‘Mission: Impossible’ actor says she was victim of incest as a child

French actor Emmanuelle Beart says she was a victim of incest as a child

French actor Emmanuelle Beart was a victim of incest as a child, she said in a documentary presented on Tuesday, without identifying her abuser.

Beart, who has starred in dozens of films and TV productions over the past 50 years, is the co-director of the documentary which was screened at a news conference Tuesday before being broadcast to viewers by the M6 channel on September 24.

She has been famous in France for decades thanks to performances in "Manon of the Spring", "A Heart in Winter" and "Nelly and Mr Arnaud", and reached global audiences with roles in "Mission Impossible" and "8 Women".

The attacker was not her father Guy Beart, co-director Anastasia Mikova told reporters Tuesday. Speaking for the actor who was not present, Mikova said Beart would not name her abuser because that is not "the approach of the film". The incest started when Beart was 10 and continued until she was 14, she said.

The documentary, called "Such a resounding silence", includes the stories of four incest victims, as well as Beart's own contribution.

In a video message to Tuesday's news conference, Beart said that she had initially not wanted to talk about herself, only about other incest victims. "But their honesty and their courage made me want to speak out, too," she said.

In the documentary, her voice is heard off-screen, addressing her abuser: "Since my father, my mother and my friends didn't notice anything, you could do this again, and you did, over four years."

She was "saved" by her grandmother, Beart said.

Some 160,000 children become victims of sexual assault every year in France, and 5.5 million French adults suffered sexual abuse during their childhood, according to Ciivise, a government created commission for the protection of sexual abuse victims.