Paul Haggis has been arrested.
The 69-year-old Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director was arrested in Italy. He has been charged with sexual assault as well as aggravated personal injury against an unidentified woman. The woman pressed charges.
Paul allegedly forced a young, non-Italian woman to “undergo sexual intercourse over the course of two days in Ostuni.”
He was supposed to hold several master classes at Allora Fest in Ostuni later this month. Allora Fest will be run by Italian journalist Silvia Bizio and at critic Sol Coastales Doulton. The festival is now “completely taking its distance” from the director.
It is being reported that after being assaulted, the alleged victim was taken to the Papola Casale airport in Brindisi by Paul. Police say he left her there Sunday morning (June 19) with “precarious physical and psychological conditions.” The airport staff accompanied her to the police, who took the woman to the hospital.
In 2018, Paul was sued by publicist Haleigh Breest who alleged that he violently raped her after a premiere back in 2013. Three additional women also came forward with their own accusations of sexual misconduct. Paul denies the accusations.
