Gérard Depardieu
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (Template:IPAc-en,<ref name="LPD">Template:Cite LPD</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Template:IPAc-en,<ref name="LPD"/><ref name="LDO">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Template:IPA; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor. Considered an icon of French cinema in the same way as Jean Gabin and Alain Delon, he has completed over 250 films since 1967, most of which as a lead actor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is also a film producer, businessman, vineyard owner, and occasional director. Depardieu has worked with over 150 film directors including François Truffaut,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Bertrand Blier,<ref name="BlierEurope">Template:Cite web</ref> Maurice Pialat,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Alain Resnais,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Claude Chabrol,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Ridley Scott,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Peter Weir,Template:Sfn Jean-Luc Godard,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Bernardo Bertolucci.Template:Sfn He is the second highest-grossing actor in the history of French cinema behind Louis de Funès.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="cinedwellerchampions">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His body of work also includes many television productions, several records and, as of 2025, 19 stage plays and 9 books.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is known for having portrayed numerous leading historical and fictitious figures including Cyrano de Bergerac, Georges Danton, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Auguste Rodin, Christopher Columbus, Jean Valjean, Edmond Dantès, Porthos, commissioner Maigret, Joseph Stalin and Grigori Rasputin, as well as Obelix in four of the live action Asterix films.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Growing up in poverty in Châteauroux, central France, Depardieu had a difficult youth before settling in Paris where he became an actor. In 1974, he had his breakthrough role in Going Places, becoming an overnight star. Depardieu quickly established himself as a leading actor in European cinema and proved himself a versatile performer by appearing in a wide variety of productions, including drama, comedy, crime and avant-garde films. He has received acclaim for his performances in The Last Metro (1980), for which he won the César Award for Best Actor, in Police (1985), for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, Jean de Florette (1986), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and his second César Award for Best Actor as well as garnering a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He started a Hollywood career with Green Card (1990), winning a Golden Globe Award, and later appeared in several big-budget English-language films, including 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), and Life of Pi (2012).
Depardieu is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite. He was granted citizenship of Russia in January 2013 (officially adopted name in Template:Langx), and became a cultural ambassador of Montenegro during the same month. During the early 2010s, his tax exile in Russia and his support of Vladimir Putin caused controversy in France.
Depardieu was accused of sexual misconduct as early as the 1990s, though this did not develop into formal complaints until the late 2010s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2020, French authorities charged him with rape. Depardieu denied any wrongdoing but a number of controversies since 2020, not limited to the accusations of rape, damaged his popularity in France and abroad, resulting in his being stripped in 2023 of the National Order of Quebec.<ref name=":0" /> In May 2025, he was convicted of sexual assault against two women in a separate case. He has appealed his sentencing.
Early life
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu was born on 27 December 1948 in Châteauroux, Indre, France, to a working-class family. He is the third of six children<ref name="RTL2014">Template:Cite news</ref> of Anne Jeanne Josèphe (née Marillier), a stay-at-home mother known as "La Lilette", and René Maxime Lionel Depardieu (better known in his neighborhood as "Dédé" because he could write only two letters),Template:Sfn a metal worker and volunteer fireman.<ref name="filmreference1948">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="genindre1">Template:Cite web</ref> Not wishing to have a child at the time, Depardieu's mother tried unsuccessfully to abort him.<ref name="RTL2014"/>
Depardieu grew up in poverty in a two-room apartment at 39 rue du Maréchal-Joffre, Châteauroux, with his five siblings. His mother was not very affectionate, and sometimes violent to her children. His father, who suffered from a severe alcohol addiction, was often absent from home.Template:Sfn Depardieu helped his mother when she was in labour with his younger brothers and sisters.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> His family eventually nicknamed him "Pétard" or "Pétarou", because of the habit he had acquired of breaking wind incessantly.Template:Sfn Depardieu's parents were both born in 1923; Anne died of a heart attack in 1988 and René, who suffered from cirrhosis, died two months after her.Template:Sfn
Depardieu spent more time on the streets than in school, leaving at the age of 13. Practically illiterate and half stammering,<ref name="LaLibertéàToutPrix">Template:Cite news</ref> he learned to read only later.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In his 2014 autobiography, Depardieu revealed that he had prostituted himself as a child, starting when he was 10 years old and could already pass as 15. He would sometimes rob his clients.<ref name="revealsprostitution">Template:Cite news</ref> He was later employed at a printworks, and took part in boxing matches in his spare time.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He also supported himself by working as a beach attendant during summers.Template:Sfn
During his difficult adolescence, he turned to theft and smuggling all kinds of goods, notably cigarettes and alcohol, to the G.I.s at the large American air base of Châteauroux-Déols.Template:Sfn He also acted as a bodyguard for two prostitutes who came down from Paris on the G.I.s' payday.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Depardieu later credited those two women with teaching him sex.Template:Sfn In a 2005 interview, he said that he was arrested several times and put on probation at one point, but never went to prison;<ref name="Guardian">Template:Cite web</ref> in his autobiography, he said that at the age of 16, he had gone to prison for three months for car theft.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1968, Depardieu's childhood best friend Jacky Merveille, also a hoodlum from Châteauroux, died in a car accident. This prompted Depardieu, who had already moved to Paris at that time, to consider his future and to try and do something with his life.Template:Sfn
Career
Early roles and stardom
As a teenager, Depardieu befriended Michel Pilorgé, a slightly older boy from a more affluent background. In 1965, Pilorgé, whose family owned a flat in Paris and who wanted to settle in the capital to become an actor, proposed Depardieu, then aged 16, to come with him. Depardieu accepted and left Châteauroux for Paris.Template:Sfn Out of curiosity, he began attending the acting class Pilorgé was taking at the Théâtre National Populaire. One day the teacher, Lucien Arnaud, noticed Depardieu and asked him to perform. The experience helped trigger Depardieu's vocation.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Depardieu next took acting classes with Jean-Laurent Cochet<ref name="RTL2014"/>Template:Sfn while making a living as a door-to-door salesman.Template:Sfn To compensate for his lack of education, he heavily studied the classics.Template:Sfn<ref name="LaLibertéàToutPrix"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At Cochet's request, he followed a therapy with Alfred A. Tomatis to correct his disastrous diction.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Depardieu became the boyfriend, and later husband, of actress Élisabeth Guignot, who introduced him into entertainment circles and the Parisian bourgeoisie.Template:Sfn In 1966, Guignot brought him on the first film project he worked on, Christmas Carole, directed by Agnès Varda, where he was cast as a beatnik. The film was never completed due to a lack of funding and distribution deal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1967, Depardieu made his first actual screen appearance in the short film Le Beatnik et le minet, directed by Roger Leenhardt: his diction was still so bad at the time that his voice had to be dubbed by another actor.<ref name="RTL2014"/>
