French film legend Gérard Depardieu, 76, found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on film set

News.com.au

13-05-2025

French actor Gérard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women by a Paris court.
He was convicted of groping the women during filming of the 2021 film Les Volets Verts.
His victims were a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant.
The case was seen as a major post-#MeToo test in France, reports The Sun.
Both women said they had been scared to speak out at the time and had been intimidated by the actor.
One of them said the actor had trapped her between his legs and ran his hands over her body.
'He terrified me – he looked like a madman,' she said.
She said he grabbed her hips then started palpating her behind and in front, around.
To show what she had experienced, she ran her hands near her buttocks, hips and pubic area.
She told the court that the actor's attitude during the trial bore no resemblance to his behaviour at work.
The other plaintiff said Depardieu groped her during three separate incidents on the film set.
Depardieu rejected the accusations during the four-day trial in March.
He acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualised language on set and that he grabbed the set dresser's hips during an argument.
However, he denied that his behaviour was sexual.
Carine Diebolt, the lawyer representing one victim, told the court the actor had targeted women who did not have a high profile.
'He is strong with the weak, and weak with the strong,' she said.
Diebolt told Sky News: 'These women were put in danger.
'This is about a line of offences that he committed over many years that were tolerated by the world of cinema because it was Gérard Depardieu.
He has been accused of misconduct by more than 20 women.
Some other cases were dropped due to lack of evidence or the statute of limitations.