His identity was until then unknown. But Thursday evening, the actress Charlotte Arnould felt that she could no longer be “silent”, continue to live “hidden and in silence”. The situation is no longer “bearable”. The 25-year-old has posted a message on Twitter account in which she claims to have “been raped by Gérard Depardieu in August 2018”.
In this case, the 72-year-old actor – who disputes the facts – has been indicted for a year. “He works while I spend my time surviving”, continues the one who says she “needs to live in the truth”. This confession, she already suspects, “risks being an immense shock in [sa] life “. “I gain nothing from it except the hope of recovering my integrity,” she adds. Before concluding: “To continue to keep silent is to bury me alive.” “
Originally from Jura, Charlotte Arnould had filed a complaint against Gérard Depardieu at the end of August 2018 at the Lambesc gendarmerie, in the Bouches-du-Rhône. She accused the actor, who was friends with his father, of having raped and sexually assaulted her twice at his Paris home, a mansion in the 6th arrondissement, on August 7 and 13, 2018.
Assaults in his private mansion
According to BFMTV, Gérard Depardieu invited him to his home after passing her in the street. The monument of French cinema would have offered the young actress, who has played in a dozen short films as well as in several plays, to advise her on her career. But once alone with her, he sexually assaults her by imposing digital penetration on her. A little later, he attacks her again, in her bedroom this time. The young woman leaves the scene. She returned a few days later, on August 13, to the artist to explain herself to him. But according to his story, he attacks her again.
I am the victim of Depardieu ..
He’s been indicted for a full year.
I can no longer be silent … pic.twitter.com/eEmlJKh7AR– Charlotte Arnould #Artist (@CharloteArnould) December 16, 2021
The Paris prosecutor’s office, finally seized of the facts, had opened a preliminary investigation targeting Gérard Depardieu for “rape and sexual assault” and entrusted the investigations to the 3rd district of the judicial police. But on June 4, 2019, the case was dismissed, the prosecution considering that “the numerous investigations carried out” had “not made it possible to characterize the offenses denounced in all their constituent elements”.
” I am innocent “
The complainant obtained, in mid-August 2020, the resumption of the investigation via a complaint with the constitution of civil party, an appeal which allows the almost automatic appointment of a judge to relaunch the investigations. The actor, who disputes the facts, was indicted on December 16 and left free without judicial review. He applied to the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal to have his indictment declared void, but the request has not yet been examined. Investigations are still ongoing.
“Me, rapist?” These are all lies, and the judge will believe me, ”he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper. La Repubblica. “I am innocent and I have nothing to fear. There is no proof, there is nothing against me, ”he insisted. Contacted by 20 minutes, his lawyer, Me Hervé Témime, declined to comment.