Working on stage, Depardieu also appeared in café-théâtres and became a regular performer at the Café de la Gare headed by Romain Bouteille and Sotha, where he met Patrick Dewaere, Coluche, and Miou-Miou.<ref>30th Anniversary of Café de la Gare Template:Webarchive, L'Express, 15 August 2002, (in French)</ref> He acquired a reputation thanks to his "instinctive" approach to acting.<ref name="LaLibertéàToutPrix"/> The first feature film he worked on was Michel Audiard's crime spoof Le cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques (1971).Template:Sfn In 1971, Jean-Louis Livi became his agent and "mentor", introducing him into Artmedia, France's main casting agency.<ref name="apesanteur">Template:Cite web</ref> Theater director Claude Régy was enthusiastic about Depardieu, whom he found "extraordinary" and gifted in an "abnormal" way: he cast him in several plays, including Peter Handke's The Ride across Lake Constance which Depardieu later credited with jump-starting his career.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Depardieu appeared in various supporting roles in films and on television, often portraying hoodlums and petty criminals. He played a similar character in the film where he had his first major role, Bertrand Blier's raunchy and controversial comedy Les Valseuses (Going Places, 1974). Blier was initially reluctant about casting Depardieu but the actor, who felt that the character's background strongly resembled his own, pestered him until he won the role.<ref name="RTL2014"/><ref name="surgissement">Template:Cite web</ref> The film, in which Depardieu co-starred with Dewaere and Miou-Miou, was a huge box office success in France,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> gaining a cult following and making instant stars of the three actors.<ref name="surgissement"/> Depardieu and Blier subsequently had a long working relationship, making eight more films together.<ref name="BlierEurope"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, Depardieu was part of the ensemble cast of Claude Sautet's Vincent, François, Paul and the Others, which came to be regarded as a classic of French cinema.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Depardieu's other prominent films during the 1970s included the psychological thriller Seven Deaths by Prescription (1975) which earned him his first César Award nomination, Barbet Schroeder's controversial Maîtresse, and André Téchiné's romantic thriller Barocco where he co-starred with Isabelle Adjani (both 1976). Also in 1976, Depardieu played a lead role in Bernardo Bertolucci's Italian historical epic 1900,Template:Sfn where he co-starred with Robert De Niro and an international ensemble cast that included Donald Sutherland, Stefania Sandrelli and Burt Lancaster. The thriller This Sweet Sickness (1977), directed by Claude Miller, was a box-office failure,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but earned Depardieu another César Award nomination. During that period, Depardieu also appeared in several experimental films, including two by Marco Ferreri, The Last Woman (1976)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Bye Bye Monkey (1978),<ref name="cinedwellerchampions"/> and two by Marguerite Duras, The Lorry (1977)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Baxter, Vera Baxter (1978).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He worked again with Bertrand Blier on the quirky sex comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978), which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 1979,<ref name="Oscars1979">Template:Cite web</ref> and the surreal dark comedy Cold Buffet (1979), which became a cult film in France.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Peak of success
In 1980, Depardieu starred in Alain Resnais' internationally successful My American Uncle.<ref name="eder">"A filmmaker who seeks the unlikely", by Richard Eder. In New York Times, 26 April 1981, section 2, page 1. (Archived at the Wayback Machine 26 January 2018.)</ref> That same year, he co-starred with Isabelle Huppert in Loulou, directed by Maurice Pialat. This film marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Pialat, who directed Depardieu in three other films.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 1980, Depardieu co-starred with Catherine Deneuve in François Truffaut's The Last Metro, a drama set in Nazi-occupied Paris. The film was a major commercial success and earned Depardieu his first César Award for Best Actor.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later that year, Depardieu appeared in a second film with Deneuve, Claude Berri's Je vous aime. They subsequently made six more films together.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Still in 1980, he co-starred with Coluche in the box-office hit Inspector Blunder, a police comedy where he played the antagonist.Template:Sfn He also tried his hand at singing, releasing an LP with lyrics written by his wife.Template:Sfn
During the first half of the 1980s, Depardieu enjoyed a series of commercial and critical successes, including his second and last film with François Truffaut, the romantic drama The Woman Next Door (1981). Other notable films included the period drama The Return of Martin Guerre (1982), Andrzej Wajda's historical drama Danton (1983), as well as the crime film Choice of Arms (1981) and the war drama Fort Saganne (1984), both directed by Alain Corneau.<ref name="cinedwellerchampions"/><ref name="apesanteur"/>Template:Sfn One major disappointment during that period was Jean-Jacques Beineix's The Moon in the Gutter (1983), which failed to meet box-office expectations. Depardieu later openly disparaged the film.Template:Sfn Also in 1984, Depardieu made his first film as a director, Le tartuffe, an adaptation of Molière's classic play with himself in the title role;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Depardieu conceived it as a filmed version of the play, which he was performing at the time at the National Theatre of Strasbourg. The reception was disappointing for both the play and the film.Template:Sfn Depardieu rarely returned to directing thereafter. For his performance in the crime drama Police (1985), his second film with Maurice Pialat, he was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. Depardieu became at that time one of the most successful and sought after actors in the French film industry.<ref name="apesanteur"/>
Already an established dramatic performer, Depardieu extended his range and box-office appeal throughout the 1980s by appearing in a series of highly successful, family-friendly comedies. Following Inspector Blunder in 1980, he co-starred with Pierre Richard in three comedy films directed by Francis Veber, Knock on Wood (1981), ComDads (1983) and The Fugitives (1986), that were major commercial hits in France. Depardieu functioned as the straight man in his pairing with Richard.Template:Sfn<ref name="cinedwellerchampions"/><ref name="apesanteur"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1985, Depardieu co-starred with Sigourney Weaver in the screwball comedy One Woman or Two, which failed to make an impact at the box-office.Template:Sfn In 1986, he worked again with Bertrand Blier in Evening Dress, a provocative comedy-drama about homosexuality which was remarkably successful in France, given the subject matter.<ref name="apesanteur"/>Template:Sfn That same year, his international profile rose as a result of his performance as a doomed, hunchbacked farmer in Claude Berri's period drama Jean de Florette, which won immense public and critical acclaim.