French actor Gerard Depardieu found guilty of sexually assaulting two women and handed 18 month suspended jail term
13 May 2025, 09:31 | Updated: 13 May 2025, 09:51
French actor Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexual assault by a court in Paris.
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The French actor, who has appeared in more than 200 films, has been found guilty of groping a woman during the filming of the 2021 film Les Volets Verts.
Depardieu, who previously has denied any wrongdoing, was accused of using "violence, coercion, surprise or threat" in the assault, which prosecutors said took place on the set of Les Volets verts (The Green Shutters).
He has been handed a suspended sentence of 18 months after being found guilty of assaulting two women.
He has previously denied the allegations, telling the court: "I've always been told I have a Russian nature, I don't know if it's because of the drinking or the vulgarity.
"I'm not touching the butts of women."
One woman described the assault in detail, and told the court Depardieu behaved "like a madman" who took "pleasure in frightening me".
She told the court: "That's when I had a reflex of 'my God'. I tried to free myself, I tried to take his hands away, I couldn't do it.
"He terrified me, he laughed, he looked like a madman."
"It was very brief, there was no shouting," she added.
The anonymous woman said she had been too scared to speak out, and that Depardieu was too strong for her to break free - but that someone eventually removed his hands from her.
"I saw in his eyes a pleasure in frightening me, that's what I felt, it's savagery. He terrified me, and that amused him," she said.
