at the move, labeling it a shakedown intended to bankrupt the Hollywood filmmaker. Haggis later sued Breest denying the accusations. Breest ultimately countersued Haggis for rape.

The two-time Oscar-winner, meanwhile, has long-asserted the encounter was consensual.

A former Scientologist, Haggis has accused the church of manufacturing the sexual assault allegations and the case against him as retribution from publicly defecting from the controversial religion in 2009.

He was a church member for 35 years. Haggis testified Wednesday how he’d reached the OT VII—the highest possible ranking a follower can attain within the “extreme” religion.

“It’s what they call Operating Thetan,” Haggis said.

Haggis testified he gave a “stupid amount” of cash to the religion—estimating he’d shelled out approximately $250,000 for “auditing,” the controversial and so-called healing practice, which he likened to interrogation.

“Even when they’re interrogating you, you pay for it,” Haggis testified. “It was a lot.”

Haggis, who later learned the sessions were recorded, said the church’s auditors were “fixated on sex and women.” He spoke of the alleged “beatings” high-ranking church members doled out to disobedient clergy members.

Haggis became emotional at one point on the stand, removing his glasses to wipe away tears as he spoke about the isolation he’s undergone since being accused.

He applauded the continued support of his ex-wife, TV actress, Deborah Rennard, who testified earlier on Wednesday.

“She’s remarkable,” Haggis said, his voice cracking. “She’s been my best friend ever since.”

“How would you describe your relationship with Ms. Rennard now?” Chaudhry asked.

Haggis also testified Wednesday that the only time he’d ever been violent towards women was when he punched his first wife after she allegedly attacked him with a knife.

Haggis has claimed the case’s drawn-out case litigation has effectively bankrupted him.

“I’m incredibly nervous, of course,” Haggis testified moments after taking the stand Wednesday. “And I’m very happy. Because for five years I’ve been unable to clear my name.”

Hon. Sabrina Kraus, the judge presiding over the case, previously ruled Haggis could argue that the Church of Scientology was involved with the case.

Last week, Mike Rinder, a former senior executive in the Church of Scientology testified that Haggis was one of the religion’s “top-three enemies” of the religion.

During the trial’s opening statements his lawyers referred to the church as a “world-famous criminal organization.”

“The circumstantial evidence of Scientology’s involvement here will be powerful,” Haggis’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry previously said in court.

Actress and ex-Scientologist Leah Remini and Susan Sarandon, are also rumored to take the stand in Haggis’ defense.

Four other women, who came forward after Breest filed her suit, have also accused Haggis of sexually assaulting them, or attempting to, during incidents that occurred between 1996 and 2015.

In June, Haggis was also arrested in Italy after a “foreign woman” accused the film mogul of having “non-consensual relations” with a “foreign woman” at a film festival in the country. He spent 16 days on house arrest in a hotel before an Italian court dismissed the case. Haggis’ lawyers had then-claimed the unnamed victim in the case sought to fabricate the allegations because she’d been fixated on earning a screen credit as a “Bond Girl.”

Haggis, dressed in a black suit, light blue dress shirt and navy tie, left court on Wednesday flanked by his children and numerous family members. He forced a fleeting smile as he strode past court reporters.

Breest’s attorney, Ilann Maazel, declined to comment following the afternoon proceedings.

Haggis’ testimony is expected to continue Thursday morning.

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