crime

French Actor Gérard Depardieu Charged in 2018 Rape

Gérard Depardieu. Photo: Francois G. Durand/Getty Images

French actor Gérard Depardieu, 72, has been charged in a rape and sexual assault case, according to reports from French wire service Agence France-Presse. In 2018, a then-22-year-old actress filed a formal complaint with French police alleging that the actor sexually assaulted her twice that August in his Paris apartment. According to an AFP source close to the case, she was reportedly receiving career advice from the onetime Oscar nominee, a friend of her family’s. The source also denied reports that they were rehearsing a scene of a play, stating “there was nothing professional about the encounter.” The Paris public prosecutor’s office initially dropped the accuser’s claim nine months into the investigation, citing lack of evidence, but it was reopened late last year after the woman refiled. A lawyer for Depardieu, Hervé Temime, told AFP the actor is currently under judicial supervision and “completely rejects the accusations.” Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon, the counsel for the woman, said she hopes her client’s “private sphere will be respected” throughout the case.

French Actor Gérard Depardieu Charged in 2018 Rape