Actor DEPARDIEU ordererd to stand trial on charges of s3xual assault

Wednesday, September 3, 2025 - French actor Gérard Depardieu has been ordered to stand trial on charges of r@pe and s3xual assault against actor Charlotte Arnould in 2018, according to sources close to the case and Arnould’s lawyer on Tuesday, September 2.

The decision comes months after a Paris court handed Depardieu, 76, an 18-month suspended sentence in May for sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021, a conviction that further damaged the reputation of one of France’s most celebrated cinema figures.

Depardieu has denied the latest allegations, insisting his relationship with Arnould was consensual. Arnould, who filed her complaint in 2018, expressed relief at the ruling. “Seven years later, seven years of horror and hell… I think I’m having trouble realising how huge this is. I’m relieved,” she said.

Her lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, confirmed that Depardieu had been ordered to stand trial for the alleged assault and r@pe by digital penetration of Arnould in August 2018 on two occasions at his Paris home. “My client and I are relieved and confident. This is a form of judicial truth for Charlotte while she awaits the criminal trial,” she said.

The trial date has not yet been set. The case was initially dismissed for lack of evidence, but Arnould pursued it as a civil party, prompting a judicial investigation in 2020.

Depardieu’s lawyer declined to comment when contacted by AFP. The actor previously denied the allegations in a 2023 letter to Le Figaro, stating: “Never, ever, have I abused a woman. There was never any coercion, violence, or protest between us.”

Arnould, who went public with her accusation in 2021, said Depardieu, a family friend, r@ped her twice in August 2018 when she was 22 and suffering from anorexia.

Depardieu, with more than 200 film and television credits, is the highest-profile figure implicated in France’s reckoning with the #MeToo movement. Over a dozen women have accused him of sexual misconduct.

In May, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a set dresser and an assistant director during the filming of Les Volets Verts (“The Green Shutters”) in 2021. He was ordered to register as a sex offender following that conviction.