Paul Haggis’ Rape Accuser Tells Court ‘He Looked Like the Devil’

A former publicist who has accused ex-Scientologist and director Paul Haggis of raping her in 2013, told a jury on Thursday morning about the moment she says the Crash writer cornered her in a guest bedroom of his Manhattan penthouse and tried to forcibly remove her clothes.

“He’s trying to pull my tights down and I’m trying to pull them up,” Haleigh Breest testified. “He looked like the devil—he looked totally different than I’d seen him before.”

Breest, 36, who took a sworn oath before the jury at 9:45 a.m., testified at length about the chain of events that led her into Haggis’ orbit in January 2013—and later his luxury loft where she claimed the Canadian screenwriter forced oral sex on her and raped her following an after party event for the premiere film screening of director Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 thriller Side Effects.

Breest, who worked at Cinema Society from 2009 until she was let go in 2017, produced film premieres and red-carpet events routinely attended by high-profile celebrities like Mick Jagger, Madonna, and Brad Pitt. She said she met Haggis at such a work event in 2012.

As the event’s after-party wrapped up, Breest testified that Haggis offered her a ride home to her Chelsea apartment. She said before getting into a black SUV driven by a car service chauffeur, Haggis invited her back to his apartment for a glass of wine. Breest said the offer made her uncomfortable—she initially refused, instead suggesting the pair go to a bar. Haggis, however, she insisted, became agitated.

“He said, ‘come over for a drink, I just got off a long flight and I’m very tired,’” Breest recalled.

Because of Haggis’ Hollywood stature—and the fact that he was close friends with her boss, Cinema Society founder Andrew Saffir—Breest said she “felt more pressure to say ‘yes.’” She said she agreed but made it clear she wouldn’t be “sleeping” in SoHo that night.

“I felt more pressure to say yes,” Breest said. “He is important, he is a friend of my boss, and I didn’t want to make him an enemy.”

After riding an elevator to Haggis’ top-floor suite on Mercer Street, the Million Dollar Baby writer supposedly poured Breest a glass of white wine and made small talk. Breest says he then pinned her to his kitchen refrigerator in the upscale loft and began forcibly kissing her.

“I was terrified,” Breest testified.

As she tried to resist his advances, Breest recalled Haggis uttering, “You’re scared of me, aren’t you?”

Haggis then asked how old she was while allegedly holding her against the fridge. Breest replied she was 26.

“‘Don’t act like a fucking 18-year-old,’” she said an angry Haggis told her before attempting to kiss her again.

“[He] was slobbering all over my face, my mouth was closed and I was turning my head away,” Breest said. “I was startled and after a couple seconds I broke out of his hold.”

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Haggis, she said, later ripped off her tights, dress, and sweater and forced her to have oral sex with him.

“He was naked in front of me with his erect penis, demanding me ‘put my dick in your mouth’—it was terrifying,” Breest said in court.

Haggis, who later claimed he’d had a vasectomy, then put on a condom, she said.

“He started jamming himself into my mouth,” Breest testified. “He was straddling my face and he did it continuously. I was gagging.”

Haggis, she said removed the condom seconds later and raped her following a brief struggle in the apartment’s guest bedroom.

“I was like a trapped animal—there was nothing for me to do,” she said.

After the alleged rape ended, Breest told the jury she feigned being asleep in the hopes it would de-escalate the situation and ultimately allow her to escape.

Breest said she woke up nude and alone in the guest bedroom the following morning, gathered her belongings, and left Haggis’ loft. She went to her Chelsea apartment, rushed to work, and texted a close friend and former roommate about the alleged rape. The two later spoke on the phone. Screenshots of their exchanges, as well as photographs of Haggis’ apartment, were displayed for the jury. The roommate, who lived in San Francisco at the time, is expected to testify on Breest’s behalf as trial proceedings play out.

Breest’s lawyers have said the alleged incident scarred her so deeply that she’s allegedly only tried to have sex once since the episode occurred nearly 10 years ago. Her legal team claims the event ultimately led to a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis.

“Haleigh’s testimony is powerful, credible… and I’m glad she’s finally having a chance to testify,” Breest’s lawyer Ilann Maazel told The Daily Beast outside court on Thursday. “I think what she is doing is extremely difficult.”

Haggis has long-denied Breest’s accusations. The Canadian screenwriter alleges the encounter was consensual. His attorneys had previously argued Haggis was physically incapable of sexually assaulting Breest because he’d suffered a back injury and required a brace.

Notably, Haggis’ legal team are arguing the case has been manufactured by the Church of Scientology in retribution for defecting from the religion in 2009.

Maazel reiterated that Breest was never a member of the Church of Scientology. He also refuted claims raised by Haggis’ lawyers that the case—and his law firm—were directly bankrolled by the Church. Prior to the jury being seated Thursday, Maazel blasted Haggis’ defense team, telling Judge Sabrina Kraus that the Hollywood screenwriter's attorneys were “smearing” his reputation with the “fabricated” Scientology claims.

“Of course not, it’s ridiculous,” Maazel stated. “Haleigh has nothing to do with the Church. That entire defense is contrived, phony, ridiculous, embarrassing.”

Four other women have also come forward to accuse Haggis of raping them. On Wednesday, the long-awaited trial opened with the testimony of the first of four Jane Does. The woman, who asked to not be publicly identified, told the court how the “dead-eyed” director raped her on the floor of her boss’ office on-set on the show of the Canadian television crime drama “Due South.”

“It was very creepy,” the woman testified. “It was like he was in attack mode.”