Roman Polanski spent the first days of this month giving some rare public statements about his flight from justice, and how he already served his time for raping a child in the 1970s and how he deserves to be free of legal jeopardy. Unfortunately for everyone, in the same 24-hour newscycle, a woman came forward and said she was sexually assaulted by Polanski when she was just 15 years old, back in 1972. The 1970s were a criminal time for Polanski, it seems, because now another victim has come forward to say that Polanski molested her when she was just 10 years old.
A California artist says Polish director and convicted child rapist Roman Polanksi molested her during a photo shoot when she was 10-years-old. Marianne Barnard told The Sun the incident occurred when she met Polanksi for a shoot near Malibu in 1975, where he arranged to take photos of Barnard in a bikini and a fur coat on a group of rocks. At first, Polanski asked the girl to take her top off, but she thought nothing of it since she was only a kid.
“But then he wanted me to take my bikini bottoms off – I started to feel very uncomfortable,” said Barnard, who also realized her mom, who had accompanied her there, had walked away.
“I don’t know where she went and I didn’t really register her leaving but she was no longer there. Then he molested me,” Barnard said. Barnard said the abuse has caused her to suffer from PTSD and claustrophobia, but she finally chose to break her silence after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke.
“I felt like I wasn’t doing the right thing by being quiet and I needed to speak out,” she said. Polanski was charged with raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977, and has lived in exile ever since. Barnard has now launched a petition to have Polanski kicked out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
It would not surprise me in the least if there was a new outpouring of accusations against Polanski, especially from his “Hollywood years,” the late 1960s and ‘70s. I’m sure he abused and assaulted women in Europe as well, let’s be clear. He fled from justice and went to live in Europe… what? Forty years ago? I doubt he just “stopped” when he got to Europe. So the question is… why is Harvey Weinstein being condemned and everyone is pledging to never work with him again, and yet people are still lining up to work with Polanski? Shouldn’t the Academy kick out Polanski as well? Shouldn’t actors refuse to work with him too? Ugh.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
This is why Weinstein caused a “crisis” for the Academy? If they kick out all of th abusers, their membership roles will be decidedly smaller.
Good. Maybe they’ll be replaced by less entitled, diverse human beings.
Precisely. The voting pool could handle being shrunk a bit. I don’t see why it’s a bad thing.
Not only less entitled, less criminal.
YES THIS @slowsnow
Of course. And then they will have to reckon with how they applaud someone who is a child rapist and countless other predators they hold to the highest of esteem.
Hollywood is ripe with the worst of humanity.
The academy gave a standing ovation for this rapists and it is impossible the “I didn’t know he was problematic” speech they are so giving right now to polanski case, he was convicted.
They know and keep praising him, honoring him and working with him, so the outrage going on in Hollywood circle sounds soo fake and this is why people have a hard time to believe in sincerity on a double standards moral preachers stars
Yep. I will never forget seeing Streep give Polanski a standing ovation. Surely she knew at the time she gave him that standing ovation, that he had raped a 13 year old girl and admitted to it. Yet Streep started the ovation.
I hate everyone who supports this man, but I understand why so many don’t want to speak up. His backstory has been tragic, I hate the fact that he’s a holocaust survivor because I think that’s where people feel the most pity for him. A lot of people seem to think it’s because of the Manson Murders, I tend to think Hollywood supports him due to his status as a holocaust survivor. It’s hard to look someone in the eye who’s experienced the worst of humanity and tell them they need to go to jail, or to think that they’re awful.
But that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to his crimes. He’s a pedophile, he’d be convicted of raping a child. He’s admitting to raping a child. He’s been accused of raping others. Hollywood needs to not work with him, not applaud him and certainly, someone needs to bring him back to the US and let him live out the rest of his days in prison.
Yes, someone pointed out to m that that’s the reason why France is so understanding with him. There is a very complex relationship with judaism in France still and the horrible Manson murders adds to his status as a victim. But he should be perhaps looked at someone with PTSD and treated as such. Might there be some connection with his sexual tendencies?
There is no connection between surviving major horrors such as a concentration camp, being a prisoner of war or surviving the death of a spouse killed tragically and being a child molestor. Millions upon millions of the world’s population (from Asia to Africa to Europe to the Muddle East) have suffered one or more of the above without the pedophillia rates amongst them rising. Israel is not a cesspool of pedophiles despite having many Holocaust survivors. It’s so offensive of Polanski defenders in Hollywood to associate the two together.
No pedophilia is an illness all on its own and has no cure. Hollywood is always happy to make excuses for “movie geniuses”. But only if they are men.
