Kinski's ex-wife didn't know of allegations

Berlin - The mother of Pola Kinski says her daughter had never told her about allegations that she had been sexually abused as a child by her father, the late German actor Klaus Kinski.

Kinski, who died in 1991, has been at the centre of a storm since Pola, 60, published a book this month alleging her father had sexual intercourse with her when she was nine years old and regularly abused her.

Her half-sister, Nastassja Kinski, has also spoken out about abuse allegations.

"I had no idea about this," Gislint B, 81, who split with Kinski and remarried 54 years ago, was quoted in Germany's mass-circulation magazine, Bunte.

'I'm not criticising Pola'

"Pola never talked to us about this. I would never even have imagined that Klaus would do something like that to his child," she was quoted as saying.

Gislint, whose present surname is being withheld under German media privacy guidelines, said she had first heard of the allegations in a letter from Pola just before an interview about the book was published. She has called Pola's account "subjective".

"I'm not criticising Pola for publishing her book. If that's the way she perceived her father, whom she's far more similar to than she is willing to believe, then she has a perfect right to write this book. Perhaps it will make her feel better," said Gislint.

Klaus Kinski, who starred in cult director Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu and other works, had one child by each of his three wives.