Oscar nominated French actor, Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, also known as CQ, has been charged in a 2018 rape of a 22-year-old woman.
The 72-year-old was born December 27, 1948 in Chateauroux, France.
Gérard Depardieu has been charged with rape and sexual assault allegedly committed in 2018 against an actress in her 20s.
According to a source, a first probe of the rape accusations against Depardieu, was dropped for lack of evidence. The case was however reopened leading to criminal charges filed in December.
The actor was accused of assaulting and raping an actress in her 20s at his Paris home in August 2018.
Depardieu’s lawyer, Herve Temime, told news source that the actor, who is free but under judicial supervision, “completely rejects the accusations”.
Some reports have suggested Depardieu and the actress were rehearsing a scene of a theatre play, but the source said “there was nothing professional about the encounter”.
According to the victim’s lawyer, Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon, she hoped her client’s “private sphere will be respected” as the case unfolds.
The actor has been in several legal issues.
In August 2012, he was accused of assault and battery for punching a motorist in Paris.
In November 2012, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated after he fell from his scooter, and was found to have a blood alcohol level of 1.8 grams per litre, well above the French limit for driving of 0.5.
He’s had a successful international career, having made more than 180 films, working with Peter Weir in Green Card and with Ridley Scott among others in 1492.
Depardieu is best known for his roles in ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ and ‘The Last Metro’. He has also appeared in American films including Green Card, The Man in the Iron Mask and 102.
He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1990 for his role in ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’.
The preliminary investigation was opened on August 27, 2018, after the young woman filed a complaint near the southern city of Aix-en-Provence for rape and sexual aggression against the star.
It was then passed on to officers in Paris but the probe was dropped after nine months in early 2019 after investigators failed to gather enough proof to proceed to formal charges.
At the time, Depardieu’s lawyer, Herve Temime, said the actor “absolutely denies any rape, any sexual assault, any crime’ and dismissed the complaint as ‘groundless.”
The young woman relaunched proceedings by acting as an “injured party” – which under French law almost always leads to a case being examined by an investigating magistrate.
