Actor Gerard Depardieu is facing a new complaint of sexual assault, with a female movie decorator alleging he groped her during filming in 2021.
In her complaint to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the 53-year-old woman accuses the French star of sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults, her lawyer Carine Durrieu Diebolt said.
The complainant claims the 75-year-old grabbed her and kneaded her waist, stomach, and breasts during filming for the movie Les Volets Verts.
Ms Durrieu Diebolt says other people intervened to stop the alleged assault.
Two lawyers for Depardieu did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment, and their offices said they were not available to talk by phone.
Set in the 1970s, the movie – which translates as The Green Shutters – is about an actor at the height of his fame who discovers he could soon die.
Depardieu was handed preliminary rape and sexual assault charges in 2020 following allegations from actress Charlotte Arnould. Ms Durrieu Diebolt is also representing Arnould in that case.
Last year, a French site published claims from 13 other women who worked with Depardieu and said they had experienced inappropriate advances, groping and gestures.
In October last year, Depardieu wrote an open letter to Le Figaro – one of France’s best-known publications – to deny the claims of rape and sexual assault made against him.
Depardieu’s letter was published in the paper and online last October
In it, he said he had “never, ever abused a woman” and that “hurting a woman would be like kicking my own mother in the stomach”.
Ms Durrieu Diebolt said that the statement was traumatic for her client and led her to file the suit against him.
Depardieu previously denied all the claims against him through a lawyer.
Depardieu is among France’s most famous stars, known for films such as Cyrano de Bergerac and Jean de Florette – as well as the Hollywood hits Green Card and The Man In The Iron Mask.
He has appeared in 200 films over six decades and is among a few French actors who have made a name for themselves in Hollywood.