After complaints of rape and sexual violence, the French actor Gérard Depardieu (74) is threatened with exclusion from the Legion of Honor – the highest honor awarded in France.
A committee of the Order of the Legion of Honor will decide in disciplinary proceedings whether Depardieu’s membership will be suspended or completely revoked, France’s Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak (44) told the French television station “France 5” on Friday.
The minister described the actor’s behavior towards women as a “disgrace for France”.
On December 7, the documentary “The Fall of the Ogre,” about allegations of sexual assault by Depardieu, aired in France. The documentary shows how the actor repeatedly made explicit sexual comments and sexualized a little girl on a horse during a trip to North Korea in 2018 in the presence of an interpreter.
Several women have reported the acting star for sexual assault, like actress Hélène Darras Depardieu last week. The actress Charlotte Arnould had already reported him for rape in 2018. More than twelve other women have accused Depardieu of sexual assault in the media, but have not yet filed a complaint.
Tragic: One of Depardieu’s alleged victims, Emmanuelle Debever (60), jumped off a bridge at the beginning of December – on the day the “The Fall of the Ogre” documentary was released – and drowned herself. Debever reported sexual assaults by Depardieu on her Facebook account in 2019.
“Sliding his fat paw under my skirt to, as he put it, ‘make me feel better’… I didn’t allow it,” is how Debever described the actor’s assault.
Looking at the documentary, Culture Minister Malak said she was “disgusted” by Depardieu’s disrespectful and sexist treatment of women.
Depardieu denies all allegations. Even claimed in an interview that the women who accused him of sexual harassment or abuse were just mad that they couldn’t share the same stage with him.
Depardieu was inducted into the Legion of Honor by then President Jacques Chirac in 1996. The Code of the Legion of Honor stipulates that “conduct contrary to honor” can be punished with a reprimand, suspension of membership or expulsion.