{"id":266727,"date":"2025-03-25T23:47:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T23:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/25\/gerard-depardieu-takes-the-stand-in-trial-over-sexual-assault-allegations\/"},"modified":"2025-03-25T23:47:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T23:47:26","slug":"gerard-depardieu-takes-the-stand-in-trial-over-sexual-assault-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/25\/gerard-depardieu-takes-the-stand-in-trial-over-sexual-assault-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"G\u00e9rard Depardieu Takes the Stand in Trial Over Sexual Assault Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/25\/multimedia\/25int-depardieu-trial-klct\/25int-depardieu-trial-klct-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"G\u00e9rard Depardieu Takes the Stand in Trial Over Sexual Assault Allegations\" title=\"G\u00e9rard Depardieu Takes the Stand in Trial Over Sexual Assault Allegations\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The French movie star G\u00e9rard Depardieu admitted on Tuesday to grabbing a female colleague but denied accusations of sexual assault, as he testified in court for the first time since a number of women filed police complaints against him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Accusations against Mr. Depardieu have mounted since the #MeToo movement arrived in the country and articles criticizing his behavior began to appear in the French press. At least six women have filed complaints with the police accusing Mr. Depardieu of rape, sexual harassment and assault. He has consistently denied all the charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a Paris court on Tuesday, he faced one of two women who have accused him of sexual assault in this case. Am\u00e9lie, a set decorator who has been identified only by her first name, has accused Mr. Depardieu of groping her on the set of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt15167162\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cLes Volets Verts,\u201d<\/a> a 2022 film they both worked on. The actor said he grabbed her to keep from slipping and to ensure she could hear him. If found guilty, he faces up to five years of prison and a fine of 75,000 euros, about $81,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Depardieu is among France\u2019s most famous actors, starring in over 230 movies and winning dozens of awards and accolades, driven in part by his unfiltered personality and bawdy sense of humor. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/24\/world\/europe\/gerard-depardieu-sexual-assault-trial.html\" title=\"\">For many,<\/a> the court case against him seems like a sign of the progress that #MeToo has finally made in the country, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/03\/movies\/judith-godreche-metoo-abuse-france.html\" title=\"\">where it met much resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sitting on a special cube-like stool that he brought with him for the trial, Mr. Depardieu told the court that his reputation had been ruined by a movement that he said was \u201cbecoming a terror\u201d and that painted him unjustly. \u201cIt\u2019s been three years since I\u2019ve worked,\u201d said Mr. Depardieu, 76.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In their testimony, Mr. Depardieu and Am\u00e9lie painted very different pictures of what happened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Am\u00e9lie, 54, told the court that she had been working on the film set in 2021 and that Mr. Depardieu was sitting on his cube-stool in the hall and loudly making bawdy statements in between his takes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s so hot, I can\u2019t get an erection,\u201d she alleged he said at one point. Am\u00e9lie also accused him of saying, \u201cI can make a woman orgasm without touching her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After an initial interaction with him over a parasol she was looking for, the decorator said she had tried to avoid the actor but had to pass him to leave the building at the end of her day. She said he called her over, grabbed her by the waist, hauled her toward him and then clamped his legs around her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Am\u00e9lie said she had felt trapped and terrified as he ran his hands around her buttocks and groin, and then up to her chest, saying, \u201cCome touch my parasol.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI was petrified,\u201d she said in court. Later, what stayed with her, she added, was that \u201che sensed my fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI saw his eyes light up,\u201d she said. \u201cHe enjoyed scaring me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A colleague advised her to go to the police, but she said she had not wanted to cause the filming to stop abruptly. Instead, she finished the film, and then fell into a mental fog and depression, unable to work for about two years, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Am\u00e9lie went to the police last year, after hearing about the case of another woman, Charlotte Arnould, who had accused Mr. Depardieu of rape in 2018. (Mr. Depardieu has denied the accusation but the investigation into the accusations is ongoing.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo shut up was to be complicit to that,\u201d she said in court, \u201cand I couldn\u2019t be complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Depardieu offered a very different version of his interaction with Am\u00e9lie that was sometimes hard to follow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The actor said it had been hot on the set at the end of a long week and he had been in a foul temper and screaming for a fan. He said he had sometimes shouted vulgarities to get the set moving, but they were \u201cnot addressed to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Depardieu said he had been annoyed by the set decorator because the room where the shoot was next supposed to happen was not well-prepared and it was already late.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou have to know if you want to do flea market stuff or if you want to be a professional decorator. Who do you think you are?\u201d he recalled telling her. Later, he said, \u201cI found the work sucked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The actor said he had grabbed her by the hips in order \u201cto not slip\u201d and also to bring her closer so he would not have to yell. He said he had reprimanded her, but never, at any moment, trapped her with his legs or touched her sexual body parts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI don\u2019t see why I\u2019d want to grope a woman,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not someone who rubs himself against others on the subway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Depardieu said that he had weighed 150 kilograms and would not have been able to grab Am\u00e9lie between his thighs \u201cwith the belly I had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The trial will continue on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/25\/gerard-depardieu-trial-sexual-assault-france.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The French movie star G\u00e9rard Depardieu admitted on Tuesday to grabbing a female colleague but denied accusations of sexual assault, as he testified in court for the first time since a number of women filed police complaints against him. Accusations against Mr. Depardieu have mounted since the #MeToo movement arrived in the country and articles [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/25\/multimedia\/25int-depardieu-trial-klct\/25int-depardieu-trial-klct-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[170908,9283,4760,40998,9403,2950,1752,1172,1074,169744,6230],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266727"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266729,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266727\/revisions\/266729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}