"There's been a lot of talk about me lately." In an interview with the Journal du dimanche, French-Algerian director Maïwenn explained why she attacked Edwy Plenel, president and publishing director of Mediapart, in a restaurant last February.
"I do not blame Mediapart for the investigations they conducted concerning Luc Besson," says Maïwenn, referring to the revelations made by the investigative site about her ex-husband. "I blame them for what they did to me."
"In my life, it's a cataclysm"
In her interview with the JDD, the director of Jeanne du Barry says she met Mediapart journalist Marine Turchi in 2018, to discuss the accusations against Luc Besson. Maïwenn says that at that time, she had established a relationship of trust with the journalist: "I ask her – to protect my daughter – if, in any case, she can warn me forty-eight hours before the publication of the next investigation. She understands. She gives me her approval."
But it is in 2021, a few months after a mandatory summons to the police station, that everything changes. "Paris Match publishes a multi-page article on Luc Besson with a long part of my testimony. And in March 2021, Marine Turchi published, without warning me, an article with bits of my hearing. All charged and used in an oriented way. In my life, it's a cataclysm," says Maïwenn.
"He doesn't want to discuss or try to understand"
"If nothing justifies attacking a journalist, nothing justifies violating a woman's privacy, deceiving her trust," justifies the director. "Deep down, I can't help but think that my gesture is very little compared to what I went through," she admits.
And what about the apology to Edwy Plenel? "He asked for an apology. I proposed a discussion. He refused. He doesn't want to argue or try to understand, just for me to bow," she says. Mediapart's publishing director filed a complaint against Maïwenn last March.