Director Paul Haggis denies rape claims, admits cheating on wife: ‘Always been a flirt’
Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis told a Manhattan jury Wednesday that he’s “very happy” to finally get the chance to clear his name in the civil case accusing him of rape — and choked up on the stand as he admitted cheating on his ex-wife.
“I’m incredibly nervous of course and I’m very happy because for five years I have been unable to clear my name and now I will,” Haggis said as he took the stand during the third week of trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The 69-year-old “Crash” director teared up as he told jurors about how he’d cheated on his ex-wife Deborah Rennard — who testified Wednesday morning just before him — and stressed how “sorry” he was for his infidelities.
“I’ve always been a flirt,” he admitted.
Haggis is defending himself against allegations that he raped former publicist Haleigh Breest in his Soho apartment after a film premiere on Jan. 31, 2013. He has maintained that the encounter was consensual.
The “Million Dollar Baby” screenwriter has claimed the allegations are part of a vendetta by the Church of Scientology against him for speaking out against it. He publicly broke with the Church of Scientology after over 30 years in 2009.
Haggis said the church told him that they could help him address and change his infidelity.
“They really led me to believe I could be fixed,” he said, choking up. “They lied.”
Rennard told jurors earlier that Haggis had cheated on her with roughly 20 different women — contributing to their split in 2010.
“I’m sorry, so sorry,” Haggis said of his ex-wife with whom he had a son. “She has been my best friend ever since.”
“She is here. So few people stand up for you in situations like this,” a teary-eyed Haggis said of Rennard defending him at the rape trial.
Rennard fondly spoke about her ex-husband telling them that she has a hard time believing the allegations against Haggis.
“I find it really really hard to believe,” Rennard said. “It has nothing to do with my experience and knowledge of Paul in the 30 years I’ve known him.”
Haggis also began to testify about his exit from Scientology and about speaking out against it in a New Yorker article.
His lawyers have alleged that because of his criticism of the church, it dredged up bogus rape accusations by Breest, as well as rape and sexual assault allegations by four other women.
Earlier in the trial Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Sabrina Kraus told jurors that lawyers on both sides of the case have agreed that there isn’t any evidence linking Breest to Scientology.
Scientology said in a statement at the start of trial that the church “has nothing to do with the claims against Haggis nor does it have any relation to the attorneys behind the case or the accusers.”
“From day one, Haggis conspired with anti-Scientologists to shame his own accusers by ‘accusing’ them of making their claims on behalf of the Church of Scientology,” the statement said. “The claim is absurd and patently false.”