Roman Polanski’s victim defends her rape at age 13: It was ‘never a big problem for me’

Samantha Geimer defended Roman Polanski and denied she was ever a victim in a new interview conducted by Polanski’s wife more than 40 years after the critically acclaimed filmmaker raped Geimer at the age of 13.

“Let me be very clear: What happened with Polanski was never a big problem for me. I didn’t even know it was illegal, that someone could be arrested for it. I was fine, I’m still fine,” Geimer told Emmanuelle Seigner in an interview with France’s Le Point magazine. “The fact that we’ve made this thing up weighs on me terribly. To have to constantly repeat that it wasn’t a big deal, it’s a terrible burden.”

Polanski was arrested in 1977 for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He was accused at the time of plying a young Geimer with drugs and alcohol before he raped and sodomized her at Jack Nicholson’s Los Angeles-area home.

Polanski accepted a plea bargain and spent just 42 days in jail.

The following year, Polanski fled the United States — despite his parole status — after his legal team learned he would be hit with additional charges, which they believed would result in jail time. He has spent most of his time since living in France where he’s protected from extradition.

In 2009, he was briefly detained in Switzerland while traveling to the Zurich Film Festival. However, a Swiss court rejected an extradition request from the United States and the director was ultimately released.

“The extradition attempt, the fact that Roman was arrested like that, it was so unfair and so in opposition to justice,” Geimer told Seigner.

“From my side, nobody wanted him to go to jail, but he did and it was enough. ... Anyone who thinks that he deserves to be in prison is wrong. It isn’t the case today and it wasn’t the case yesterday.”

Geimer and Seigner reflected on how things were different, specifically in the entertainment industry, back in the 1970s, when “sex was recreational, sometimes transactional.”

“I became a model at 14 years old,” Geimer said. “All the girls, the models, slept with the photographers and I was no exception. But sex was something normal, a natural aspect of life. There wasn’t all this drama, all this darkness surrounding sex.”

Geimer also discussed the futility of the #MeToo movement, and blasted high-profile attorney Gloria Allred, saying she “just diminishes women to exploit their pain. I’m sorry but that is no defense.”

“I don’t see what’s so feminist about claiming victimhood,” she added. “Today, women’s pain is valued, and there’s a whole industry that exploits suffering.”

In a 2018 interview with IndieWire, Geimer acknowledged that her encounter with Polasnki was “rape,” but also emphasized that he wrote her a letter after the release of her 2014 memoir, taking responsibility for his behavior.

She is one of five other women that have accused Polanski of underage sexual abuse.

Geimer’s interview with Seigner was initially published in France’s Le Point magazine and was later translated by IndieWire.