<ref name="apesanteur"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 1986, he co-starred with singer Barbara in a musical play she had conceived, Lily Passion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The show enjoyed great success.Template:Sfn The next year, he played the lead role in Maurice Pialat's Under the Sun of Satan, which controversially won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.<ref name=lexpress>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1988, Depardieu was Isabelle Adjani's co-star in the successful and critically acclaimed biographical drama Camille Claudel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Several of Depardieu's next films were box-office disappointments, including François Dupeyron's A Strange Place to Meet (1988) and Alain Resnais' I Want to Go Home (1989) but, also in 1989, he enjoyed renewed success with Bertrand Blier's Too Beautiful for YouTemplate:Sfn which won the Grand prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the César Award for Best Film.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1990, Depardieu received particular notice for his starring role in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Cyrano de Bergerac, based on Edmond Rostand's 1897 play.Template:Sfn The film was an international box-office success and won critical acclaim: Depardieu's performance as Cyrano earned him his second César Award for Best Actor, the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.<ref name="catastrophe">Template:Cite web</ref> Later that year, Depardieu appeared in the ensemble cast of Uranus, a satirical drama about postwar France directed by Claude Berri.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Depardieu's next film was the American romantic comedy Green Card, directed by Peter Weir and co-starring Andie MacDowell. His first Hollywood picture,<ref name="catastrophe"/> it was specifically conceived as a vehicle to introduce him to a wide English-speaking audience. Though the film performed moderately at the box-office, it earned Depardieu a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.Template:Sfn However, remarks Depardieu had made in a 1978 interview about raping women during his teenage years re-emerged in the American press. The resulting controversy damaged his nascent Hollywood career. It was speculated in the French media that it had also prevented him from winning the Academy Award for Cyrano de Bergerac.<ref name="catastrophe"/><ref name=WaPo-910325/>
In 1991 Depardieu starred in two successful films, the comedy My Father the Hero and Alain Corneau's period drama Tous les Matins du Monde, which won critical acclaim.Template:Sfn In the latter film, he and his son Guillaume portrayed the same character at different ages.<ref name="family values">Template:Cite web</ref> Depardieu next started filming Ridley Scott's historical epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise, in which he starred as Christopher Columbus. Released in 1992 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the film flopped in the United States<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but did good business in Europe.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Also in 1992, Depardieu was the Jury President for the Cannes film festival.Template:Sfn
Depardieu also developed a passion for the films directed by John Cassavetes. In the early 1990s, together with Jean-Louis Livi, he bought the distribution rights for most of Cassavetes' films, including some that had never been released in France, to introduce them to a new audience. He later co-produced and appeared in Nick Cassavetes' first film as a director, Unhook the Stars (1996)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and co-produced his next film, She's So Lovely (1997).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Depardieu's next box-office successes in France were Claude Berri's epic period drama Germinal (1993) where he was part of an ensemble cast, Jean Becker's drama Élisa (1995) where he played a supporting role alongside Vanessa Paradis, and Jean-Marie Poiré's comedy Guardian Angels (also 1995) in which he co-starred with Christian Clavier.Template:Sfn In 1993, Depardieu starred in the experimental Hélas pour moi, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, though Godard and Depardieu disliked working together and Depardieu eventually refused to promote the film.<ref>Richard Brody, Everything Is Cinema The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard, Henry Holt, 2008, page 551</ref> During the same period, the science fiction thriller The Machine (1994) was a box-office flop; Depardieu's performance in that film received unusually poor reviews.Template:Sfn
In 1994, Depardieu starred in My Father the Hero, the Hollywood remake of his 1991 French film of the same name.<ref name="nyt review">Template:Cite web</ref> His subsequent English-language roles included Bogus (1994),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a cameo in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Man in the Iron Mask (1998),<ref name="LAT">Template:Cite news</ref> Vatel,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 102 Dalmatians<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (both 2000) and CQ (2001).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Depardieu starred in several successful television miniseries, notably portraying Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo (1998)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (2000).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1999, 15 years after Le tartuffe, he made his second film as a director, The Bridge, a romantic drama starring himself and his real-life partner Carole Bouquet. The film, which Depardieu co-directed with Frédéric Auburtin,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was not a success.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Depardieu's other films during that period included Vidocq (2001), a digitally-shot steampunk mystery that did well at the box-office but was panned by critics,Template:Sfn as well as the successful comedies The Best Job in the World (1996), The Closet (2001) and Ruby & Quentin (2003).<ref name="cinedwellerchampions"/> In 1999, Depardieu starred as Obelix in Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar, the first live action adaptation of the Asterix franchise. He reprised the role in three sequels,Template:Sfn most notably Alain Chabat's Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), one of the most commercially successful French films ever.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Later work
By the mid-2000s, though Depardieu remained very active, many of the films he starred in were less successful internationally than before. He readily admitted that some of them were of poor quality.<ref name="Guardian"/> In 2004, the large-budget action comedy San-Antonio was a major box-office failure in France. Depardieu, who was set to play the protagonist, contributed to the production's troubles by being unable to lose weight for his role as planned, which caused him to be recast as the hero's overweight sidekick.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Depardieu's subsequent notable appearances included starring roles in the crime film The 36 (2004),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the romantic drama When I Was a Singer (2006) which won him the Lumière Award for Best Actor,<ref name="tellnoone">Template:Cite web</ref> Claude Chabrol's last film, the murder mystery Bellamy (2009),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as supporting parts in La Vie en Rose (2007),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mesrine (2008)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also published a cookbook in 2005.<ref name="Guardian"/>
