Polanski, rape and the truth: Samantha Geimer’s story

She doesn’t want to be known as a victim – and she’s forgiven the man who raped her, so her life can move on. But now, 36 years since she was sexually assaulted by the Hollywood director, Samantha Geimer has written her own account of what happened.

Her book, The Girl: A life lived in the shadow of Roman Polanski, is an uncomfortable read – after all, says Geimer, it’s an uncomfortable story. But, she told Channel 4 News, she wanted the chance to tell the truth, “to talk about it, and not as a reaction, but on my own terms”.

Geimer says she went to meet Polanski at Jack Nicholson’s Hollywood home to pose for photographs, which she thought would be published in French Vogue. She and her mother were overwhelmed, she says, by the power of his star status and celebrity.

He plied her with champagne and drugs, she says, before having sex with her: she didn’t fight back. Afterwards, in the car with her mother, came the tears. “Why fight? I’d do pretty much anything to get this over with”.

I want to talk about it, and not as a reaction, but on my own terms. Samantha Geimer

But once she pressed charges, she says the protracted legal process and the reaction it sparked were even worse than the rape itself:

“The repercussions were really difficult. Everyone thought I was lying: I made it up, my mom set it up – people were saying terrible things about us.”

In her eyes, Polanski simply “took advantage of my immaturity”: she was, after all, just thirteen.

The film director Marina Zenovich spoke to Samantha for her award winning documentary about the Polanski trial, Wanted and Desired: Samantha’s mother Susan agreed to take part in the follow-up, Odd Man Out.

Marina told Channel 4 News that everyone involved in the case had made an error of judgement:

“Susan should never have allowed Samantha to go out to be photographed. Polanski should never have taken advantage of Samantha…and from those private errors came the public scandal.”

She says Geimer’s whole life has been “defined by this incident … what Polanski did was horrible, but he went through the system and served time in jail, and thought when he got out that it was over. Unfortunately it wasn’t, and it hasn’t ended.”

Celebrity justice?

Her documentary, released in 2009, highlighted some of the issues with the way the judicial system had handled the case – with the judge courting publicity and changing Polanski’s plea bargain after the facts, not once but three times.

“Celebrity makes people do strange things … all around”, she said. Her film prompted Polanski to contact Geimer for the first time – in a letter of apology. “I want you to know how sorry I am for having so affected your life”, he wrote.

Geimer now says she has no hard feelings towards Polanski, insisting: “He has paid a steeper price than most people would have to face. I am satisfied.”

Everyone involved in the case has made an error of judgement … and from those private errors came the public scandal. Marina Zenovich, director, Wanted and Desired

The director has lived most of his life as a fugitive from justice, after fleeing in 1978 when the judge tried to impose extra jail time, despite an earlier decision to allow his initial 42 days in prison to suffice.

In a rare interview with Vanity Fair, he called it a nightmare. “It was such a shock to learn that it’s not finished, after they let you out of prison. Free! With your bundle under your arm, with the lawyer waiting for you outside, standing there, in your mind it’s all over, it’s finished.”

“And then the judge changed his mind. And I have to go back to prison, and nobody knows how long. I just could not go through that. And that’s when I decided.”

In 2009, Polanski was suddenly re-arrested in Switzerland, spending seven months under house arrest. Nothing is over, as Marina Zenovich investigates in her second film.

Seeking closure

Now though, Geimer says her own family are completely supportive, although the book will no doubt stir up some unwelcome publicity. “They’re just glad to see me trying to face it”.

One thing is for certain though: she does not want to be described as a victim.

Her whole life, she says, has been about reacting to that single, horrible incident back in March 1977: now, she wants to tell her story, and live with the consequences.

Felicity Spector writes about US affairs for Channel 4 News