Actor Gérard Depardieu Denies Rape Allegation as Accuser's Lawyer Is 'Shocked' by His Comments

Gérard Depardieu.Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty

Gérard Depardieu is claiming he has “never, ever abused a woman” as he addressesallegations of rapeand sexual assault.

“Hurting a woman would be like kicking my own mother in the stomach,” he added, according to Deadline andBBCNews.

Though Depardieu did not provide a name, he was previouslycharged with raping a young actress— whom Deadline now identifies as Charlotte Arnould — at his Paris home in 2018.

“A woman came to my house for the first time, with a light step, going up to my room of her own free will. She says today that she was raped there. She came back a second time,” the French actor wrote in his open letter, per Deadline.

Gérard Depardieu in Venice, Italy, on Sept. 5, 2017.P. Lehman/Future Publishing via Getty

P. Lehman/Future Publishing via Getty

At the time, theGreen Cardactor spoke to the Italian newspaperLa Repubblica, denying the allegations, per theAFP.

“Iam innocent and I have nothing to fear,” he said, adding, “There is no proof; there is nothing against me.”

Gérard Depardieu in Rome on April 22, 2017.Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty

Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty

He also alleged that Arnould “filed [the] complaint” against him after he refused to allow her to perform songs with him during a show at the Cirque d’Hiver.

“I’ve often done that which others wouldn’t dare to do: pushed limits, shaken certitudes, habits on the set between two takes, between two tensions … to get a laugh,” Depardieu wrote in his letter, reportedly referring to the latter allegations.

“Not everyone laughed,” he reportedly added. “If, in believing to live the present intensely, I hurt, shocked someone, whoever it was, it was never my intention to hurt, and I beg you to excuse me for behaving like a child who wanted to have fun in a gallery.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.

source: people.com