In 2010, Depardieu played starring roles in the successful comedy film Potiche,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the biographical film Dumas<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the comedy drama My Afternoons with Margueritte.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 2010, he starred in the surprise success Mammuth,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a low-budget dramedy for which he had agreed to work at the union minimum wage in exchange for a percentage of the revenue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the early 2010s, Depardieu's popularity in France suffered from the controversies following his tax exile first in Belgium then in Russia, and his public praise of Vladimir Putin. Several of his films performed dismally at the French box-office, including the period drama The Man Who Laughs (2012) which was released in the midst of the controversy.<ref name="slate2013">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, Depardieu starred in Abel Ferrara's controversial Welcome to New York as a thinly-disguised impersonation of disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film was released only on VOD.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Also in 2014, Depardieu appeared in United Passions, a promotional film about the history of FIFA that bombed at the box-office and was lambasted by critics.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Parkinson">Template:Cite news</ref> Still in 2014, the crime film Viktor, an English-language Russian production, flopped in its limited U.S. release, failed to secure a release in France and was ridiculed by several French media.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Sudouest>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Two films Depardieu made with director Guillaume Nicloux, Valley of Love, also starring Isabelle Huppert (2015), and The End, a low-budget film released on VOD (2016),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while not box-office successes, earned him nominations for the César Award for Best Actor (for the first film) and the Lumière Award for Best Actor (for both films). Depardieu made two further films with Nicloux, including Thalasso (2019) where he co-starred with author Michel Houellebecq.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
From 2016 to 2018, Depardieu played a starring role in Marseille, Netflix's first French-language original series.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He authored or co-authored four books between 2014 and 2020, either to tell his life story<ref name="RTL2014"/> or to express his personal philosophy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Starting in 2017, Depardieu performed Barbara's songs on stage as a homage to the late singer. He reprised this show several times in the following years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Depardieu next appeared in the drama Home Front (2020),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the literary adaptation Lost Illusions (2021),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the successful comedy Retirement home,<ref name="cinedwellerchampions"/> the crime film Maigret<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the drama The Green Shutters (all 2022).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His public image was then impacted by the accusations of rape and sexual assault against him.<ref name="dérives">Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2023, he was excluded from the promotion of his latest film, Umami.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Later that year, his public performances of Barbara's songs were disrupted by feminists, causing the cancellation of several shows.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As a result of these allegations and the criminal charges brought against him, Depardieu was ostracized by most French filmmakers: in March 2025, while he was on trial, it was reported that he hadn't worked on a film since the completion of The Green Shutters in 2021.<ref name="dérives"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In May 2025, Depardieu began work on his first film in four years, Elle regardait sans plus rien voir, a Portuguese-French coproduction directed by Fanny Ardant.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life
Relationships and children
In 1970, Depardieu married actress Élisabeth Guignot (later known professionally as Élisabeth Depardieu), with whom he had two children: actor Guillaume (1971–2008) and actress Julie (b. 1973). They separated in the early 1990s, though their divorce was only finalised in 2006 once a settlement was found after a lengthy court dispute.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As his marriage deteriorated, Depardieu met model Karine Silla (sister of producer Virginie Besson-Silla) and began a relationship with her.Template:Sfn On 28 January 1992, while Depardieu was separated from Guignot, he and Silla had a daughter, Roxane. Silla remained Depardieu's partner until 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 1996, Depardieu and his wife definitely separated following attempts at reconciliation.Template:Sfn
From 1996 to 2005, Depardieu was in a relationship with actress Carole Bouquet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 14 July 2006, he had a son, Jean, with Hélène Bizot (daughter of François Bizot, not to be confused with the actress of the same name).<ref>Issue 3089, 31 July 2008, Paris Match</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Between 2005 and 2023, Depardieu was in a relationship with Clémentine Igou. As of 2024, he is in a relationship with Magda Vavrusova.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 13 October 2008, Depardieu's son Guillaume died from pneumonia at the age of 37. Guillaume's health had been adversely affected by drug addiction and a 1995 motorcycle crash that eventually required the amputation of his right leg in 2003. Depardieu and Guillaume had a turbulent relationship, including a public falling out in 2003,<ref name="family values"/> but had reconciled prior to Guillaume's death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In his 2014 autobiography, Depardieu acknowledged his shortcomings as a father, saying that he had been unable to provide an answer to Guillaume's suffering.<ref name="RTL2014"/> Later on, he blamed his son's death on the prison sentence he had received at the age of 17 for drug offences: he said that Guillaume had never recovered from it and that he had been unfairly treated by the court due to being his son. Depardieu commented that his son had been "killed" for two grams of heroin.<ref name="sans limites">Template:Cite web</ref>
Health
Depardieu's eating and drinking habits have caused his weight to increase noticeably over the years. He managed several times to lose weight through strict diets, only to later gain it back.Template:Sfn<ref name="Guardian"/> In the course of the 2000s he became permanently, then severely overweight.<ref name="150kgs">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2014 film review, The Hollywood Reporter called Depardieu "morbidly obese".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As Depardieu weighed Template:Convert at the end of 2008, film critic Pascal Mérigeau commented on Depardieu's large amounts of food consumption, "at lunch he ingests Template:Convert of red meat, swallows handfuls of saltine crackers".<ref name="150kgs"/> Laurent Audiot, the chef of the Parisian restaurant La Fontaine Gaillon, compared Depardieu to the gluttonous giant Gargantua, saying that "he has excessive energy and he compensates with food, but sometimes it takes on incredible proportions".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
According to a 2024 biography, Depardieu's already heavy drinking worsened after his son Guillaume died in 2008.<ref name="affaire">Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2014, Depardieu stated he drank twelve, thirteen or fourteen bottles of alcoholic drinks daily, starting at 10:00 a.m., drinking champagne, wine, and pastis, and ending the day with vodka, whisky, or both. He said: "I'm never totally drunk, just a bit of a pain in the ass".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 18 May 1998, Depardieu had a motorcycle accident with a high blood alcohol content, of 2.5 g/L<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> on the way to the shooting of Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar. He was prescribed forty days off work.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2000, Depardieu underwent heart bypass surgery after two weeks of chest pains.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2011, he was removed from a Cityjet flight to Dublin after refusing to sit down due to being refused access to the toilet and urinating in a bottle. Depardieu apologised for this and his fellow actor Édouard Baer attributed it to prostate issues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2012, Depardieu was hit by a car while riding his scooter in Paris.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The same year, while intoxicated with 1.8 g/L of alcohol in his blood, he had another scooter accident, without injury and without collision with another party.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2013, it was reported that since the 2000s he had been involved in at least seven motorcycle or scooter accidents.Template:Sfn
