“We have to see the violence of hearing all these lies,” protests actress Adèle Haenel

“I was always told that I was an adult in a child's body, so it was late that I realized what a 12-year-old child means,” says the actress. who, beyond the director whom she accuses of abuse, points the finger at all the adults around “who gave up”.

“You have to see how violent it is to hear all these accumulated lies, to try to stay calm in this situation. It’s really difficult,” actress Adèle Haenel explained on Monday, December 16 on France Inter, after the trial of director Christophe Ruggia, tried for sexual assault on the actress when she was between 12 and 14 years old. A five-year prison sentence, including two years, was requested against the filmmaker; the Paris criminal court will deliver its decision on February 3.

The actress notably returned to the anger that she painfully contained during the trial. At the end of the hearing on Tuesday, Adèle Haenel launched “shut your mouth” to Christophe Ruggia who was speaking on the stand, before leaving the room, letting his anger escape. “Frankly, we have to see the violence of hearing all these lies, this pile of lies accumulated by a man who sexually assaulted the child I was, who he made disappear, who he murdered”she confided. “I try to stand in the court, try to give as much concrete, material information to the court as possible and tell it anything”she explained. “I tried to respect the protocol” more “it’s too much violence”she said. “When he says: 'I gave him his name', it was one aggression too many, it's not true, it's false, it's a lie and more violence. It takes me back to when I was on his couch and he said to me 'without me you are nothing'”she lamented. “It’s his violence, it’s his arrogance, that’s what makes me freak out”she stressed.

During the trial Christophe Ruggia accused the actress of “pure lie”, a “vengeance”, evoking a “French #Metoo” “fell” on him. “This trial allowed everyone to be heard, including Mr. Ruggia, who claims that he was prevented from speaking, that it is a media court. There, he had a lot of time to speak and clearly , he gave no explanation”, she lashed out. “We are talking about an adult who was almost 40 years old at the time of the events and who attacks, who organizes himself to have a twelve-year-old child in his home and sexually assault her every weekend,” she added.

“I am the representative of this child, whom no one protected,” she argued, believing that she did not “never had the chance to be that child”, who has always been “adultized”. “I caught on later, it was as I understood. In fact, I was 12 years old. I forgot so much that I was never 12 years old. They told me always said that I was an adult in a child's body, so it was late that I realized what a 12-year-old child means.” she testified. In addition to the case of the 59-year-old director, who was between 36 and 39 at the time of the events, Adèle Haenel points to the responsibility of all adults. “All the adults nearby have discarded (…) There is the director, but there is a group of professionals around. A shoot still involves around fifty adults”she recalled.