In a Médiapart report, 13 women accuse Gérard Depardieu of engaging in sexually inappropriate behaviour

Gérard Depardieu: In-depth allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour against French actor Gérard Depardieu have been made by 13 women, according to a report by the French investigative news website Médiapart.

Assertions, according to Médiapart, were connected to eleven movies and television shows between 2004 and 2022. The productions included the Netflix crime series Marseille and the comedies Big House and Dumas.

Cabinet Temime, a law practise with offices in Paris, where Depardieu's attorneys are headquartered, claimed that some of the allegations looked to be founded on "very subjective assessments and/or moral judgements."

The government issued a statement on Depardieu's behalf to Médiapart that read, "He formally denies all the charges likely to fall under criminal law."

Cabinet Temime has also been approached by Deadline for additional comments.

Many of the directors and producers who worked on the productions mentioned in the report released statements in which they denied knowing anything about Depardieu's behaviour.

Médiapart claimed that the conclusions were the result of a lengthy inquiry that had been sparked by persistent suspicions and social media accusations concerning Depardieu's treatment of women.

The French actress Charlotte Arnould, who formally accused the actor of rape in 2018, is one of the 13 more accusers.

The actress, whose father was a longtime acquaintance of the actor, accused Depardieu of twice raping and assaulting her in his Paris residence in the summer of 2018 after she sought his acting help.

After an attempt to have the charges dismissed was rejected, the case is now proceeding through the French courts.

The Mediaport report stated that in addition to Charlotte Arnould's allegation, "we have gathered 13 accounts from women who claim they were subjected to sexually inappropriate jests or proposals by the famous actor, of varying degrees of gravity." 

The article not only provided in-depth accounts, some of which came from anonymous accusers, but it also criticised the industry's culture of covering up Depardieu's misdeeds.

"The identical scene appeared to recur in all of the reports. They are crew members, makeup artists, and actors," the statement stated. They claim to have experienced groaning that was occasionally incessant and a hand being placed on their buttock, between their legs, on their thighs, or on their stomach.

According to the article, these occurrences were frequently laughed off on set, and when someone complained, the same response was given: "Oh ok, it's just Gérard!"

It also mentioned that many of the accusers had held out at the time of Depardieu's actions out of concern for retaliation that may prevent them from finding new employment.

The news website stated that "an element comes back in the stories." "The imbalance between, on the one hand, frequently young, precarious women who are just starting their careers, and, on the other side, a famous actor whose mere presence sometimes makes it possible to finance the movie.

The accusations were made public just days after Médiapart's Editor-in-Chief Ewdy Plenel made headlines of his own when it was revealed that he had reported director-actress Mawenn Le Besco for alleged physical abuse. Mawenn Le Besco is the subject of the opening-night film at Cannes this year, the costume romance Jeanne du Barry, starring Johnny Depp.

According to French media, Plenel claimed a lone woman in a restaurant had forcibly grabbed him by the hair and spat at him. Then, she was reportedly identified as Mawenn by serving personnel.

Plenel said that he had never interacted personally with Mawenn.

Luc Besson, her former husband and the father of her oldest child, has been accused of sexual assault, and Médiapart has produced in-depth stories on the allegations. At the time, Besson vehemently refuted the reports.