Civil lawsuits against Gilbert Rozon are piling up. Sophie Moreau, daughter of comedian Jean-Guy Moreau, accuses the one who was considered a “friend” of the family of having harassed and sexually assaulted her in the late 1980s, when she was only 15 years old. years. She asks him for $ 1.25 million.
” [Mme Moreau] feels guilty for not having had the courage to denounce him sooner, telling himself that his revelations could have saved subsequent victims [de M. Rozon] », We can read in his request filed Thursday at the courthouse in Montreal.
Mme Moreau had denounced Mr. Rozon in the wake of the #MoiAussi movement, which swept in October 2017. She is one of the nine women who told at the time, in To have to as well as at 98.5 FM, the attacks they had suffered from Gilbert Rozon.
She becomes the sixth woman to bring an individual civil suit against Mr. Rozon. The lawsuits now total just over $ 9 million.
“I want to take your virginity”
The alleged events occurred when she was underage working as a receptionist for the Just for Laughs festival in 1988 and 1989.
In her request, she recounts having been assaulted and harassed during performances of her father’s shows which Mr. Rozon also attended in July 1989, at the Saint-Denis theater. ” [Gilbert Rozon] sneaks behind her, touches it without her consent, slips his hands over her body, grabs her and persists, sometimes telling her “kiss me”, sometimes “I want to take your virginity”, adding that he would be “ sweet ””, we can read.
That same summer, Mr. Rozon also grabbed her buttock when he crossed her on a staircase in the Just for Laughs office.
Mme Moreau also describes the helplessness she felt during a party where Mr. Rozon allegedly offered to drive her home. “In the back of the limousine, [M. Rozon] puts his hand on [sa] thigh and repeats to her that he wants to “take her virginity” ”, we can read.
She describes feeling “small”, being scared, but finding the courage to refuse his advances until she arrived at her destination.
Mme Moreau also describes an event that had occurred the previous year: Mr. Rozon allegedly tried to kiss her for the first time during a performance by French comedian Alex Métayer at Place des Arts. Mr Rozon, who was 33 at the time of the alleged events, allegedly claimed they would go behind the scenes, but instead took her to a dark room.
“Mme Moreau freezes. She is in shock and feels a deep unease. She refuses to kiss him. Faced with this refusal, [M. Rozon] releases his grip and laughs. “
Mme Moreau emphasizes having opened up to a few relatives about the alleged attacks. She also explains, however, that for a long time she avoided talking too much about it for fear of the consequences that her confession could have on her father’s career.
A few years before his father’s death in 2012, Mr.me Moreau revealed to her that he had been attacked by the one he considered a friend. She has since had to take medication as she sometimes experiences severe episodes of insomnia.
She was also silent, because she learned in the summer of 1989 that her sister, also a minor, had “a relationship” with Mr. Rozon.
“She understands that [M. Rozon] tried, during the summer of 1989, to catch in his net two underage sisters from the same family whose father is her “friend” ”, it is written in the court document.
Complaint rejected
Mme Moreau is one of 14 women who filed a complaint with the police in the wake of the #MoiAussi movement in October 2017. Her complaint was rejected by the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions a year later.
She was also one of the members of the Courageuses, this grouping of twenty women claiming to have been attacked by Gilbert Rozon between 1982 and 2016. Strength in numbers, however, did not succeed in shaking the columns of justice: the Supreme Court rejected their appeal request last November, which ended their process.
She has since undertaken psychology therapy to “help her cope with the actions of [M. Rozon] “.
Gilbert Rozon, for his part, denied having sexually assaulted the five other women who filed lawsuits, namely the actress Patricia Tulasne, the director Lyne Charlebois, the artist Danie Frenette, the complainant Annick Charette and a former employee, Anne-Marie. Charette.
He in turn sued Patricia Tulasne for $ 150,000, claiming to have had an intimate “passionate” and “consenting” relationship with her. He also filed a $ 450,000 libel suit in October 2020 against hosts Julie Snyder and Penelope McQuade, who both returned, on the show. The week of 4 Julie, on what they went through.
The founder of Just for Laughs was acquitted last December after his criminal trial for the alleged rape of Annick Charette. The trial looked at events that occurred 40 years ago in Saint-Sauveur, in the Laurentians.