Actor Gerard Depardieu Questioned by Police Over Allegations of Sexual Assault During Filming | Wayne Dupree

According to French media, actor Gerard Depardieu is being questioned by police on claims made by two women that he molested them sexually while they were filming. The 75-year-old actor was taken into prison by Paris police on Monday morning, according to reports from broadcaster BFMTV and the newspaper Le Parisien, as reported by the AP. The Paris prosecutor’s office should be contacted for inquiries, the Paris police force said, adding that it was not permitted to comment. “At this stage,” the prosecutor’s office said that it had nothing to say. Following lunch on Monday at a nearby restaurant, Christian Saint-Palais, one of Depardieu’s attorneys, was seen entering a police station in the 14th district of Paris. He was silent.

Depardieu has denied any misconduct. Last October, he wrote an open letter declaring, “I have never, ever abused a woman.” According to BFMTV and Le Parisien, two women who claim he touched them inappropriately while they were filming—one in 2014 and the other in 2021—filed a police summons in connection with their allegations of sexual assault. Le Parisien said that in January of this year, police received a report about the alleged attack from 2014. There was another reported attack on a 53-year-old movie decorator. During the shooting of Les Volets Verts, also known as The Green Shutters, the lady claimed that Depardieu grabbed her and kneaded her waist, stomach, and breasts. Her lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, filed the case in February.

In addition, over a dozen additional women have accused Depardieu of touching, harassing, or sexually abusing them. Actress Charlotte Arnould made accusations against him in 2020, leading to the filing of preliminary rape and sexual assault proceedings against him. France has long regarded Depardieu as a national hero. He has played several parts in Hollywood and served as a worldwide ambassador for French cinema.