Gerard Depardieu to Stand Trial on Criminal Sexual Assault Charges
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Gerard Depardieu will face criminal charges this fall stemming from accusations that he sexually assaulted two women on a set of the film The Green Shutters in 2021, The New York Times reports.
The trial will take place in October, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The criminal charges were announced hours after Depardieu was detained for questioning by the police, who were investigating claims tied to separate allegations of sexual assault that occurred in 2021 and 2014.
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Prosecutors neither identified Depardieu’s accusers, nor shared any details about the alleged incidents. When news of Depardieu’s detainment first broke on Monday, reports only included word of one alleged assault on the set of The Green Shutters.
That accusation was brought by a set designer, who filed a complaint against Depardieu in February and shared her allegation with the investigative website Mediapart. She claimed Depardieu grabbed her while she was leaving the film’s set at a Paris hotel. Depardieu allegedly groped her “waist and stomach, moving up to [her] breasts,” while making obscene comments. The actor’s bodyguards allegedly had to remove him.
It does not appear that prosecutors will pursue charges related to the 2014 accusation. That claim was brought by a woman working as an assistant on the film Le magician et le Siamois. She previously told the newspaper, Le Courrier de l’Ouest, that Depardieu groped her “all over’ and made “inappropriate” comments.
Lawyers for Depardieu did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Numerous women have accused Depardieu of sexual assault, with the allegations against him receiving renewed attention last year thanks to an extensive report by Mediapart and a new French TV documentary, Gerard Depardieu: La chute de l’ogre. Depardieu is currently facing rape and sexual assault charges tied to allegations made by the actress Charlotte Arnould (that case is still working its way through the French court system). Other women have brought civil suits against Depardieu, but those — like the one brought by the actress Helene Darras — have often wound up dismissed for being outside the statute of limitation.
Depardieu has repeatedly denied the allegations against him. Last October, in the newspaper Le Figaro, he wrote, “I have never, ever abused a woman. Hurting a woman would be like kicking my own mother in the stomach.”
This story was updated 4/29/24 @ 4:44 p.m. with news that Depardieu will stand trial in October.
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