Roman Polanski Settled Another Sexual Assault Civil Lawsuit Filed Against Him

In 1984, Australian journalist Clive James spoke with filmmaker Roman Polanski for a documentary aptly titled Clive James Meets Roman Polanski. At that point, Polanski had been a fugitive from the United States for six years. He fled America in February 1978 after learning that he was on the precipice of going to prison for allegedly drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.

The conversation between James and Polanski was over a nice meal, and the two chatted like they were old friends. Naturally, they discussed his film career and briefly spoke about Polanski's marriage to Sharon Tate. Then the subject turned to Polanski's sexual assault allegations. When asked about his interest in "little girls" Polanski says he "likes young women" and goes into detail about the incident that resulted in a possible prison sentence. So, where is he now? Here's what we know.

In the decades since the release of James's documentary, Polanski has continued to avoid returning to the United States. Polanski was born in Paris but raised in Poland, which means he has dual citizenship in France and Poland. According to Variety, Polanski has been mostly living in France since 1978. The United States has a bilateral extradition treaty with France which means France has to give permission for one of its citizens to be extradited.

As of October 2024, Polanski is still safely living in France, but the tides could be turning against him. In February 2020, France held its prestigious César Awards ceremony where Polanski's 2019 film An Officer and a Spy took home three awards, including Best Director. The blowback was almost immediate. The Guardian reported that France's equality minister as well as feminists around the country were outraged by his nominations and wins. He did not attend the event.

"Activists are already threatening me with a public lynching, with some saying they are going to protest outside," Polanski said in a statement to the Agence France-Presse (AFP). In 2019, French star Adèle Haenel accused a former director of sexually harassing her when she was 12 years old. She had this to say about Polanski: "Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims. It means raping women isn’t that bad."

In response to the outcry, academy head Alain Terzian said that when it comes to giving out awards, their organization "should not take moral positions." Protests erupted in front of theaters where the movie was showing, with activists holding up photographs of 12 young women Polanski allegedly assaulted. Regarding that, he said, "These fantasies of sick minds are treated as established fact — a lie repeated 1,000 times becomes a truth."

Per The New York Times, in October 2024 Polanski reached an out-of-court settlement with one of his accusers stemming from an incident that allegedly occurred in 1973. The lawsuit was filed in June 2023 and was scheduled to go to trial in August 2025. A description of the alleged assault was included in the lawsuit, filed by a woman known as Jane Doe.

She and Polanski met at a party in 1973 when she was 16 years old. A few months later she went to his home in Benedict Canyon, where the director supposedly gave her two shots of tequila. They then went to dinner where Doe was given more alcohol, leading to her getting sick. Polanski took her back to his house where he proceeded to rape her despite Doe repeatedly saying no. The settlement was for an undisclosed amount.