In the context of Depardieu's 2025 trial, it was mentioned by his legal team that he suffered from heart ailments<ref name="pathologies">Template:Cite web</ref> and diabetes,<ref name="Montemps">Template:Cite web</ref> the latter illness dating back to his twenties.<ref name="pathologies"/>
Tax exile and citizenship
On 7 December 2012, after French President François Hollande introduced a plan to tax high incomes at 75%,<ref name="France24impôts">Template:Cite web</ref> Depardieu registered as a resident of Néchin, Belgium in a tax avoidance move.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault criticized Depardieu's move as "shabby" and unpatriotic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On 15 December, Depardieu said that he felt "insulted" by Ayrault's remarks, commented that in the eyes of the French government, "success, creation, talent, anything different, must be punished" and stated he would be handing back his French passport.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 20 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Depardieu Russian citizenship,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which the actor accepted. On 3 January 2013, Putin signed an Executive Order granting Russian citizenship to Depardieu.<ref name="JDD201301">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 5 January, Depardieu met with Putin at the latter's residence in Sochi, to receive his Russian passport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The controversy harmed Depardieu's public image in France.<ref name="slate2013"/><ref name="consternation">Template:Cite web</ref> Also in January 2013, Depardieu was appointed a cultural ambassador for Montenegro,<ref name="voiceofRussiafr">Template:Cite web</ref> a country where he had also considered becoming a tax resident.<ref name="JDD201301"/> In February, he registered as a resident of Saransk, Russia.<ref name="voiceofRussiafr"/> He received a preferential tax treatment in Russia, where he became subject to a 6% tax rate, half as high as the majority of other fiscal residents.<ref name="France24impôts"/> In 2018, he stated that he wished to become a citizen of Turkey.<ref name="sans limites"/>
In February 2022, Depardieu revealed in an interview that he had become a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, although he did not specify when this occurred.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In that same interview, he said that he had retained his French passport, even though he wished to live "less and less" in France.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Depardieu's friend Guy Roux said that the actor's resentment of France stemmed from the 2008 death of his son Guillaume, which he blamed on the French judiciary.<ref name="sans limites"/>
While residing in Russia part of the year, Depardieu remained registered as a resident of Néchin. In February 2025, it was reported that the French National Financial Prosecutor's office had opened an investigation into aggravated tax evasion and money laundering pertaining to Depardieu's tax residence in Belgium. Magistrates aimed to establish whether Depardieu really had been living in Néchin, or if he had instead been staying in France for a period longer than that allowed by his status as a tax resident abroad.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Political views
In 1987, Depardieu published an op-ed in the left-wing newspaper Libération in support of socialist French President François Mitterrand, announcing that he would be "voting for the first time" on the occasion of Mitterrand's 1988 reelection bid. He later said that he had abstained that year.<ref name="NouvelObs2012">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1993, he expressed support for the French Communist Party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later on, he supported conservative President Jacques Chirac.<ref name="NouvelObs2012"/> Following the 2002 presidential election, he supported again the Communist Party, then on the verge of bankruptcy after its electoral failure, by donating 10,000 euros. In 2010, he said that right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy was the only politician he appreciated.<ref name="JDD2010">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2012, during Sarkozy's unsuccessful bid for reelection, Depardieu publicly endorsed him and spoke at one of his rallies.<ref name="NouvelObs2012"/> He later said that he had been "drunk" that day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Since the 1990s, Depardieu has publicly associated himself with authoritarian leaders, based on his economic interests.<ref name="NouvelObs2012"/><ref name="despotes">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="sans limites"/> In the course of that decade, while investing into an oil exploration project in Cuba, he met then-President Fidel Castro and expressed his sympathy for him.<ref name="NouvelObs2012"/><ref name="despotes"/> In 1998, he supported Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar's bid for reelection.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was later revealed that Depardieu had been paid 45,000 euros for his endorsement of Mečiar,<ref name="NouvelObs2012"/> which he acknowledged in 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Depardieu eventually said he had realised afterwards that Mečiar was "a real fascist".<ref name="NouvelObs2012"/> Depardieu also expressed support for Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after investing into vineyards in Algeria.<ref name="NouvelObs2012"/> His associations with political strongmen were long tolerated by the French general public.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After Vladimir Putin granted him Russian citizenship, Depardieu penned an open letter to the Russian President, praising him and calling Russia "a great democracy".<ref name="JDD201301"/><ref name="sarcasmes">Template:Cite web</ref> His support for Putin was widely condemned in France, by a broad spectrum of political actors.<ref name="consternation"/> That open letter also drew ridicule from the Russian opposition.<ref name="sarcasmes"/> Depardieu granted his first extensive interview after becoming a Russian national to the state-owned news channel Russia-24: he was dismissive of Putin's opponents, stating that "The Russian opposition has no programme; it has nothing".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In his autobiography, he commented that Putin "immediately liked [his] hooligan side."<ref name="revealsprostitution"/> Depardieu subsequently made public appearances with Putin's allies, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and expressed his support for them.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In August 2015, Depardieu's films were banned from television and cinemas in Ukraine after he said "I love Russia and Ukraine, which is part of Russia".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following his acquisition of Russian citizenship, Depardieu also expressed anti-American sentiment: in 2015, while in Moscow where he was performing a play, he stated that the United States were "a people who have constantly destroyed others".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
One of Depardieu's biographers, Bernard Violet, stated that the actor's fascination with dictators stemmed in part from his interest in extraordinary characters, whom he saw as "shakespearian monsters", and also from his taste for provocation. Another biographer, Lionel Duroy, said that Depardieu had no understanding of politics and was totally naive in this area.<ref name="sans limites"/>
