In “Libre”, which comes out Thursday May 2 from Leduc, Adriana Karembeu recounts her formidable and moving journey, from her childhood in a communist country, where paternal violence was commonplace, to her remarkable success on the fashion catwalks.
The 52-year-old former top model looks back on a traumatic episode, when she ventured “timidly into the world of cinema”. Adriana Karembeu appeared in the film “Prêt-à-porter” by Robert Altman (1994) and played in “Three Little Girls” with Gérard Jugnot (2004) when her agent suggested she meet “a director for a project”, she says.
“I go to his house alone for the meeting, I am naive enough not to be suspicious because it is the afternoon. I ring his doorbell. The director, who already has several films to his credit, welcomes me with a smile, invites me to come in and sit down. After a brief discussion about the script, he gets up and moves closer to me on the couch. He places his hand on his knee, then suddenly throws himself on me, kissing me violently. I feel his saliva on my face and my chest,” she describes in her autobiography, of which “Télé-Loisirs” unveiled a preview extract on Wednesday.”
Adriana Karembeu says she didn’t let it happen. “I forcefully push him away, shocked that he dared to attack me. I am thirty-five years old, and I found the strength necessary to repel this infamous predator and escape. If I had been twenty, I think I would have been more deeply affected,” she writes. She then took refuge at home and took years to find the courage to speak to her agent about what happened. “I should have warned you, he is sometimes borderline, his reputation precedes him,” he replies. A reaction that astounds her as much as it disgusts her.
Nina’s mother still says she saw the director again shortly after the attack in the company of her husband at the time, Christian Karembeu. “A few days later, while I still remain silent about this attack, we have a romantic dinner at a restaurant. And there, like a punch in the stomach, I see this French director cross the threshold, walk towards our table, act absolutely as if nothing had happened. As if nothing had happened. He dares to greet me in front of my husband, with his lecherous air, when he tried to rape me so recently,” she wrote. Before concluding: “I remain unmoved, even if deep inside, I scream with all my might”.