@ORIGINAL T.C THANK YOU. It is such an insult to those with PTSD to address it like that. The man is slime. And I know many Holocaust survivors who literally spit at his name because of how that collective trauma is used to excuse his monstrosities. It’s a slap in the face.
@ORIGINAL @WendyNerd
I know this is a tough subject and I am by no means implying that concentration camp survivor/PTSD=sex predator.
I mean that this guy has to be handled as a criminal, whether his pedophilia is trauma-induced (you know this happens right?) or just plain, well, him.
I have similar feelings… he was a victim for half of his life. His unborn child was killed, his family died and he lost many friends… But what the heck has to happen so you turn into child molestor? Is that connected to his past? Like he had no control so he controled the ones who were innocent and scared?
Polanski seems like someone who needs medical help. He always had sth very scary and yet sad about him.
The Pianist is a brilliant movie. It is hard not to think about him while watching his movies. But i learned that with Jackson. And others before i was born. You separate the work and focus on art. And when the movie or a song or a novel are done, you go back to hating that person…
I had a fb friend of a friend defend Polanski because of his ‘tragic past.’
Nope, it is tragic but it can’t be an excuse. This friend, who’s a woman, also wrote that she liked Woody Allen.
Yeah I mean is his victim allowed to run someone else over with her car because she is a rape victim? No, thats not how it works.
There is NO excuse of a “tragic past”; he’s been busy giving blameless young girls tragic pasts that it’ll take them years to get over. Plenty of people experience tragedy, yet do not go on to rape little girls.
I see your point, but im pretty sure pedophiles end up at the same circle of hell as Nazis do. It is a similar concept: using your power and supremacy to take advantage of a vulnerable, weakened person.
And yes, his story is tragic. To those who would empathize or defend Polanski due to his tragic past (ahem, Kate Winslet), I would say:
Many people with tragic backgrounds rise above and spend their lives empowering other vulnerable people to do the same. Polanski has done the opposite. He believes he is entitled to rape young girls and that ANYONE else lucky enough to be in his position would do the exact same. It’s indefensible.
Of course it’s indefensible. I’m just saying that he’s protected because of it. I feel like Polanski would have faded away if it wasn’t for his victim status. It’s not like his movies are that good.
@Diva I was directing that to those who defend Polanski on the grounds you said in your comment (like a Kate Winslet), not towards you. I edited my comment to make it a bit clearer. 🤙🏻
You would think that someone who went through such trauma, the holocaust and his wife being killed while she was pregnant, would make him have more empathy.
Not cause trauma to a child.
This whole “he is a survivor, cut him some slack” is even more offensive to me than “he is a great director”. Are people actually using the HOLOCAUST to defend a child rapist? Seriously???
No, surviving the Holocaust does not make people pedophiles. We should keep things clearly separated.
I really hope Weinstein is bringing Polanski and Allen down with him (and every other predator we don’t know about).
Yeah this is the first time I heard this kind of “logic”. What the hell? Do not use that tragedy to defend a child rapist.
His sexual criminality is not a result of his incarceration during the Holocaust, nor is his ongoing freedom from prosecution a matter of French guilt over its treatment of Jews.
He is a warped person who has assaulted children and used other aspects of his history to get away with it.
My sympathy lies with Holocaust survivors who went on to lead good, just, productive lives.
Most criminals have some sort of trauma in their past. THat can never be an excuse. It can only help when trying to find out how to prevent crimes.
I find this insanely offensive to the people who were murdered in the Holocaust to let someone who wasnt get away with terrible crimes beause of that. Seriously, what kind of logic is that?
News to me. I didn’t even KNOW he was a holocaust survivor! I actually thought he was Polish and hence probably Catholic. Lol just goes to show how much I have researched him personally. I just assumed (having seen the crime scene photo of a bloodied Sharon Tate) it was because his wife and unborn child were brutally murdered.
@milla its that sort of attitude that has enabled him and people have used to excuse him.
There have been survivors of war and trauma that did not go on to rape children. There is nothing sad about him-hes just a creep, he doesnt deserve pity. So gonna have to call bullshit on your defense of him there.
God, there’s so much emotional anguish and suffering in the world lately. My heart can’t take it anymore. When will it stop??
It has always been like this, Miss V. You’re lucky you didn’t know.
This is just horrendous.
In my environment there is a lot of talk about excellent writers/philosophers who were nazi sympathisers or anti-semitic such as Ferdinand Céline and Heidegger and should be our position about it.
I separate the artist from the work UNLESS the work mirrors those ideas.
In Polanski’s case I haven’t watched his first movies in decades but I remember thinking Bitter Moon was a rather bleak vision of sexuality within a couple. It’s a horrible, empty film.
