It's a 'Fall From Grace' for Gerard Depardieu

Actor Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021 in "a fall from grace for a towering figure of French cinema," reports Reuters. Sentenced Tuesday in a Paris court, Depardieu received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The 76-year-old actor was also placed on a list of sex offenders, fined $32,350, and ordered to pay each victim $1,100 for "secondary victimization" due to the trial itself, per the Washington Post and BBC. Depardieu was convicted of assaulting a 34-year-old assistant director and a 54-year-old set decorator during filming of Les Volets Verts in September 2021 following a trial that began in late March.

The assistant director testified the actor had touched her breasts and buttocks through her clothes on three occasions. The set decorator testified she was "terrified" as a "laughing" Depardieu trapped her between his legs and touched her all over, including her breasts and buttocks, after a minor argument. Judge Thierry Donard noted two witnesses corroborated the set decorator's account. Depardieu's own accounts of the incident had been contradictory, the judge said, per Reuters. Depardieu admitted grabbing the woman's hips but denied sexual assault, saying he didn't think putting a hand on a buttock qualified, and indicated he may have touched the women accidentally or to maintain his balance.

The actor, on a film set in the Azores, was not in court to hear the decision. His lawyer said he would appeal. The set decorator said she was "very moved" by the verdict, which marked "a victory, a major step forward," per the BBC. Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, a lawyer for the two women, called it "a victory for all the women behind this case" and said she was "thinking of all of Depardieu's other victims." The actor has faced similar allegations in the past. In 2020, he was charged with twice raping the French actor Charlotte Arnould in August 2018, though the case has not yet proceeded to trial. And in 1991, Time published an interview in which Depardieu admitted to rapes during childhood, though he later denied making the comments, per AFP. (More Gerard Depardieu stories.)