Paul Haggis’ Lawyers Grill Rape Accuser on ‘Flirtatious Emails’

Director Paul Haggis’ legal team sought to discredit an ex-publicist who has accused the Canadian filmmaker of raping her in 2013, arguing in court Friday that she sent him flirtatious emails.

Haleigh Breest, who alleged that Haggis forced her to perform oral sex and raped her at his SoHo loft after a movie premiere in January 2013, took the stand for the second straight day at a New York courthouse this morning.

Attorneys for Haggis opened their cross-examination by quizzing Haleigh Breest on her sex life and drinking habits, and seized on her tendency to use exclamation points and the sign-off phrase “xx” in her emails.

Priya Chaudhry, lead counsel for Haggis, began her direct examination by asking Breest about her first sexual encounter with a man staying at her hostel in Iceland in 2011.

At one point, Chaudhry asked Breest what her definition of flirtation was—before asking if she’d only flirt with men with whom she had a romantic interest.

“I think that, on occasion, I’ve probably flirted with people where there’s no romantic interest, possibly,” Breest told the court Friday.

Breest testified multiple times since taking the stand Wednesday that she had no sexual feelings for Haggis.

Breest testified that she may have been “a bit drunk” the night she claims the 69-year-old Million Dollar Baby writer raped her following an afterparty for the premiere screening of the 2013 thriller Side Effects, an event at which she’d been working.

She acknowledged Haggis wasn’t aware of her alleged intoxication, but she was adamant she wasn’t inebriated. Breest testified she met Haggis through the course of her work as a publicist, in which she had photographed and produced Hollywood A-lister events the screenwriter attended.

In October 2012, months prior to the alleged incident, Breest emailed Haggis, telling him “we miss seeing you,” referring to the events she was coordinating while employed as a publicist by New York’s Cinema Society. She asked him how long he’d be in Italy and how current projects were going.

“This is just you reaching out to say hello?” Chaudhry questioned her in court.

Breest replied, stating the correspondence was a routine and purely a professional “touchpoint email.”

In the email thread, screenshots of which were displayed for the jury, Haggis replied telling her he’d be returning to New York in December.

“Awesome to hear! Looking forward to seeing you around the holidays, perfect time to get back to New York!” Breest wrote in response. “Good luck with the shooting!!”

Later in the afternoon, Haggis’ defense team directed a drawn-out barrage of pointed questions to Breest about her exact movements inside Haggis’ apartment—at times displaying images of the screenwriter’s kitchen and guest bedroom where the sexual assault allegedly occurred—in an apparent attempt to undermine the explosive testimony she delivered on Thursday.

“I thought the cross was utterly ineffective and yet appalling,” Ilann Maazel, Breest’s lawyer told The Daily Beast outside court on Friday. “They’re asking her to re-enact the rape—I’ve never seen anything like it.”

On Thursday, Breest testified that Haggis looked “like the devil” as he forced himself on her prior to the alleged sexual assault at the filmmaker’s SoHo loft. Her account and testimony of the alleged rape were detailed and at times particularly graphic. She was 26 at the time.

“He started jamming himself into my mouth,” Breest testified, referring to the moment Haggis allegedly forced oral sex upon her. “He was straddling my face and he did it continuously. I was gagging.”

Breest, who described the trial proceedings as “re-traumatizing” and “invasive,” told the court how she developed body image issues, suffered recurring flashbacks of her alleged rape, and found herself unable to be alone with men without becoming anxious in the years since her encounter with Haggis.

Breest, who brought her lawsuit against Haggis in 2017, following the rise of the #MeToo movement, also told the jury how her career suffered after reporting the allegations. The 36-year-old lost her job of nearly 10 years at the Cinema Society after her boss—and Haggis’ friend, Andrew Saffir—declined to hire her again.

“It was devastating,” she testified Friday morning.

Breest is seeking unspecified damages in the civil suit.

Haggis has long denied the allegations. He maintains the sexual encounter with Breest was consensual. Seth Zuckerman, an attorney representing Haggis, declined to comment as he left court on Friday afternoon.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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