In a 2021 interview, Depardieu said that he disliked dictators, had never met one, and did not consider Putin to be one.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he distanced himself from Putin, condemning the invasion and accusing the Russian President of "crazy, unacceptable excesses".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Religion
Though not baptised at birth, Depardieu had a Catholic upbringing.<ref name="convert">Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2010s, he revealed that as a young man, he had converted to Islam as part as his interest in spirituality. Depardieu credited an Umm Kulthum concert he attended in Paris in 1965 with starting his interest in Islam. According to Depardieu, this conversion took place in the late 1960s,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn though he also said in some interviews that it had occurred during the 1970s.<ref name="convert"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He "was a Muslim for two years" before giving up due to his inability to speak Arabic. He later expressed interests in Buddhism and Hinduism.<ref name="convert"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2003, following an encounter with Pope John Paul II, Depardieu gave public readings of Saint Augustine's Confessions at Notre-Dame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Over the years, he gave several other readings of Saint Augustine's works.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2020, Depardieu converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris.<ref name="convert"/> <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Business ventures and wealth
In 1983, Depardieu created the company DD Productions to co-produce films and rent filming equipments. Owning shares of the films he starred in allowed him to earn additional income from box office receipts, home video and television broadcastings.<ref name="multinationale">Template:Cite web</ref>
Apart from his film career, Depardieu is also a viticulturist, having invested in vineyards at the end of the 1980s. He owns wine estates in the Médoc, Hérault, Burgundy, Eastern Europe, Maghreb, and South America. In addition, Depardieu is the owner of the Château de Tigné (Tigne Castle) in Anjou. He also collects fine arts and motorcycles.<ref name="multinationale"/><ref name="Lutaud2012">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2003, Depardieu bought the restaurant La Fontaine Gaillon in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. Its wine cellar, which consisted of bottles of Château Haut-Brion, Château Latour, Meursault and Saint-Émilion, was rewarded by the Gault Millau guide. La Fontaine Gaillon was described as "a Parisian institution".<ref name="Gaillon2019">Template:Cite news</ref> He sold the restaurant in 2019.<ref name="Gaillon2019" />
Over the years, Depardieu has invested into various ventures,<ref name="Capital2015">Template:Cite news</ref> including in the late 1990s an unsuccessful oil exploration project in Cuba.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the 1990s, he was associated with Planet Hollywood, to which he provided wine.Template:Sfn Depardieu has generated additional income by appearing in commercials and advertising campaigns. In the early 1990s, he starred in two Barilla commercials, directed respectively by Ridley Scott and David Lynch.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was later featured in various campaigns aimed exclusively at the Eastern European market.<ref name="Capital2015"/>
In Paris, Depardieu owns luxury restaurants, a Japanese delicatessen, a wine bar, and a seafood shop.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Lutaud2012"/> By 2012, he employed over a hundred people in France through fifteen companies.<ref name="Lutaud2012"/> In 2013, Depardieu's wealth was estimated at US$200 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He said that the 2006 divorce settlement with his wife cost him 15 million euros.Template:Sfn Depardieu owns a luxury hotel built in 1805 in the 6th arrondissement of Paris valued at 50 million euros ($53.5 million).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sexual assault and rape allegations
First controversy
In 1977, Harry Stein interviewed Depardieu on the set of Get Out Your Handkerchiefs. The interview, which was published in the March–April 1978 issue of Film Comment under the title Depardieu: French Primitive, addressed the actor's difficult upbringing and turbulent youth: it quoted Depardieu as saying that he had first participated in a rape when he was nine years old and in more rapes since then, and commenting that 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.".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Midilibre2912">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="premiersviols">Template:Cite web</ref>
The story re-emerged in February 1991, shortly after the release of Green Card, when Time published an interview of Depardieu where he appeared to confirm these statements and commented: "it was absolutely normal in those circumstances. That was part of my childhood."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="premiersviols"/><ref name=WaPo-910320/> On 15 March 1991, Depardieu's American publicist Lois Smith stated: "He's sorry, but it happened".<ref name=WaPo-910325/> The National Organization for Women requested an apology from Depardieu.<ref name=WaPo-910320>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=WaPo-910325>Template:Cite news</ref> Depardieu's team said that Time had mistranslated the French verb "assister" as "participate", when a more accurate translation would be "attend" or "be witness to".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Time refused to retract the story and claimed that Depardieu had told them he had "participated" in the rapes.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
At that time, Depardieu received support from the French media, who claimed he was being mistreated and blamed American "puritanism." As a result, his career in France was not affected, and the French general public eventually forgot the controversy over time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="Midilibre2912"/>
2018 rape accusation
In August 2018, Depardieu was accused of sexual assault and rape by Charlotte Arnould, a 22-year old actress and dancer.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Arnould, whose identity was initially concealed, made her name public in December 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The daughter of a longtime friend of Depardieu, Arnould said that on 7 August 2018 she had been invited by the actor to his Parisian home, ostensibly to discuss her career: there, she said, Depardieu had digitally raped her. According to her account, on 13 August she went back to Depardieu's home to confront him, only to be similarly raped a second time.<ref name="perdue">Template:Cite news</ref>
Arnould made her statement on 27 August<ref name="perdue"/> to police in Lambesc, southern France, after which the case was passed to prosecutors in the capital. Depardieu denied the allegations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2019, the charges were dropped after a nine-month police investigation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Actress Emmanuelle Debever commented the news by accusing Depardieu of groping her on the set of the 1983 film Danton.<ref name="première accusatrice">Template:Cite web</ref> The case was reopened in October 2020 after Arnould refiled the complaint.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Following Arnould's second complaint, French authorities charged Depardieu with rape on 16 December 2020. The actor rejected the allegation through his lawyer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In March 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected Depardieu's attempt to have the charges dropped and announced that the actor would remain under formal investigation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 2 September 2025, judges ordered case to be heard against him on charges of raping and sexually assaulting the actor Charlotte Arnould at his Paris home in 2018. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2023-2024 controversy and further accusations
