French actor Judith Chemla has opened up about the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of a former partner.
The 34-year-old actor took to Instagram late Sunday night and posted photos of her swollen face from a domestic abuse incident that happened last year.
"A year ago my face was injured, blue, purple under my eye, I saw myself deformed. A year ago I looked at my face in the mirror and I knew that I could no longer hide my face. My daughter's father. Those who are able to do that must be out of harm's way. But how? I am not ashamed of this photo," Chemla wrote.
According to Deadline, film director Yohan Manca, with whom Chemla was previously in a relationship and has a daughter with him, was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence for domestic violence against the actor.
In her post, Chemla revealed that she has filed more than one complaint against her abuser.
"I have so much evidence that he continues to try and harm me… What must it take for him to leave me alone? Really go to jail? He will still play the victim with my daughter and she will suffer from not seeing her father. That I keep this to myself?
"He will still feel above the law and will continue to complain and challenge court decisions with his five-year-old daughter, whom he sees as a normal father who he is not. He will continue to believe that he is able to pressure me and bully me morally," she added.
Chemla, whose credits include 2012’s "Camille Rewinds", "Une Vie " (2016) and "Not My Type", also starred in Manca's "My Brothers And I", which competed in the 2021 Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. However, neither she nor the director attended the official screening.
At the time, Variety had reported that Chemla had filed a complaint against Manca with the French police after he allegedly threw a cell phone at her on a street.
[With Inputs From PTI]
