Paul Haggis’ rape accuser grilled about sex life, drug and alcohol use

A rape accuser of Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis was grilled Friday by his lawyers on the witness stand about her sex life and drug and alcohol use.

One-time publicist Haleigh Breest is testifying for the second day in Manhattan Supreme Court in her civil case against the 69-year-old “Crash” director, accusing him of raping her in his Soho penthouse on Jan. 31, 2013.

Haggis denies he raped Breest and has maintained the encounter was consensual.

Haggis’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry asked Breest dozens of questions about her sex life and about every time she had sex before the alleged rape.

Breest admitted to having three one-night stands prior to that night, and said she only attempted to have sex one time after the alleged rape.

Chaudhry also asked Breest whether she had been drinking during those encounters, and Breest said she had been for the majority of them.

“On how many people have you performed oral sex,” Chaudhry probed, prompting Breest to answer between five and eight.

“Those were times when you were drinking?” Chaudhry asked.

“No, not all,” Breest replied.

Breest admitted she had been drinking champagne at an open bar on the night of the alleged rape and was tipsy. She had been working a film premiere at her freelance job with the Cinema Society Club, where Haggis was attending as a celebrity guest.

“You don’t remember how many drinks you had that night,” Chaudhry asked, to which Breest answered no.

Chaudhry also pressed her on whether she told Haggis she had been drinking: “You never told Mr. Haggis you were drunk? … You were not visibly intoxicated?” she asked.

Breest answered no to both questions.

Later, jurors saw text messages Breest sent a friend earlier on Jan. 31, 2013, asking her, “do u have any of those anti anxiety pills on you?”

Breest also asked the friend if she had Ambien — a sleep aid.

“I do!” the friend replied, noting she had Xanax, but steering Breest away from Ambien.

“I like desperately need,” Breest said, adding she needed the meds “to get me through the next few days.”

Days later, Breest told her friend she liked taking the Xanax she was given. But Breest told jurors she didn’t recall ever taking the drug.

Breest also asked the friend where she could get her own prescription, explaining to jurors she didn’t have health insurance at the time.

Breest also told jurors she is currently taking Ambien and the anti-anxiety medication Ativan — drugs she said she started taking regularly after the alleged rape as a result of the anxiety she has faced ever since.

Chaudhry also asked a slew of questions about why Breest agreed to go home with Haggis to his Mercer Street apartment and why she didn’t leave the penthouse at any point during the night when Haggis was attempting to kiss her and leading up to the alleged rape.

“Mr. Haggis had not forced you into that room?” Chaudhry asked Breest of the guest bedroom where she claims he raped her.

“As Mr. Haggis got on top of you, you weren’t kicking or screaming, were you?” Chaudhry pressed.

“You didn’t try to run out?” the lawyer continued. “You did not try to get off the bed, did you?”

Breest replied no to all of the questions.

On Thursday, Breest — who was 26 at the time — said she was “terrified” and “paralyzed” as Haggis allegedly forced himself onto her. And she says as the night went on, she repeatedly told Haggis “no” and “stop.”

The trial began Wednesday, with jurors seeing video testimony from another publicist who alleged Haggis raped her one time in 1996 when the pair were working on a Canadian TV show.

That woman was one of four others who have mounted sexual assault claims against the filmmaker.

During opening statements Chaudhry said Breest brought false claims against Haggis so the jury “will give her a lot of Paul Haggis’ money,” and as part of an alleged conspiracy by the Church of Scientology to ruin Haggis.

Haggis left the church after over 30 years in 2009 and has spoken out against the institution publicly — which he claims is the reason it has had a vendetta against him, including allegedly dredging up false sex assault claims against him.

Breest’s lawyer Zoe Salzman told jurors in her opening statements that Haggis used his “storytelling skills and fame” to prey on women. “Paul Haggis doesn’t stop when women say no,” Salzman said.