French film star Gerard Depardieu has admitted in a Paris courtroom to grabbing by the hips a lady who accuses him of sexual assault, however denied this was assault and stated any crude feedback he made had been simply due to his unhealthy temper.
The plaintiff, Amelie Ok, who spoke in courtroom after Depardieu on Tuesday, stated he had touched her throughout her physique as he trapped her between his legs, whereas making express sexual feedback, in an assault on a movie set in 2021 that terrified her.
“I grabbed her hips,” Depardieu stated, admitting to bodily contact with set decorator Amelie Ok for the primary time and saying he had not advised police about it when being interrogated.
However he added: “I grabbed her hip in order to not slip as a result of I used to be so upset by her, by the warmth, it was a Friday in the direction of the top of capturing, I used to be very drained.”
A towering determine of French cinema, Depardieu, now aged 76, has confronted a rising variety of sexual assault allegations lately.
He has constantly denied any wrongdoing and that is the primary case for which he’s standing trial.
The trial pertains to costs of sexual assault in the course of the 2021 filming of Les Volets Verts (The Inexperienced Shutters) by director Jean Becker.
Anouk Grinberg, a distinguished actor who appeared within the movie, has backed the case’s two plaintiffs – a set dresser, 54, recognized solely as Amelie Ok, and a 34-year-old assistant director. Each ladies allege sexual violence.
Giving his account of occasions in the course of the shoot, Depardieu advised the courtroom on Tuesday that he had been upset at Amelie Ok over her work. He stated he had accused her of doing her job badly and that she had been shocked by that.
“I don’t see why I’d grope a lady,” he advised the courtroom, including that he was so obese on the time that a few of what he’s accused of – equivalent to trapping Amelie Ok between his legs – would have been inconceivable.
Crude feedback he made on the time weren’t directed at her personally, he stated, however associated to her work.
Amelie Ok advised the courtroom that Depardieu had not criticised her work in any respect on the time. As an alternative, she stated, he made repeated, crude sexual feedback, and assaulted her.
“He grabbed me and groped me within the entrance of my physique, the again, throughout. He trapped me together with his legs,” the plaintiff advised the courtroom, including that she couldn’t transfer away.
“He touched every thing, together with my breasts,” she stated. “I used to be terrified; he was laughing.”
Amelie Ok stated somebody – she didn’t know who – finally stepped in, liberating her from Depardieu and pulling her away.
Prosecutors have given an identical account of what additionally they described as a sexual assault, and which they stated was witnessed by three folks.
They stated the second lady was groped by Depardieu on set and on the street.
Depardieu’s lawyer Jeremie Assous advised reporters on Monday that the accusations had been false and primarily based on lies. In courtroom, he accused investigators of being biased and desirous to convey Depardieu down.
Depardieu’s trial is the highest-profile #MeToo case within the media business to come back earlier than the courts in France.
If discovered responsible, he might face a sentence of as much as 5 years in jail and a 75,000-euro ($81,000) superb.
Depardieu grew to become a star in France within the Nineteen Eighties with roles within the movies The Final Metro, Police and Cyrano de Bergerac, earlier than Peter Weir’s 1990 movie Inexperienced Card additionally made him a Hollywood movie star.
He later acted in world productions together with Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, Ang Lee’s Lifetime of Pi, and Netflix’s Marseille collection.
