Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (Châteauroux, 27 de dezembro de 1948) é um ator e cineasta de nacionalidade russa e nascido na França. É também empresário, principalmente no ramo da viticultura. Foi agraciado com o título de chevalier pela Ordem Nacional da Legião de Honra e pela Ordem Nacional do Mérito. Em 2012 renunciou à cidadania francesa e, em janeiro de 2013, recebeu a cidadania russa, tornando-se embaixador cultural de Montenegro no mesmo mês.
In 1991, Time magazine published a translation of a 1978 interview in which Depardieu apparently confirmed a rumour that he first participated in a rape when he was nine years old and that he had participated in more rapes since then. He reportedly stated there were "too many [rapes] to count... There was nothing wrong with it. The girls wanted to be raped. I mean, there's no such thing as rape. It's only a matter of a girl putting herself in a situation where she wants to be." The story re-emerged in 1991. On 15 March 1991, Depardieu's American publicist Lois Smith, stated: "He's sorry, but it happened". The National Organization for Women requested an apology from Depardieu. Later that month, Depardieu's French publicist Claude Devy discounted the statements made by Smith, and Depardieu threatened legal action against any media outlet that published the comments. Depardieu's team said that Time had mistranslated the word "assister" as "participate", when a more accurate translation would be "attend" or "be witness to". Time refused to retract the story and claimed that Depardieu had told them he had "participated" in the rapes.
In August 2018, Depardieu was accused of sexual assault and rape by a 22-year-old actress and dancer. The actress reported being assaulted twice by Depardieu in his home during rehearsal sessions. The unnamed actress made her statement to police in Lambesc, southern France, after which the case was passed to prosecutors in the capital. Depardieu denied the allegations. In 2019, the charges were dropped after a nine-month police investigation. The case was reopened in October 2020 after his accuser refiled the complaint. In February 2021, it was announced that French authorities had charged Depardieu with rape in December 2020, stemming from the incident in August 2018. According to Depardieu's lawyer, Hervé Témime, speaking to Le Monde, the actor rejects the allegation. In March 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected Depardieu's attempt to have the charges dropped and announced the actor will remain under formal investigation. Following this investigation, the case will either be brought to trial or dismissed.
In April 2023, 13 women accused Depardieu of sexual assault and sexual harassment pertaining to incidents that occurred between 2004 and 2022. On 19 December 2023, Ruth Baza, a Spanish author and journalist, told La Vanguardia that Depardieu had kissed and groped her without her consent in 1995 when she was 23, after she had interviewed him in Paris for Cinemania magazine, and that she has filed a complaint. Baza explained that she hid the story through the years until the allegations against him emerged in 2023, which had a profound impact on her and led her to discover a description of the 1995 events in her diary from that time. By rereading her personal notes, she remembered this traumatic event that her memory had buried.
One of his accusers, Emmanuelle Debever, who had made allegations against Depardieu, committed suicide and died on 6 December 2023 after one week at the hospital. On 25 December 2023, a group of over 50 French actors and other prominent figures including Charlotte Rampling, Carla Bruni, and Carole Bouquet, denounced the "lynching" of Depardieu, in an open letter published in French newspaper Le Figaro. The group claims the star is the victim of a "torrent of hatred", adding "Gérard Depardieu is probably the greatest of all actors". His former partner Karine Silla defends him. Some of his colleagues have spoken out against him, including Sophie Marceau, Muriel Robin and Swann Arlaud. On 29 April 2024, the police detained Depardieu for questioning. A trial on two counts of sexual assault was scheduled to begin on October 28, 2024. Depardieu's lawyer said that health concerns meant he was unable to attend court. The trial was rescheduled to March 24, 2025.
