French actor Gerard Depardieu admits to ‘grabbing woman by hips’, denies sexual assault
A towering figure of French cinema, the 76-year-old Depardieu has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations in recent years.
French actor Gerard Depardieu on Tuesday admitted to grabbing by the hips a woman who later accused him of sexual assault.
Depardieu denied that his action amounted to assault and told the court that any crude comments he made were just because of his bad mood.
"I grabbed her hips," Depardieu said, admitting to physical contact with set decorator Amelie K. for the first time, Reuters reported. The actor added that he had not told police about the grabbing when being interrogated
"I grabbed her hip so as not to slip because I was so upset by her, by the heat, it was a Friday towards the end of shooting, I was very tired,” he told the court.
A towering figure of French cinema, the 76-year-old Depardieu has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations in recent years. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and this is the first case for which he is standing trial.
Depardieu said he had been upset with the plaintiff over her work. He said he had accused her of doing her job badly and that she had been shocked by that.
"I don't see why I would grope a woman," he told the court, adding that he was so overweight at the time that some of what he is accused of - such as trapping Amelie K. between his legs - would have been impossible.
According to the actor, the rude comments he made at the time were not directed at the plaintiff personally but related to her work.
If found guilty, Depardieu could face a sentence of up to five years in jail and a 75,000-euro ($81,000) fine.
What did the plaintiff tell the court?
The plaintiff, Amelie K, who spoke in court after Gerard Depardieu, said he had touched her all over her body as he trapped her between his legs while making explicit sexual comments in an assault on a film set in 2021 that terrified her, Reuters reported.
Amelie K told the court that Depardieu had not criticised her work at all at the time. Instead, she said, he made repeated, crude sexual comments and assaulted her.
"He grabbed me and groped me in the front of my body, the back, all around. He trapped me with his legs," the plaintiff told the court, adding that she could not move away.
"He touched everything, including my breasts," she said. "I was terrified, he was laughing."
Amelie K said someone - she did not know who - eventually stepped in, freeing her from Depardieu and pulling her away. Prosecutors have given a similar account of what they also described as a sexual assault, and which they said was witnessed by three people.
The prosecutors said the alleged assaults against Amelie K. and another woman - their full identities have not been revealed - took place during the 2021 filming of "Les Volets Verts" (The Green Shutters). They said the second woman was groped by Depardieu on set and in the street.
Depardieu's trial is the highest-profile #MeToo case in the media industry to come before the courts in France. The trial, expected to last at least three days, was initially due to be held in October but was postponed due to Depardieu's ill health. It started on Monday.