Disclaimer: I cannot liste to Chris Brown’s music…
Ugh stories about this slime ball just get worse. That poor woman.
Pedophiles almost always have muliple victims. I hope anyone else he sexually assaulted has the courage to speak out now. Let’s not forget all the buddies of Polanski’s that helped him the night he assaulted the 13 year old in his home. Jack Nicholson was in the house that night and aware that girl was there.
Nicholson was not there but Angelica Huston,Nicholson’s girlfriend was in the house.She even saw the girl after her rape.She looked normal according to Huston.
They should take his oscar away and kick him out of the academy. There was a court case and he was nearly extradited back to the US, so there’s more legal backing to do that compared to HW, which really has been a tipping point.
When the Jimmy Savile revelations came out in the U.K. the resulting police investigations led to other cases and convictions (incl Rolf Harris who was sentenced to 5 yrs and released recently).
I’m glad the stories are still coming, the more that come, the more that are exposed, the harder it will be to pretend this is a one off, that it was just ‘one bad man’.
The default seems to be to assume this type of stuff is like a meteor strike, or volcanic explosion. An act of god with no way of stopping it.
It’s so much easier that way, you don’t have to examine what you did to promote it, what signs you missed, and how you can do better. You can instead slap the naughty man on the wrist, expound on the ‘evil’ of certain people, feel justified, and move on.
so articulate @detritus you nailed it.
ugh. This man has undoubtedly been molesting children his whole life. It’s not like a hobby you pick up later in life.
The more that come out, the less I think of those who worked with him, including someone who is a friend,
no tragedy exists that gives you a pass on raping a child. sorry, that does not cut it. as said more eloquently above, millions suffer terribly, everyone suffers in life to a degree and they manage not to inflict evil and pain on innocent people as a result. this in fact makes it worse in some ways. he endured tragedy only to inflict in on other people, children, our most precious and vulnerable. he is pure evil. if it were your child would you feel the same? i save my unending sympathy for those deserving, in this case, those little girls robbed of innocence, childhood and safety. their lives will never be the same. they were violated so barbarically. i dont normally wish anyone ill, but i hope beyond hope that karma comes knocking for him in the worst possible way. at the very least, i want justice in this life for his victims, and i want all those vile supporters who signed on his behalf to be vilified rightfully in the media.
I grew up with a pedophile uncle in the family. I can tell you they never, ever stop molesting children. For every one of their victims you know about there are 20 to 30 that haven’t been revealed. He molested every single child in the family, including his own. The women in my family kept the secret. I don’t know why. I learned later that they had always known about him and pretended it wasn’t happening. My mother actually sent me to stay with him and my aunt one summer for two weeks. I’ve posted on Celebitchy before that when I told my grandmother she slapped my face and called me a liar. Pedophiles are unrepentant predators and silence is the jungle through which they hunt.
@ruyana as a fellow survivor, my heart hurts for you and the truth you shared. these predators have countless victims, they do not stop unless placed behind bars. we fail victims at every turn, which only enables the predators to continue. its tragic, heartbreaking and maddening beyond belief. im sorry for you and that no one protected you. that is horrific and it happens all the time. we must change the culture and take responsibility for these predators, end the shame of victims and be aggressive in getting justice. the time of keeping it swept under the rug has to end.
I am sorry.so sorry.
Today I learnt that one of my female cousins often was sexually assaulted by her grandfather when she was teen.She talked to her mum who replied her that she is liar.
Last week the grandfather is dead and she learnt she was NOT his one victim but her mum never wanted to believe what her own sister and the other children said because she adored her father.
I can say actually that my cousin stopped to talk to her mum ( especially when she learnt her mum said it was my cousin’s own brother who inappropriately touched her sister)
I am so sorry for your stories, @ruyana, @courtney, and @Don’t kill me I’m French. I am also a survivor. I grew up in a small town where there was one rich guy with a lot of power. I went to his house to play with his daughter. We were about 5 years old. All I can bear to say it that he took pictures of what he did. I barely remember telling my mom—maybe I didn’t express it clearly, being so young. Nothing happened as a result, except for the next several years, sometimes I would have to pull my mom aside and tell her “I’m feeling guilty again” and have a good cry. After several years she told me it was time to stop feeling guilty and it was never discussed again. I don’t know if she misunderstood, or if she couldn’t stomach living in a world where this happens, or both. I don’t think parents were as aware of the warning signs back then. Anyway I only told my best friend who is also from there, quite recently. This year my abuser died. My best friend sat there with my mom and talked about his funeral, and how they shot fucking cannons in his honor. I just got up and said “I’m glad he’s dead.” Both looked confused and I left the room.
