Samantha Geimer was only 13 years old when director Roman Polanski sexually assaulted her during a private photo shoot, and now she says that being labeled as “sex victim girl” after coming out publicly with the story has affected her into adulthood.
Geimer, now 47, is about to release a tell-all memoir, in which she will document what happened that night and attempt to shed some light on who she really is.
“I am more than `Sex Victim Girl,’ a tag the media pinned on me,” Geimer said. “My friends in junior high, scolded by their parents to stay away from that girl, also labeled me. I offer my story now without rage, but with purpose – to share a tale that in its detail will reclaim my identity. I have been dogged by tired thinking and easy tags nearly my entire life. I am not a stick figure. I know what it is like to be a woman and a victim in the realest possible way.”
The book, titled “The Girl: Emerging From the Shadow of Roman Polanski”, will feature contributions from Geimer’s attorney, Lawrence Silver, and will talk about the legal aspects of the story, which many consider shocking to this day. According to testimony, Polanski plied the teen with champagne and a Quaalude during a photo shoot, which had been set up between the director and Geimer’s mother. The shoot took place at actor Jack Nicholson’s house, and while the film star was away at the time on a ski trip, his live-in girlfriend at the time, actress Anjelica Huston, was in town and came home to find Polanski and Geimer locked in a bedroom together. She allegedly became concerned and yelled at him to open the door, at which point he said the session was finishing up.
Polanski was later indicted of six felony counts, including using drugs to assist a rape, child molestation, and sodomy, but after he pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse the judge dropped the other charges and sentenced him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. Once deemed mentally sound, he fled the U.S. and now spends his time between France and Switzerland.
Though Geimer filed a lawsuit against Polanski in 1988, she now says she forgives him.