Taittinger mistress convicted of harassment following sex life allegations

The former mistress of Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger has been convicted of harassment after chasing him with a knife and threatening to cut off his penis.

The woman, Samira L, was given a suspended one-year prison sentence for chasing the 70 year old Taittinger at the family’s estate in Rheims, and also harassing his wife Claire, daughter Vitalie and another alleged mistress, according to The Times.

During the trial, the woman made a number of allegations on her sex life with Taittinger, who is a self-described ‘aesthete and hedonist’, and following the breakdown in their relationship took a train to Rheims to confront him, pulling a knife and chasing him down the street.

The Times reported in a text that she said: “If I had running shoes on, I would have caught you and I would have murdered you.”

According to the reports, she accused him of forcing her into a sex-fuelled Champagne drinking lifestyle, taking her with him on visits to Paris’s ‘libertine’ sex clubs, and also other false accusations about his sexual proclivities.

Taittinger, who bought the company back from Starwood Capital for €746 million – only a year after selling it – once compared sparkling wine to Viagra.

In an interview with the Irish Times in 2016, he said: “I am paid to drink, I am paid to eat and make love sometimes, and drink wonderful Champagne sometimes. Champagne is not only a wine, it is a symbol of happiness, a symbol of delicacy, of elegance.”

Speaking about the judgement, Taittinger’s lawyer, Nicolas Hubsch, said the court had not believed Samira L’s accusations against his client, and the six-year affair had “profoundly affected my client morally and psychologically”.

He told L’Union: “None of this lady’s claims have led to prosecution. This lady has used slander to damage my client, to intimidate him and put him under pressure. She continued to use slander to defend herself but the court was not fooled: it handed down a sentence twice that requested by the prosecution. This is a clear sign of what the judges thought of her defence.”

Taittinger handed over the reins of the firm to his daughter in 2020, and is currently an honorary chairman of the company. He is also head of the Evremond Franco-British sparking wine brand, which includes a vineyard in Kent.

Taittinger told db that it would not to comment as the case was now closed.