There have been a lot of heartbreaking stories here, but yours moved me. I was the same age, under similar circumstances, when it happened to me…
And I just keep thinkIng about the years we spend in torment over it, carrying around that secret we never asked for to start with
Why do WE live with the secret? Because we are told to. My mother did the same with me as yours did, when I was abused. It’s all she knew; she wasn’t a bad mother. She just didn’t know how to handle it. AT ALL. I used to be angry at her about it; why didn’t she defend me? What was wrong with her? But not anymore. I don’t blame her. Her trust was violated too. She simply didn’t know what to do.
The key is to change that, and teach our children to never stop speaking the truth, until they find somebody who will listen and do something. Silence/self-suppression is learned, and more importantly it doesn’t work for anyone – not the victim, not the family, not the community – except the abuser. The abuser thrives on our silence.
@StumpyCorgi first off, your English is incredible, so be proud! secondly, thank you for the kind words. your story moved me. its helpful to hear from other survivors of childhood abuse who understand the very real effects. my heart goes out to you for your suffering. you sound like such kind strong woman.
What is up with rampant pedophelia by men in positions of power? Seriously.
Evil people are attracted to (and go after) powerful positions because they are opportunistic.
There are plenty of artists of many sorts who create produce thoughtful, compassionate, empathetic works of art while still being complete buttheads in real life.
But it’s hard to wrap my mind around people who have such a disparity in the facets of their personality. A lot of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover novels, especially the later novels in the series, were very thoughtful about gender expression of many sorts and female characters who managed to find agency in a culture with very prescribed gender roles. Many of her stories dealt with characters who begin in abusive social or familial situations — and deal with how they are helped or grow to help others.
But that thoughtfulness didn’t keep Zimmer Bradley from defending/ignoring her husband’s long history of pedophilia. And after her death, her daughter accused Zimmer Bradley herself of sexually abusing her. It’s hard for me understand that someone could create such a powerful survivor as Camilla and not be a protector herself.
And silence is the jungle in which they hunt. That made me feel like a like a little girl in a strawberry shortcake nightgown. All the hugs for us.
hugs, love. all the hugs you need.
*hugs, CharlieB.
Wow ‘ the silence is the jungle in which they hunt’. Wow
*hugs charlie.
Weinstein approached women who are now of some standing and managed to garner solid public support. Polanski and Allen abused children. Who WE write off. Many believe Allen and Polanski are innocent of charges. Because we as a society still blame the victim. We still think they are looking for publicity or are mentally unstable:( it’s our fault guys. Silence = complicity
Polanski’s victim has been so vocal for years in support of him, whether coming out in support of him for the Oscar nomination, in her book as far as forgiveness, pushing for him to be allowed to come back to the U.S., saying the aftermath with the press harmed her far more than he did, and angry the judge didn’t let stand the original plea agreement, thus putting in motion his leaving the country. She has even said they email a little.
Victims of sexual abuse were uncomfortable with her comments when her book came out.
With his victim in his corner, a woman now in her 50s, it became even easier for the celebs to ignore what he did and support him at the Oscars.
The problem is, I don’t. I also never believed it was some one-off incident. It was too predatory and obvious grooming for it to be that she was his only victim.
What she has done in order to go on with her life is not for me to judge. But, as soon as her healing would mean a PREDATOR of children would be allowed to return here, her rights to do as she needed to heal ended. That’s as far as I’m concerned at least.
I really hate that she could not see beyond her own needs as a victim. Child molesters rarely stop. Most have many, many victims. She was hardly the last and apparently wasn’t even the first!
I HATE THIS MOTHER-F***** SO MUCH!!!!!!!!! I have always hated him since I read the details of what he did to his first known victim. I am not surprised at all that he did it to others and even younger.
I HATE HIM AND IT BOILS MY BLOOD WITH RAGE THAT SO MANY DEFEND AND SUPPORT THIS ABSOLUTE WASTE OF SPACE! In fact, that’s a good idea, let’s put him on a one way rocket to the sun along with all of the other child molesting slime that don’t deserve the title of ‘human’.
Yuck, and look at his eyes in the 1st photo. The colour of Voldermorts !
https://www.salon.com/2009/09/28/polanski_arrest/
Really great and articulate article. Especially considering when I googled Roman Polanski rapist was NOT one of the suggested searches
I wonder what kind of father he is, especially with his daughter (I think she must be in her twenties now?). Do you think he has different sides in his personality, that he may be a decent/good father to her daughter, while being able to molest children and teenage girls? Or do you think he’s fucked up on every level?
Calling all libtards! Anyone? Didn’t think so.