Gérard Depardieu targeted by a second complaint of sexual assault

Europe 1 with AFP 10:51 a.m., December 07, 2023

A second complaint of sexual assault against actor Gérard Depardieu has been filed by actress Hélène Darras, we learned on Wednesday, on the eve of a "Complementary investigation" devoted to these facts.

A complaint that a priori relates to statute-barred facts

Hélène Darras filed a complaint on September 10 against the 74-year-old actor, whom she accuses of sexual assault in 2007, during a shoot of the film Disco, directed by Fabien Onteniente, the Paris prosecutor's office said. This complaint, which a priori relates to statute-barred facts, is "currently being analyzed," the same source told AFP, to determine its direction: closure or launch of investigations.

The actress, who had already testified in court and in Mediapart, "wanted to respond to the defense who minimizes our denunciations by saying that they are only testimonies," she explained to AFP, alluding to the multiple accusations that have appeared in the press against Gérard Depardieu. The Cyrano actor's lawyer, Christian Saint-Palais, did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

"Between takes, he's going to keep groping me"

The announcement of this complaint is made in an issue of the investigative magazine Complement d'enquête, which will be broadcast on France 2. Hélène Darras accuses the star of having "groped" her in 2007, when she was 26 years old and an extra in the film Disco. During filming, Gérard Depardieu "ran his hand over my hips, over my buttocks" and then "said to me bluntly: 'Do you want to go up to my dressing room?' The actress tells him "no" but "it doesn't change anything", she says in Complement: "Between takes, he will continue to grope me".

"It took me a year to go from testimony to complaint," she told AFP. "Going through the door of the police station, telling a police officer that your private parts have been touched, it's not easy, it takes time to think about it," she added.

In addition, Gérard Depardieu is the subject of a judicial investigation in Paris: he was indicted on December 16, 2020 for rape and sexual assault after another complaint by the actress Charlotte Arnould, who denounced at the end of August 2018 two rapes at the actor's Paris home.