French actor Gerard Depardieu, 69, accused of raping an actress in her 20s
FILM star Gerard Depardieu has been accused of raping and sexually assaulting an actress.
The French woman, 22, claims the attacks occurred at his Paris home between August 7 and 13.
Depardieu’s lawyer Herve Temime said his client, 69, .
He added: “I had a long meeting with Gerard and am convinced his innocence will be established.”
The accuser is an actress and author who had known Depardieu from before the alleged offences.
She submitted formal claims against him to police on Monday. The investigation has been referred to prosecutors.
Depardieu is the latest in a line of top showbiz names to face sexual harassment and assault claims. Some were made by the #MeToo movement, whose most famous scalp is disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, 66.
French-born Depardieu, who has made more than 180 films, was nominated for an Oscar for his title role in 1990’s Cyrano de Bergerac and won a Golden Globe best comedy actor award in 1991 for box office hit Green Card. But he has had a chequered past off-screen.
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He spent time in prison for car theft during his childhood, then in 2011 he urinated in a bottle on a flight from Paris to Dublin.
The next year he was accused of punching a motorist in Paris, then was arrested for drunk driving after falling off his scooter.
In 2013 he was given Russian citizenship after defecting from France in protest at its high taxes.
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