Gerard Depardieu: French actor in police custody over sexual assault allegations

French actor Gérard Depardieu is in police custody following allegations of sexual assault, his legal team have told local media.

The Cyrano de Bergerac star was summoned to a police station in Paris for questioning on Monday morning (April 28). The 75-year-old remains in custody where he is being quizzed about two accusations of sexual assault made by two women.

The allegations reportedly concerns alleged incidents which took place while the women were on film sets with Depardieu in 2014 and 2021. He has not commented publicly on the case, but has denied other allegations levelled against him in the past.

In 2020, he was charged with the rape of actor Charlotte Arnould when she was 22 years old in 2018, with the case remaining open. In a separate case, actor Hélène Darras filed a complaint of sexual assault allegedly carried out by Depardieu, but prosecutors later dropped this due to the statute of limitations.

In total, he has been accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen women. Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing in the past, stating that all relationships were consensual. In an open letter published in 2023, he said: "Never, ever have I abused a woman".

In 2013, he was granted full Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin. It came after he said he would give up his French passport in protest at government plans to raise the tax paid by the highest earners.

Depardieu has appeared in more than 200 productions, most of which in French cinema. However, he is known to film fans in the UK with credits including ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘The Man In The Iron Mask’.