GERARD DEPARDIEU FOUND GUILTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
French actor Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexual assault.
The 76-year-old was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence for sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.
One of the plaintiffs was a set decorator at the time. The now 54-year-old said the actor groped her all over her body while he trapped her between his legs and made explicit sexual comments.
She told the court: “I was terrified, he was laughing.”
During the court case, Depardieu said he isn’t guilty of sexual assault and said that he didn’t consider placing a hand on a person’s bum to be a form of sexual assault.
He also said that some women were too easily shocked.
During sentencing, the presiding judge, Thierry Donard, said that Depardieu “doesn’t seem to have grasped either the concept of consent or the deleterious and traumatic consequences of his behaviour towards the women he assaulted.”
Donard also ordered Depardieu’s name to be put on a sex offenders list.
The #MeToo movement hasn’t gained as much momentum in France as it has in the United States, especially with several well-known French women supporting Depardieu.
They included former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife Carla Bruni and actress Brigitte Bardot.
Image credit: BBC