Gérard Depardieu Will Not Attend Sexual Assault Trial For Health Reasons Says Lawyer

Gérard Depardieu will not attend his trial on charges of sexual assault, related to events on the set of the film The Green Shutters in 2021, which is due to kick off in Paris on Monday afternoon.

The French actor’s lawyer Jérémie Assous said the Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac star had been advised against attending the hearings in person for health reasons.

“Gérard Depardieu is extremely affected and unfortunately, his doctors have forbidden him from appearing at the hearing,” Assous said in a statement.

The actor is being tried on charges of sexual assault allegedly committed against two women on the set of the film The Green Shutters in 2021.

The trial is being viewed as a test case for #MeToo in France with the media backlash against the actor, who is hailed as one of France’s greatest actors, dividing the local film industry.

The trial follows in the wake of multiple allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior against Depardieu on and off the set, but marks the first time he has been tried officially in the courts for sexual assault.

Depardieu also faces an official complaint of two acts of rape dating back to 2018 by actress Charlotte Arnould, which is currently making its way through the courts.

The actor has vehemently denied the rape allegations and mounting sexual assault accusations against him, even publishing an open letter in Le Figaro newspaper in October 2023, suggesting his acts had been misinterpreted.

The letter followed a detailed investigative report by French investigative news website Médiapart in April 2013, in which 13 women accused the actor of sexually inappropriate behavior.

Two months after the open letter, Depardieu came under further public scrutiny following the broadcast of a bombshell edition of investigative show Complément d’Enquête, which probed these historic accusations as well as other acts of inappropriate behavior.