French actress and filmmaker Maïwenn has been ordered to pay up for spitting in the face of a journalist during last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
A representative for Maïwenn confirmed to The Messenger that the director was instructed to pay $435 on charges of “voluntary violence without interruption of work” to Mediapart editor-in-chief Edwy Plenel.
It all went down at a restaurant during the festival in May, when Maïwenn allegedly grabbed Plenel by the hair and spit in his face.
The director was in town to promote her movie Jeanne du Barry, which starred herself and Johnny Depp and premiered on Cannes’ opening night.
According to news wire FranceInfo, Maïwenn appeared in court on Thursday and did not deny the spitting allegations.
Maïwenn said she felt a “moral rape” after Mediapart published testimony she gave about her relationship with former husband Luc Besson, who was under investigation on charges of rape and sexual assault. (Through his lawyer, Besson categorically denied the “fantasist accusations.”)
“I don’t apologize and I don’t regret [it],” Maïwenn said on the stand. “No gesture could have compensated what I experienced.”
Besson and Maïwenn got married in 1992 when Maïwenn was 16 years old and Besson was 33. They divorced in 1997 and share daughter Shanna, 31.