Carmen Llera Moravia, 58, said she had known the high-flying economist "for years" and claimed that he was being subjected to a politically-motivated witch hunt.
"I was never a victim of his, as people have written," said Miss Llera in a letter to an Italian newspaper.
"He is not a cruel or sadistic man, violence is not part of his make-up. He likes sex, but so what? It's not a crime."
Mrs Moravia wrote a book of poetry five years ago in which she described a lover who liked to be sadistic in bed. The man in the book 'Gaston', was thought to be Mr Strauss-Kahn, with whom she is believed to have had a relationship between 2003 and 2005. One of Mr Strauss-Kahn's middle names is Gaston.
The book of poems describes a woman being shoved up against a wall by Gaston, recounts how she tried in vain to escape his advances and refers to his "violence" and taste for "sadistic sexual pleasure".
But Miss Llera, who was born in Pamplona but now lives in Rome, said the character was "a literary invention" and had nothing to do with the French presidential contender.
She said she did not know what happened between Mr Strauss-Kahn and the Guinean maid he is alleged to have assaulted in a hotel room in New York.
Mr Strauss-Kahn faced seven charges in a US court earlier this week relating to an alleged sexual assault on a 32-year-old woman.
He has denied all the charges against him.
Miss Llera, the widow of Alberto Moravia, a famous Italian novelist, claimed Mr Strauss-Kahn was being made a "scapegoat" by puritanical Americans. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Friday, May 20, 2011
