Fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski blames the horrific 1969 murder of his actress wife Sharon Tate as the impetus that shaped a negative "image" that "haunts" him.
In press notes for his new movie "J'Accuse" premiering at the Venice International Film Festival, Polanski opened up about his notoriety, The Wrap reported.
"The way people see me, my 'image,' did indeed start to form with Sharon Tate's death," Polanski said. "When it happened, even though I was already going through a terrible time, the press got hold of the tragedy and, unsure of how to deal with it, covered it in the most despicable way, implying, among other things, that I was one of the people responsible for her murder, against a background of satanism."
When one of his most famous movies, "Rosemary's Baby," opened, he said the media presumed he was "in league with the devil" and he was persecuted for months until cult leader Charlie Manson's followers were identified for the grisly slaying.
"All this still haunts me today," he said in the interview, The Wrap reported. "Anything and everything. It is like a snowball, each season adds another layer. Absurd stories by women I have never seen before in my life who accuse me of things which supposedly happened more than half a century ago."
Polanski, 84, has been a fugitive since 1978 when he fled to France before sentencing in a sexual assault case in which he was accused of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.
Since then, several other women have come forward to accuse him of raping them when they were children or teenagers under circumstances similar to the 1977 case, The Wrap noted.
Polanski denies the accusations.
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