Strauss-Kahn Defended By Ex-Lover

Over the weekend, another one of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s former lovers came forward to explain what’s behind his supposed charm. She believes his encounter with Nafissatou Diallo was “a forced relationship,” yet thinks that if she’s called to testify in the sexual assault case, it will help the defense.

Marie-Victorine M., a 38-year-old consultant, spoke to the French paper Le Journal du Dimanche and the Swiss magazine L’Illustre. The New York Post reports that she was also recently interviewed for 45 minutes by Diallo’s lawyer, as her own lawyer, Gloria Allred, was on the line. This is truly an exciting development, as Allred’s involvement was all that we needed for the DSK case to become a bona fide media shitshow.

Marie-Victorine M. was introduced to Strauss-Kahn by her father in 1997, when she was 23 and he was 47. At the time he was also married, and the mayor of Sarcelles, France. They first had sex several hours after they met, and their “intense physical relationship” lasted for nine months. She says of the end of their affair:

“We were both nervous and had a fight in front of the apartment building. I was in a sorry state, sad and very upset. Then I noticed that my sweater was ripped and that I had hurt my hand during our dispute … I no longer remember the words that we exchanged that night, but when my friend saw me arrive, she found me in a pitiful condition.”

Four months later, she tried to commit suicide by taking pills. She adds:

“It wasn’t because of the love affair, but I was hurt. It [the breakup] was really bad for me. But these are the things that happen with all couples.”

Diallo’s lawyer asked Marie-Victorine M. to meet with his client, but she refused. She says his questions were “truly salacious, surgical.” He wanted to know if Strauss-Kahn was violent or had forced her to get an abortion. She insisted he was never physically or verbally abusive to her, adding, “He forced me to do nothing at all.”

When asked by L’Illustre about Strauss-Kahn’s brutish behavior, she said:

“What’s violence? … A man who pins you against the wall and kisses you, is that violent? There’s violence and there’s violence. To me, he wasn’t violent.”

Yet, she said she believes Diallo’s claims because she says she was approached from behind and the whole account is, “Incredible, but at the same time who he is.” According to the Daily Beast, she continues:

“I think he’s a man who loves sex, who has a big sexual appetite, so, actually, maybe he went a little too far-a lot too far,” M told the Swiss magazine. “And I am convinced that in his heart he’s deeply persuaded that he’s not guilty.”

Asked to speculate about what happened to Diallo, on the basis of her own experience, M told the magazine, “Frankly, I think that there was a relation between the two, a forced relation. I don’t know if it was about a rape. This is a man who is physical, so it’s altogether possible that he grabbed this woman in a brusque or brutal manner.”

We were under the impression that a “forced relation” was pretty much the definition of rape, but apparently several people, including Strauss-Kahn himself, have managed to convince themselves that’s not the case.

DSK’s Ex-Lover Tells Accuser’s Lawyer He Was “Never Rough” With Her [N.Y. Post]
DSK’s ‘Physical’ Sex Life [Daily Beast]