Gérard Depardieu found guilty of sexual assault

13 May, 2025

Gérard Depardieu

Gérard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot in 2021 and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

The 76-year-old actor was convicted of sexually assaulting a set dresser, 54, and an assistant director, 34, during the shooting of the film Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in Paris in September 2021.

As well as the suspended sentence, he was given a fine of €29,000 (over £24,000) and his name will be added to the sex offender register in France. He did not appear in court for the verdict, but his lawyer, Jérémie Assous, said he would appeal against it.

The court heard that Depardieu trapped the set dresser, named as Amélie in the media, between his legs on set and grabbed her buttocks, pubis and chest. She said that he used obscene language and had to be pulled off her. He allegedly said, via The Guardian: “Come and touch my big parasol, I’ll stick it in your pussy.”

She said: “That fear that I felt – what stands out for me is not his sexual desire but his savagery. It was the fact that he knew I was afraid – I saw his eyes light up with a kind of pleasure in making someone afraid. I remember that savagery. He really terrified me, and that amused him.”

He was convicted of sexually assaulting the assistant director, who has not been named in the media, by touching her breasts and buttocks on three separate occasions with the assaults making her feel “petrified”. She said that the actor “talked about sex all day on set, constantly talking of ‘pussy’ to everyone.”

The judge, Thierry Donard, also ruled that Assous had been “excessively harsh” to the two women. Assous had said that they were working for “rabid feminism,” said they had an “unbearable voice,” and called their lawyers “abject and stupid”. He awarded the complainants compensation for being victimised by Depardieu’s defence, ordering that he pay them each €1,000.

Amélie said outside court: “For me, this is a victory. Justice has been done”. Her lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, added: “I hope this is the end of impunity for cinema artists. I’ve heard some actors recently still supporting Depardieu. Now with this verdict, no one can say Gérard Depardieu is not a sexual predator, and that’s very important.

“Today, on the first day of the Cannes Film Festival, I want the cinema world to think of the victims of Gérard Depardieu, and to speak of those victims.”

Before the verdict, former actress Brigitte Bardot supported Depardieu, defending “talented people who grab a girl’s bottom” and saying, “Feminism is not my thing” in her first interview in over a decade.

In 2018, Depardieu was accused of sexual assault and rape by Charlotte Arnould, who reported being assaulted twice by him during rehearsal sessions at his home. The Paris prosecutor’s office has requested that the actor, a friend of Arnould’s father, face trial in this case, but no date has been set.

Emmanuelle Debever, who accused Depardieu of sexual assault in a 2019 Facebook post, died in December 2023 in an apparent suicide.

In April 2023, 13 women accused him of sexual assault and sexual harassment with regard to incidents that occurred between 2004 and 2022.

In an open letter to French newspaper Le Figaro that October, Depardieu strongly denied all allegations and wrongdoing, saying: “Never, ever have I abused a woman,” while he also claimed that he was the victim of a “media court”.

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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