Actor Gérard Depardieu, suspected of having sexually assaulted two women in 2021, will be tried in October 2024, after being taken into police custody on Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
Targeted by complaints from two women, Gérard Depardieu was interviewed in the premises of the 3rd district of the Parisian judicial police, said a police source. His police custody was lifted shortly before 6:30 p.m., according to one of his lawyers. The actor disputes the accusations, his counsel said.
A decorator, who worked on the team of the film “Les Volets Verts” directed by Jean Becker, accuses him of having sexually assaulted her in 2021. She filed a complaint in February 2024 for sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist outrages. The events allegedly took place in a private hotel in Paris.
>> Details in the Forum show: Actor Gérard Depardieu in police custody following two new complaints of sexual assault / Forum / 2 min. / today at 6:00 p.m.
>> Read also: A decorator filed a complaint against Gérard Depardieu for an assault on a set in 2021
Obscene remarks and brutal gestures
According to the decorator’s account in the Mediapart newspaper, the actor made numerous gravelly remarks during filming, then later “grabbed her brutally” and “kneaded her waist, her stomach, going up to to her breasts.
He also made “obscene remarks” to her such as “come touch my big parasol, I’m going to shove it in your pussy,” she told the news site.
During this filming, “from morning to evening, we had the right to our salacious comments”, testified the actress Anouk Grinberg, in an interview with AFP. “When film producers hire Depardieu on a film, they know they are hiring an aggressor,” she accused.
Another complaint
The other complaint is brought by a former film assistant who accuses Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault in 2014. According to Le Courrier de l’Ouest, this woman, aged 24 at the time of the events and who also wishes to remain anonymous , filed a complaint on January 9, denouncing “obscene remarks” made by Gérard Depardieu during meetings in his mansion in Paris.
>> Read also: Gérard Depardieu targeted by a new investigation for sexual assault
She also accuses him of having sexually assaulted her and of having made sexual propositions to her during the filming of the film “The Magician and the Siamese” by Jean-Pierre Mocky in March 2014. The complainant spoke to the regional newspaper of “her hands all over (his) body” and the actor’s “indecent words” on set.
Around twenty testimonies for the prosecution
The French cinema giant has also been indicted since 2020 for rape and sexual assault on a young actress, Charlotte Arnould. The actress Hélène Darras had also filed a complaint against him for sexual assault during filming in 2007, but it was closed by the Paris prosecutor’s office for prescription.
In Spain, the actor is also the target of a complaint from journalist and writer Ruth Baza, who accuses him of having raped her in 1995.
In total, around twenty women testified in the press or in court. “Never, ever have I abused a woman,” the 75-year-old actor said in an open letter published in October 2023 in Le Figaro, referring to Charlotte Arnould’s accusations.
>> Rewatch the Infrarouge debate on Gérard Depardieu: Should we erase Gérard Depardieu? / Infrared / 61 min. / January 10, 2024