Director Maïwenn sued for assaulting a journalist in Paris
The French actor/director Maïwenn is being sued by political journalist Edwy Plenel, the editor-in-chief of Mediapart Magazine, after the director allegedly attacked him at a Paris restaurant.
According to a report in Variety, a police complaint was filed on March 7th by Plenel, accusing the Jeanne du Barry director of the attack. In it, Plenel alleges that Maïwenn assaulted him in late February when eating at a restaurant in Paris’ seventh arrondissement.
According to the complaint, Maïwenn was sitting alone at a nearby table to Plenel before going to his table, grabbing him by the hair and spitting in his face without saying anything. She then stormed out of the building. Per the news outlet AFP, the journalist was left “traumatized by the incident”.
Although the police report was filed four weeks ago, it leaked to the public on Friday, only a day after it was announced that Jeanne du Barry had been chosen to open the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
Whilst Mediapart hasn’t investigated Maiwenn, it has been noted that it published a series of controversial stories about her ex-husband, the director Luc Besson, with whom she shares a daughter. The publication has been at the forefront of France’s #MeToo movement, releasing the testimony of actor Sand Van Roy that accused Besson of sexual assault. The case was eventually dropped.
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