On 11 April 2023, investigative website Mediapart reported that 13 women were accusing Depardieu of sexual assault and sexual harassment pertaining to incidents that occurred on film and television sets between 2004 and 2022. Several of these women said that Depardieu's behavior had happened in full view, without anyone objecting.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 23 May, Charlotte Arnould gave a television interview where she recounted her version in detail.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 1 October 2023, after several of his public performances were disrupted by feminist protesters and hecklers, Depardieu published an open letter disputing the accusations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="DepardieuBBCopenletter">Template:Cite news</ref>
In that context, Depardieu's reputation was further damaged on 7 December 2023, when French television newsmagazine Complément d'enquête broadcast a segment about the accusations against the actor, which included behind-the-scenes footage from a documentary project Depardieu had worked on with author-director Yann Moix. In that footage, shot in 2018 in North Korea, Depardieu could be seen making multiple obscene, sexist and misogynistic remarks.<ref name="affaire"/><ref name="obsceneremarks">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Emmanuelle Debever died on 6 December 2023 after one week in a hospital following a suicide attempt, leading to speculation that her death was connected to the Complément d'enquête broadcast.<ref>Template:Cite web.</ref><ref name="première accusatrice"/> On 13 December 2023, Gérard Depardieu was stripped of the National Order of Quebec, on the grounds of what Quebec premier François Legault called "scandalous remarks made by Gérard Depardieu in front of the cameras".<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> He had been appointed as a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2002 by premier Bernard Landry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That segment also caused Radio Télévision Suisse, the French-language television of Switzerland, to announce that for the time being it would no longer broadcast films starring Depardieu.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 17 December, Depardieu's daughter Julie, her two half-siblings and several other family members signed an op-ed in support of him.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 19 December, Spanish author and photographer Template:Ill told La Vanguardia that Depardieu had forcibly kissed and groped her in 1995 when, at age 23, she had interviewed him in Paris.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="macronfortune">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="macronmanhunt">Template:Cite news</ref> Although the facts were likely time-barred, Baza filed a complaint in Spain, saying that she hoped it would encourage other people to speak out.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
French politicians also reacted to the Complément d'enquête documentary. Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak expressed outrage at Depardieu's behavior, saying that he brought "shame" to France,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and launched a disciplinary procedure that could lead to the actor's Legion of Honour being rescinded. On the contrary, when asked for comment on 21 December, President Emmanuel Macron denounced the "manhunt" against Depardieu and said that the actor made France "proud".<ref name="macronfortune"/><ref name="macronmanhunt"/><ref name="outrageMacron">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="huile">Template:Cite news</ref> Macron later clarified that he was not "complacent" about sexual abuse and had defended Depardieu's presumption of innocence.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Depardieu later sued France Télévisions over the report.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Depardieu's former partner Carole Bouquet went on television to defend his character.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 25 December 2023, a group of over 50 French actors and other prominent figures including Bouquet, Charlotte Rampling, Carla Bruni, Fanny Ardant, Nathalie Baye, Bertrand Blier and Roberto Alagna, signed an open letter published in French newspaper Le Figaro that denounced the "lynching" of Depardieu. The text, titled Do not cancel Gérard Depardieu, claimed that the actor was the victim of a "torrent of hatred", adding that he was "probably the greatest of all actors" and that attacking him was an attack on art itself.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="outrageMacron"/> Several signatories, including Bouquet and Pierre Richard, eventually distanced themselves from the op-ed due to its content and after it was revealed that it had been penned by an actor with far-right connections.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Depardieu's former partner Karine Silla also defended him.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sophie Marceau, who had made two films with Depardieu during the 1980s, said that she had found his attitude "rude and inappropriate", though he wouldn't harass famous actresses and instead "went more for low-level assistants".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 1 January 2024, over 150 French performers signed an op-ed in Libération, saying that artists should be held accountable like anyone and expressing support for the victims of sexual assault.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That text eventually attracted 500 signatories.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a January 2024 French opinion poll, 23% of respondents stated that they would no longer watch films starring Depardieu.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In September 2023 and January 2024 respectively, two women, an actress and an assistant, filed complaints for assault against Depardieu, for incidents they said had occurred on film sets in 2007 and 2014. Both complaints were dismissed as time-barred. In February 2024, two other women, a set decorator and an assistant director, filed complaints against Depardieu for assaulting them in 2021 on the set of the film The Green Shutters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 29 April 2024, police detained Depardieu for questioning over the sexual assault accusations. He was formally charged for the incidents on the set of The Green Shutters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 14 August 2024, the Paris Public Prosecutor requested that Depardieu go to trial for the Arnould rape case.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2025 sexual assault trial
Depardieu's trial on two counts of sexual assault said to have occurred during the shooting of The Green Shutters was scheduled to begin on 28 October 2024. That day, Depardieu's lawyer said that health concerns meant he was unable to attend court. The trial was rescheduled, and began on 24 March 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="guard-23mar2025">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Depardieu spoke in his own defense,<ref name="Montemps"/> taking the stand for three days. He denied any sexual misconduct, but appeared sometimes confused and unfocused. Several women testified that they had been groped by Depardieu on film sets, or had seen him grope other women.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fanny Ardant, his friend and co-star in several films including The Green Shutters, testified of his good character.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Anouk Grinberg, who had also co-starred with Depardieu in that film, attended the trial in support of the two plaintiffs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 13 May 2025, Depardieu was convicted on both counts of sexual assault. He was handed an 18 month suspended sentence.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The court commented that Depardieu did not appear to have "grasped the notion of consent".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He appealed his conviction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Awards
Depardieu has been nominated for the César for Best Actor in a Leading Role 17 times during his career and won it twice, in 1981 and 1991. He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1990 for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac.
