Movie producer, Paul Haggis arrives at court to face claims he raped publicist in his apartment in 2013

Canadian movie producer, Paul Haggis is in court in New York City today to fight claims he raped a publicist in 2013.

The Oscar-winner is being sued by Haleigh Breest, 36, a Manhattan publicist who says he attacked her in his apartment after a premiere for the movie Side Effects.

Breest was 26 at the time and Haggis, now 69, was nearly 60.  She claims he brought her back to his apartment for a ‘drink’ then forced her to perform oral sex on him and raped her.

In her lawsuit, she claims he told her not to ‘worry’ because he’d had a vasectomy so couldn’t impregnate her. Haggis – who was previously arrested in Italy on separate rape claims – denies Breest’s allegations.

He says the entire case is being driven by the Church of Scientology as punishment for his speaking out against it – Haggis used to be a member of the church but deserted in 2009.

Jury selection for the civil trial begins today in Manhattan. Breest is expected to testify, as are three other women who have accused Haggis of rape.  The women have not been named.

It remains unclear if any of the women reported their allegations to police, or why Haggis has never been arrested over their claims.

The Italian case was dropped six weeks after the woman, who is British, first reported her claims to the police in the town of Lecce.

Breest came forward in 2017, galvanized by the #MeToo movement and allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

Haggis maintains that the encounter she describes in her lawsuit was consensual.

His attorneys say that Breest demanded $9million from him before filing her lawsuit and that the case is one of ‘simple extortion’.

The lawsuit describes how Breest, then 26, was working as a publicist at the event on the Upper West Side.

Haggis was a ‘celebrity guest’. Once the party was over, she says he insisted on giving her a ride downtown, and that he asked her to join him for a drink in his apartment.

She claims she asked to go to a public bar instead but that he ‘insisted’ on the privacy of his own home.

She said he led her to a bedroom where he removed her tights, took off his own Banana Republican boxers, and forced her to perform oral sex, instructing: ‘Put my d**k in your mouth.’

Haggis then digitally penetrated Breest, telling her ‘you’re nice and tight’, and telling her he liked ‘anal sex’, according to the 12-page complaint filed in 2017.

She says he then raped her without using a condom, telling her: ‘I’ve had a vasectomy, so you’re fine. You can’t get pregnant.’

After the alleged attack, she says she ‘lost consciousness’ in the bedroom and later woke up to find him in a different part of the apartment.

She says she felt ‘trapped’ and that the only way out of the apartment was from a personal elevator that opened onto the home.