(Paris) Charlotte Arnould, the young actress who filed a complaint against Gérard Depardieu for two rapes in 2018, told the magazine She of Thursday that she hoped that others would do like her, after the testimonies of thirteen women in the Mediapart news site on April 11.
“Among those who spoke to Mediapart, there are some for whom the facts are not prescribed. I hope that some will be ready to file a complaint, ”says Charlotte Arnould, 27, who speaks for the first time in the press.
“There are now thirteen known testimonies, but in my opinion we are well below reality”. “Marine Turchi (Mediapart journalist, editor’s note) says that since the investigation, she has continued to receive testimonies,” adds the actress.
Gérard Depardieu was charged (indicted) on December 16, 2020 for “rape” and “sexual assault” after the complaint of Charlotte Arnould, who had denounced at the end of August 2018 two rapes at the Parisian home of the star. She had obtained in the summer of 2020 that the investigation, first classified by the Paris prosecutor’s office in June 2019, be entrusted to an investigating judge. The Court of Appeal upheld the indictment in March 2022.
“I felt a great relief when the testimonials were published in Mediapart”, comments Charlotte Arnould. “Officially, I am no longer alone! It’s sad to come to this, but it also gives weight to my story and my case,” she said.
In the summer of 2018, the young woman, on the track of a career as a dancer, but suffering from anorexia (she said she weighed “37 kilos” at the time), changed lanes and was selected to Passiona play directed by Fanny Ardant.
At his invitation, she went to see the actor, a “family friend”, aware of his “illness”, whom she considered to be her “little father of cinema” and in whom she “necessarily trusted”.
While her complaint leaked to the press, she said she feared reprisals from Russian supporters of the actor. When her complaint was dismissed, Charlotte Arnould was “collapsed”, but filed a civil action and the investigation resumed.
In December 2021, shocked to see that “nothing is happening” and that Gérard Depardieu continues his career “while I survive”, she reveals her identity on Twitter. “In the professional world, it was very cautious. There is a huge omerta”, she believes, angry with Fanny Ardant who speaks of a “disenchantment in love”.
“All the powerful support each other. And then, Depardieu, it’s like wine, sausage: it’s France, you don’t touch it. On the sets, he farts, he says horrible things, everyone laughs, a little embarrassed… He imposes, he plays with it, ”she regrets.
The 74-year-old actor “formally denies all the charges likely to fall under criminal law”, told Mediapart the Temime law firm, responsible for defending him.