Actress and artistic director Danie Frenette closed the first week of testimony on Friday in the civil suit against the founder of Just for Laughs, Gilbert Rozon, whom she accuses of sexual assault and rape. She recounted her two alleged rapes in detail.
Posted at 3:53 p.m.
What you need to know
- Actress and artistic director Danie Frenette testified this Friday.
- She recounted the two alleged rapes she suffered in 1988 while working on programming the outdoor portion of Just for Laughs.
- The defense questioned the location of the first alleged rape, a wooded area near Mr. Rozon’s house, as well as the time of the party.
Mme Frenette, who made her debut with the Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul, was hired by Just for Laughs in the fall of 1987 to organize the outdoor portion of the festival the following summer.
At the end of the summer 1988 festival, which according to Danie Frenette had been a success, Gilbert Rozon organized a closing party at his home with the invited artists. Danie Frenette, who was 33 at the time, reportedly arrived at the start of the party, with her sister Mona. At that time, according to his testimony, there were about a dozen people in the outer courtyard.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Actress and artistic director Danie Frenette
I had barely arrived when Mr. Rozon took me by the elbow and said: “Come, I have something to show you.” I was surprised, but hey, he’s my boss, I followed him. He took me to a small wooded area, and after a while, he threw down the little windbreaker he was wearing and laid me down on top of it.
Dani Frenette
Mme Frenette allegedly said to him: “Well, let’s see, Gilbert, why are you doing that? » “It was broad daylight, the sky was blue. I froze. That’s when he raped me. Afterwards, he told me: “Go out first so no one sees us together.” I felt like a survivor of a bombing…”
Mr. Rozon, 70 years old, is present at each of the hearings. As with the other testimonies, he did not react to Ms.me Frenette.
“Everything happened very quickly,” continued Danie Frenette. I hadn’t even had a drink. It’s as if he was waiting for me. I remember leaving the venue shortly after, I didn’t even say hello to the artists. »
Before recounting her second alleged rape, Mme Frenette recounted an episode that allegedly occurred a few weeks after the event. His team had just had dinner in a restaurant, in the company of Mr. Rozon. As she left, he offered to take her home. Danie Frenette agreed.
But once in his car, Mr. Rozon would have taken her to Sainte-Hélène Island instead. They would have sat on a park bench. There, he allegedly fondled her breasts without her consent. He would have taken her home afterwards.
A second rape
The second alleged rape occurred a few months later, following a prospecting tour that Danie Frenette had undertaken in Europe – looking for new talent for the next edition of the outdoor section of Just for Laughs.
Mme Frenette first clarified that during his European tour, Gilbert Rozon regularly called her to join him in Paris.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Gilbert Rozon
“If he had said to me: “I would like us to meet to discuss the programming”, I would have accepted, but he ordered me to meet him in Paris, I did not want to, a- she insisted. I felt harassed. »
Shortly after his return to Montreal, in September 1988, Danie Frenette and Gilbert Rozon met again, according to his testimony.
I’m in bed, it’s maybe 1 a.m. The doorbell rings, it’s Gilbert Rozon, he says to me: “I’m downstairs, open the door for me!” I don’t know why, but I opened the door for him. He raped me again. It’s as if I was under his influence, under his yoke. At the end I even gave him a pat on the back, perhaps so as not to feel like a victim…
Dani Frenette
The woman who today directs the Theater School of Old Saint-Eustache has difficulty explaining the relationship that linked her to Mr. Rozon. “There was never any seductive relationship between us, so I didn’t understand. He said things to me like: “I would make you the queen of Montreal!” But there was no flirting between us…”
A few months later, Mme Frenette meets Mr. Rozon as he leaves a party. Mr. Rozon would have said to him aside: “Ah! The caress on the back. A woman has never patted me on the back. »
“It was so contemptuous,” said M.me Frenette. At that moment, I said to myself: he rapes women. »
Finally, Gilbert Rozon allegedly asked her to become his mistress, which she refused. “He was angry. I didn’t understand because he never showed affection. I had started a relationship with my current partner, Stefano Corbo. »
It was her daughter-in-law Salomé Corbo who encouraged her to denounce Mr. Rozon in 2017.
When her lawyers asked her why she had not taken steps before, Mme Frenette replied: “No one would have believed me. It would have been suicidal to denounce him. He had fame, power, wealth and influential friends… while I felt like shit. »
Danie Frenette, who is suing Mr. Rozon for a sum of 2.2 million, was fired by Just for Laughs in 1990. The circumstances of her dismissal are a little nebulous.
Mme Frenette claimed to have been thanked by telephone by the general director at the time, Michel Gélinas, who would not have mentioned reasons. According to her, Just for Laughs gave her a sum of $10,000 so that she would not contact “labor standards”.
The defense instead suggested that it was Mr. Rozon who fired her in person because he was not satisfied with her work. Mme Frenette was pregnant at the time. She later described taking antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. “I never got my confidence back. »
In cross-examination, Me Morin cast doubt on the exact location of the first alleged attack, or even the very existence of a wooded area. She also questioned the holding of a party at Mr. Rozon’s house while the festival was in progress.
The trial will continue next Monday with the testimony of Anne-Marie Charette.
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