A film actress has accused director Luc Besson of raping her at a five-star hotel in Paris, saying she had ‘so much pain that I passed out’.
Sand Van Roy, 27, claims the 59-year-old married father-of-five attacked her at the Bristol Hotel in the French capital after returning from this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Interviewed on the BFM TV news channel, Ms Van Roy renounced her right to anonymity.
Recalling the night of May 18, she said: ‘I was scared of dying, that was never very far away.
Film actress Sand Van Roy (right) has accused director Luc Besson (left) of raping her at a five-star hotel in Paris, saying she had ‘so much pain that I passed out’
Sand Van Roy (pictured), 27, claims the 59-year-old married father-of-five attacked her at the Bristol Hotel in the French capital after returning from this year’s Cannes Film Festival
‘It was a crescendo, and even the next day I had so much pain that I passed out. And when it’s as violent as that, that’s called a rape.
‘I said stop, I told him clearly – it’s not just, no. There were tears, there was vomit. He forced humiliating sex acts on me. I showed my disgust. I showed that I did not want it. It’s also a no.’
Ms Van Roy, who has been named across the entire French media, was said to be Besson’s mistress for the past two years.
In turn, the film mogul’s lawyer, Thierry Marembert, said he ‘categorically denies these fantasist accusations,’ and would be presenting his evidence in a court of law, not on TV.
Mr Marembert confirmed that Ms Van Roy is someone Mr Besson knows but he has ‘never behaved inappropriately’ towards her.
Ms Van Roy, who has appeared in two Besson films, is said to have ‘drunk a cup of tea, felt unwell, and then lost consciousness’ before Besson forced himself on her motionless body, according to an investigator.
Besson then left the Bristol at 2am, leaving cash for Ms Van Roy, but otherwise not saying a word.
The next day, she said that she realised her body had been violated, so went to a police station in the 20th arrondissement of Paris and filed a complaint for rape.
Sand Van Roy alleged that she was attacked at the five-star Bristol Hotel (pictured) in Paris, France
Officers in the French capital confirmed that Besson, who directed hit films including The Big Blue, Nikita, Leon, and the Fifth Element, was being investigated for rape.
Ms Van Roy first met Besson on the set of his film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which stars pop star Rihanna and English model Cara Delevingne.
The film was co-produced by Besson’s 46-year-old wife, Virginie Besson-Silla, who is also the mother of three of his children.
The family lives in Los Angeles, although Besson frequently returns from America to his native France, and particularly Paris, where he was born.
Besson is also the father of two daughters from previous relationships, including one with the actress Maiwenn Le Besco, who had their child Shanna when she was just 16.
Sand Van Roy, who is also French, began her career as a model, and then moved into acting.
The allegations cast a shadow over the Cannes film festival, where rumours of the Besson scandal were rife, as were discussions about the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who stands accused of sexually abusing numerous women around the world.