Gerard Depardieu arrested for questioning over alleged sex crimes | Movie theater

French actor Gerard Depardieu was summoned to give a statement before the judicial police in Paris this morning, and remained in custody until the end of the afternoon for questioning by the authorities.

Depardieu (75 years old) arrived at the police headquarters at eight in the morning in Paris (seven in the morning in Portugal). The investigation resulted from two complaints about alleged sexual crimes committed against several other women with whom the actor worked on the film, in 2014 and 2021. These are two independent processes.

This is not the first time that the actor, one of the most famous faces in French cinema, has been targeted for sexual assault. In fact, several women have come forward to denounce his behavior. For his part, Depardieu denied all accusations.

One of the women whose complaint prompted the actor to give a statement this morning explained, through her lawyer, that three years ago, he went behind the scenes of filming a movie. Les Follettes Vert (2022), Depardieu grabbed her against her will, held her between his legs, and “touched her body up to her breasts.” The complainant confirmed that the lawyer representing her, quoted by Agence France-Presse, “felt completely helpless and unable to escape from this trap.”

The complaint was filed in February and includes allegations of sexual assault, harassment and sexual insults.

The woman whose complaint relates to events dating back to 2014, an assistant director who was 24 years old at the time, also accuses Depardieu of sexual assault. When they worked together on the shoot The Magic and the Siamois, She says the actor touched her against her will and made sexual advances to her at his insistence French diary Le Mondequoted from the newspaper Le Courier de l'Ouest.

In 2020, Depardieu was previously accused of raping actress Charlotte Arnold, two years earlier. The case has not yet been resolved in court.

The British BBC also reports that the actor is accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen women, and the complaint filed by actress Helen Darras was considered baseless because the alleged crimes related to her, which occurred in 2007, have already expired.

Depardieu has denied any inappropriate behavior and insisted that all his relationships were consensual. In an open letter published last year in the Daily Newspaper Le FigaroHe even went so far as to classify the accusations that he had been the target of until then as a “public execution” dictated by the “Media Court.”