Emmanuelle Seigner (56) has laid bare. First in his book, A burnt life (Observatory editions), autobiographical story where she defends her husband Roman Polanski, accused of several sexual assaults and threatened with extradition to the United States to be tried for the Samantha Geimer affair, dating back to 1977. Then in her interviews organized to promote his work.
The controversy did not take long after his interview in seven to eight which contrasts with the #MeToo era. She praised her husband, father of her children, actress Morgane, 29, and Elvis, 24 and musician, and denigrated the attacks he has suffered since his high-profile arrest in Zurich in 2009, with in culmination of the César 2020 ceremony where he was so rewarded for the film I accuse that criticized by feminist movements and the actress Adèle Haenel. His portrait in Release this October 26 returns to the rebellious woman that she is and in particular to the atypical couple that she forms with the Franco-Polish director.
When Emmanuelle Seigner had met Roman Polanski, she was then 18 years old and was passing her baccalaureate. She was a model and had a strong character, capable of chasing heavy flirts and predators alike. When she met the filmmaker, she was young but did not feel in danger, quite the contrary. “Polanski is 33 years older than her and five centimeters shorter. He is 1.65m tall, she measures him at 1.70m“, writing Release. For her, he was only charm and kindness, victim of the girls who hovered around him: “All the girls were running after him, it wasn’t always easy for me.“On a shoot, she says that one of her current accusers was prowling not far from their bungalow, jealous of her. But it was Emmanuelle Seigner that the director of Chinatown married in 1989.
The delicate subject: having children
If the Polanski-Seigner couple impose themselves without difficulty, there is a subject that has been delicate in their history, motherhood. Indeed, Roman’s mother was pregnant at the time of her death in Auschwitz – the actress had also been outraged by the attacks of feminists who demanded in their demonstration to gas Polanski. And then there was the ultimate tragedy, the murder of Polanski’s young wife Sharon Tate in 1969 by followers of Charles Manson’s sect. She was eight months pregnant during the horrible tragedy that forever traumatized the filmmaker. “But Emmanuelle Seigner has a drive that takes away all anxiety, a happy nature that allows her to overcome many inconveniences.“, writing Release.