Gérard Depardieu (74) faces further allegations. In April of this year, 13 women accused the French actor of sexual assault. Depardieu vehemently denied the allegations and there was no complaint made in this context. Now the actress Hélène Darras has filed a complaint against Depardieu, who is said to have sexually harassed her in 2007 during the filming of the film “Disco”. She was 26 years old at the time.
It is currently being examined whether further investigations should be carried out in the case in view of the statute of limitations. The Paris public prosecutor’s office confirmed this to the French broadcaster Franceinfo on Wednesday. Depardieu’s lawyers have not yet commented on the latest allegations.
Darras, who had already testified against Depardieu as a witness before the judiciary, told the AFP news agency: “It took me a year to go from testifying to reporting […] To go to a police station and tell a police officer “It’s not easy to know that you’ve been touched in your intimate area. It takes time to think about it.”
Her goal now is to “counter something against Depardieu’s defenders who are downplaying our allegations.” She was referring to the 13 women whose allegations became public in April 2023.
They accused the actor of having behaved inappropriately while filming eleven films over the past 20 years. Depardieu allegedly touched alleged victims inappropriately or made inappropriate comments. The incidents are said to have often occurred in public and on the sets of a total of eleven films that were released between 2004 and 2022. However, no legal action was taken against Depardieu in this context.
It became known in 2018 that preliminary investigations were being carried out against the actor on suspicion of “rape and sexual assault”. Since then, many other alleged victims have come forward. Depardieu vehemently protests his innocence.
