French actor Gerard Depardieu, who is already indicted on rape and sexual assault charges in connection to a 2018 case, is now being accused of sexual misconduct by 13 women in an investigative report published by Mediapart.
Depardieu was already indicted on Dec. 16, 2020 in connection with allegations of rape and sexual assault tied to a 2018 lawsuit filed by Charlotte Arnould. The case was previously dropped in 2019 following a lack of evidence, but was reopened in 2020 and criminal charges were filed in December. No custodial measures have been taken against the actor.
Now there are multiple accusations made by female actors, make-up artists and production staff, with whom he has worked over the years, specifically, during the making of 11 films released between 2004 and 2022. Mediapart said that “one actress has just given her account to the French justice system.”
Despite their coming forward, none of these 13 women have taken legal action against Depardieu, according to a statement provided to Variety by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
“The prosecutor has not received any new lawsuit. A formal investigation, launched in 2020 following the lawsuit filed by Charlotte Arnaud, is still ongoing,” continued the statement.
Depardieu’s legal representation Cabinet Temime has denied all the accusations and released a lengthy statement saying that the actor “doesn’t intend on addressing” the article “which appear to mix very diverse topics, including some very subjective assessments and/or moral judgments.”
He “formally denies all of the accusations that could be subject to criminal law,” the statement continued.
The accounts given by the women provide specific details.
One of the accounts, by a former extra who worked on a film called “The Box” in 2015, said Depardieu “put his hand under (her) dress” and “tried to get into (her) knickers.” After she pushed him, he allegedly became “aggressive” and “tried to push my knickers to one side to finger (her).”
Mediapart quoted “a member of the production team” who said, in apparent corroboration of the incident, that the shoot of “The Box” was paused because “an extra said she had been a victim of Gérard Depardieu.” The scene was eventually modified so that the extra was no longer standing alongside Depardieu, according to the anonymous production team member. An actor who worked on the film said she heard Depardieu “shouting that he could have who he wanted and that he didn’t want her, that she was a ‘fat pig.’”
A similar incident reportedly occurred during the filming of “Disco,” directed by Fabien Onteniente. Depardieu was playing the boss of a nightclub in a scene with about 250 extras, including Helène Darras, who told Mediapart that he “grabbed [her] by the waist” and had a “wandering hand.” She said he put “his hand on [her] bum in an insistent way” and suggested they go to his dressing room.
Mediapart also released statements from filmmakers and producers who worked with the actor on the sets where the misconduct allegedly occurred. These include Onteniente, Olivier Dahan and producer Alain Goldman (“La vie en Rose”), Graham Guit and Fabio Conversi (“Hello Goodbye”), Safy Nebbou (“L’autre Dumas”) and Pascal Breton (“Marseille”). With the exception of Onteniente, the directors and producers denied seeing any incident over the course of filming.
