Gérard Depardieu Charged by French Prosecutors After 2 New Sexual Assault Accusers Come Forward

Local reports say the actor turned himself in Monday to authorities in Paris for questioning

Gerard Depardieu
Gerard Depardieu at a press conference for "Saint Amour" (Credit: Getty Collection)

UPDATED 11:50 a.m. with charges filed:

Gerard Depardieu turned himself in Monday to Paris police who sought to question him about allegations of sexual assault from two new accusers, and will face trial later this year after charges were filed.

The 75-year-old French actor faces new allegations from incidents on film sets in 2021 and 2014, his lawyer told AFP and a CNN affiliate in Paris. An unnamed set designer from the 2022 film “The Green Shutters” accused him in the more recent incident; the earlier accusation is from the 2015 TV movie “The Magician and the Siamese.”

After meeting with police, prosecutors filed criminal charges Monday. An October trial date was set, according to French media.

Depardieu is already facing two allegations of rape by actress Charlotte Arnould, who says she was assaulted in 2018; that case is working through the French courts. Another complaint, filed by French actress Helene Darras from a 2007 film shoot, was dismissed earlier this year for being outside the statute of limitations.

Another 13 women spoke to the French news website Mediapart for 2023 report accusing him of sexually inappropriate behavior. A Spanish journalist also accused him of raping her in the 1990s.

Depardieu denied all allegations against him in an open letter last year, writing that he is “neither a rapist, nor a predator. … I have never, ever abused a woman. Hurting a woman would be like kicking my own mother in the stomach.”

Over the course of his career, the French actor has starred in over 250 films with directors ranging from Jean-Luc Godard and Ridley Scott to François Truffaut and Bernardo Bertolucci. He has won two César Awards for Best Actor for both 1980’s “The Last Metro” and 1990’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

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