French movie legend Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a 2021 film set.
The actor, 76, has been convicted of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of ‘Les Volets Verts’ (‘The Green Shutters’), directed by Jean Becker.
He has now been handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence and the Paris court also ordered Depardieu, who was not present in court for the verdict, be placed on the sex offenders’ register, according to France24.
The actor, who has appeared in over 200 films and television series, has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women, but this was the first case to reach trial.
Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing.
Both of his victims had been working on the film in behind-the-scene roles and claimed they were too scared to speak out at the time.
‘I was petrified’, said one of the women, a set designer named Amelie.
She told the court that Depardieu had trapped her between his legs as she tried to pass him in a corridor before he began touching her body.
The actor, 76, has been convicted of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of ‘Les Volets Verts’. Pictured: French actor Gerard Depardieu appears at a Paris courthouse, March 27, 2025
Depardieu’s lawyer Jeremie Assous arrives at the courthouse, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Set designer Amelie (pictured) told the court that Depardieu had trapped her between his legs as she tried to pass him in a corridor before he began touching her body
‘He terrified me – he looked like a madman,’ she said.
Depardieu first arrived in court for his trial in March, dressed in a dark suit with no tie, appearing unfazed by the serious allegations against him.
The set dresser alleged the actor was openly making crude remarks on set, and at one point loudly complained he ‘couldn’t even get it up’ because of the heat.
She claimed he boasted he could ‘give women an orgasm without touching them’ and that an hour later Depardieu ‘brutally grabbed’ her.
The actor pinned her by ‘closing his legs’ around her before groping her waist and her stomach, continuing up to her breasts, she added.
She said Depardieu made ‘obscene remarks’ including: ‘Come and touch my big parasol. I’ll stick it in your p****.’
She described the actor’s bodyguards dragging him away as he shouted: ‘We’ll see each other again, my dear.’
The second accuser, the assistant director, has also accused Depardieu of sexual violence, though details of her case were not made public.
Prominent French actress Anouk Grinberg, who also starred in Les Volets Verts, publicly supported the accusers, claiming Depardieu routinely made ‘salacious remarks’ during filming. She has accused producers of knowingly ‘hiring an abuser’.
In March, lead prosecutor Laurent Guy recommended an 18-month suspended jail term for Depardieu, arguing that the sentence ‘takes into account the total lack of remorse’ shown by the defendant.
He also said Depardieu should also be ordered to undergo psychological treatment and be added to France’s sex offender registry.
Depardieu has been the subject of multiple sexual misconduct allegations over the years.
Prominent French actress Anouk Grinberg has publicly supported the accusers
Around 20 women have come forward, but many cases have been dropped due to France’s statute of limitations.
In 2018, French actress Charlotte Arnould became the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Depardieu, accusing him of rape and sexual assault.
In August 2023, French prosecutors requested a trial on those charges – claims Depardieu has vehemently denied.
‘Never, but never, have I abused a woman,’ the actor wrote in an open letter to conservative newspaper Le Figaro.
He also told the court: ‘I’m vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I’ll accept that, I don’t touch’.
‘I adore women and femininity,’ he added while describing the #MeToo movement as a ‘reign of terror’.
Depardieu, once France’s most celebrated actor, has become equally infamous for his controversial behaviour off-screen.
In 2011, he made headlines for urinating in the aisle of a plane.
He has been involved in drunken brawls, arrested for drink-driving, and has sparked outrage with his close ties to Vladimir Putin.
A 2023 French TV documentary, ‘The Fall of the Ogre’, revealed footage of Depardieu on a 2018 trip to North Korea making explicit sexual comments in front of a female interpreter and appearing to sexualise a young girl riding a horse.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
