The Oscar-winning writer of "Moonstruck" had a violent sexual relationship with a young indie-film actress -- and choked her to within inches of her life, she charges in a lawsuit.
Amanda Jencsik, 26, claims in the $5 million suit, filed Thursday, that she had a dangerous, four-month affair with writer John Patrick Shanley, 61, and that he would slap or "place his hands over the plaintiff's mouth and neck to restrain her" during sexual intercourse at his New York apartment.
In another incident, the suit says, Shanley looped his belt around her neck during sex "and pulled the belt, preventing [her] from breathing."
She claims she became dizzy and light-headed and believed Shanley "was trying to kill her while having this type of intercourse."
She alleges Shanley asked her numerous times throughout their encounters, "Do you feel like I'm raping you?"
The Brooklyn-born bombshell claims she suffered severe psychological distress and physical injuries as a result of the relationship and never called the cops "due to her mental state."
Her lawyer, Sal Strazzullo, claimed Jencsik was an emotional wreck who spent months in the abusive relationship because Shanley had a "Svengali-like effect on her."
Reached by phone Thursday, Shanley said he was unaware of the lawsuit.
The relationship began in October 2009, when, the aspiring actress claims, she was contacted by Shanley on Facebook. Although the couple corresponded for many months, they did not meet up until a dinner date in January 2010, she says.
After a second date the same month, Jencsik alleges, Shanley lured her up to his apartment, where they had sex.
The next day, he sent her a text message asking, "Do you want to go out again and do everything we did last time?" and she agreed to meet him at his apartment, the suit says. But when she got there, he was not home.
He turned up late and drunk, Jencsik claims, and when they got to his apartment, he "forcibly turned [her] over onto her stomach" and sodomized her.
When Jencsik told Shanley she was in pain, he "began laughing" and then became angry that her "makeup and blood were left on the sheets," the suit says.
The relationship continued until April 2010.
Though she was in pain, she was afraid to seek medical help. A year later, Jencsik sought medical attention and was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction, the suit says.
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