Besides his acting accolades, he has been awarded the following order of merits:
- 1985: Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du MériteTemplate:Sfn
- 1996: Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur<ref name="jorf19960102">
Template:Cite journal </ref>
- His rank as a Knight of the National Order of Quebec, awarded in 2002, was rescinded in 2023.<ref name=":0" />
Filmography
Stage work
| Year | Title | Author | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Boudu sauvé des eaux | René Fauchois | Jean-Laurent Cochet |
| 1969 | The Boys in the Band | Mart Crowley | |
| 1970 | There's a Girl in My Soup | Terence Frisby | Raymond Rouleau |
| 1971 | Galapagos | Jean Chatenet | Bernard Blier |
| Morning | Israel Horovitz | Laurent Wesman | |
| 1972 | Home | David Storey | Claude Régy |
| Saved | Edward Bond | ||
| 1973 | Isma | Nathalie Sarraute | |
| Isaac | Michel Puig | ||
| 1974 | The Ride across Lake Constance | Peter Handke | |
| 1977 | They Are Dying Out | ||
| 1984 | Tartuffe | Molière | Jacques Lassalle |
| 1986 | Lily Passion | Barbara, Luc Plamondon | Pierre Strosser |
| 1999 | Les Portes du ciel | Jacques Attali | Stéphane Hillel |
| 2004 | The Beast in the Jungle | Henry James | Jacques Lassalle |
| 2014 | Love Letters | A. R. Gurney | Benoît Lavigne |
| 2015 | La Musica deuxième | Marguerite Duras | Gérard Depardieu |
| The Ingrid Bergman Tribute | Isabella Rossellini | Isabella Rossellini | |
| 2017–2023 | Depardieu chante Barbara | Barbara (lyrics), Gérard Daguerre (music) | Jean-Paul Scarpitta |
Musical recordings
- 1980 : OK Cafard (Je suis noir), lyrics by Élisabeth Depardieu (single)
- 1980 : Ils ont dit moteur... Coupez !, lyrics by Élisabeth Depardieu and Jean-Claude Mejstelman (LP)
- 1980 : Comédien Comédien, lyrics by Élisabeth Depardieu (single)
- 1980 : La P'tite Agathe, lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg (single, soundtrack from the film Je vous aime)
- 1986 : Lily passion, by and with Barbara (recording of the show)
- 1992 : I'll Strangle You, with Anneli Drecker, music by Hector Zazou (spoken words)
- 1997 : Un piccolo aiuto, with Zucchero
- 1997 : L'Histoire du soldat, by Igor Stravinsky (spoken words)
- 2006 : Quand j'étais chanteur (soundtrack for the film When I Was a Singer)
- 2009 : Rendez vous in Paris, with Jasmine Roy
- 2010 : Oedipus rex, by Igor Stravinsky (spoken words)
- 2017 : Depardieu chante Barbara, lyrics by Barbara (recording of the show)
- 2019 : Blond, with Philippe Katerine
Books
- Lettres volées, Lattès, 1988, Template:ISBN
- Vivant !, with Laurent Neumann, Plon, 2004, Template:ISBN
- Lire Saint Augustin, with André Mandouze, Desclée De Brouwer, 2004, Template:ISBN
- Ma cuisine, France Loisirs, 2005, Template:ISBN
- Depardieu grandeur nature, with Richard Mellou, Flammarion, 2009, Template:ISBN
- Ça s'est fait comme ça, with Lionel Duroy, XO, 2014, Template:ISBN
- Innocent, Le Cherche Midi, 2015, Template:ISBN
- Monstre, Le Cherche Midi, 2017, Template:ISBN
- Ailleurs, Le Cherche Midi, 2020, Template:ISBN
See also
References
External links
Template:Wikiquote Template:Commons category
- Template:IMDb name
- Russian artist Shishkin writes portrait of Gerard Depardieu//Channel One
- Photo of Gérard DepardieuTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore
Template:Navboxes Template:Cannes Film Festival jury presidents Template:César Awards presidents Template:Authority control
- 1948 births
- Living people
- 20th-century French male actors
- 21st-century French male actors
- 20th-century Russian male actors
- 21st-century Russian male actors
- Best Actor César Award winners
- Best Actor Lumières Award winners
- Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
- Café de la Gare
- Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners
- Knights of the Legion of Honour
- Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy
- Converts to Islam
- French former Muslims
- Eastern Orthodox Christians from France
- Eastern Orthodox Christians from Russia
- Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United Arab Emirates
- French male film actors
- French male stage actors
- French male television actors
- Male actors from Paris
- Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite
- Naturalized citizens of Russia
- Naturalized citizens of the United Arab Emirates
- People from Châteauroux
- Actors from Centre-Val de Loire
- French emigrants to Russia
- Volpi Cup for Best Actor winners
- Wine merchants
- Depardieu family
- Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients
- French people convicted of sexual assault
- Sex scandals in France