Beatty accused of coercing minor into sex at age of 35
A Louisiana woman is accusing Oscar winner Warren Beatty of sexual battery, sexual assault, molestation and abuse that allegedly occurred in Hollywood when she was 14 years old and he was 35.
In a civil lawsuit filed yesterday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Kristina Charlotte Hirsch alleged that the 85-year-old Bonnie & Clyde star and several others ‘‘used his role, status, and power as a well-known Hollywood star to gain access to, groom, manipulate, exploit, and coerce sexual contact from her over several months’’ while she was a minor living in California.
Hirsch said the alleged incidents led her to suffer ‘‘severe emotional, physical and psychological distress, including humiliation, shame, and guilt,’’ according to the complaint, obtained by the Los Angeles Times. She also lists issues with trust and control as consequences of the alleged assaults.
While she does not explicitly name the ‘‘Reds’’ and ‘‘Heaven Can Wait’’ star-director in the lawsuit – listing him instead as ‘‘Defendant Doe’’ in the complaint – her legal team refers to him as a ‘‘renowned and well-known actor and producer,’’ as well as with several other identifiers.
‘‘By 1973, DEFENDANT DOE had acted in television and several Hollywood films, including portraying Clyde in ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ a major box-office success
that earned DEFENDANT DOE an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor,’’ the complaint said.
It is unclear why Hirsch’s attorneys, Michael Reck and Matthew Finnegan of Jeff Anderson & Associates, chose not to use Beatty‘s name in the lawsuit.
The attorneys, whose firm has handled sex abuse cases involving the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America, did not immediately respond yesterday to the Los Angeles Times’ requests for comment.
The lawsuit was brought under a 2019 California law that gives victims of child sexual abuse a three-year window to file claims that would have otherwise exceeded the statute of limitations.