“I don’t know the man we are describing now,” assures Nathalie Baye

Actress Nathalie Baye spoke on France Inter about Gérard Depardieu, suspected of rape and sexual assault by several women

The actress Nathalie Baye, friend of Gérard de Depardieu, speaks, while the actor is indicted for rape and sexual assault. “I never had a problem with him, absolutely never”assures the actress, Monday December 11 on France Inter. “Gérard, I have known him forever because he was my first partner from the very beginning of my career. I have never had a problem with him, absolutely never”testifies the actress. “It’s not a matter of defending or not defending Gérard. I don’t want to get into the media fray”explains the actress.

The two actors have shared the poster of several films: “Right bank, left bank”, “I have forgotten nothing”, “Michou d’Auber” or even “The Return of Martin Guerre”. “We were very complicitsays the actress. He is someone who has always been very elegant, very kind, a golden partner to play with. I don’t know this man we’re talking about.”

“When I hear things, I am stunned”

Nathalie Baye did not watch the program “Complément d’investigation” broadcast Thursday evening on France 2: “I’ve heard about it, it’s hard not to know about what’s going on.” The investigative show broadcast images recorded during a trip by Gérard Depardieu to North Korea in 2018. The actor multiplies misogynistic and insulting remarks while addressing women, not sparing a young girl his obscene remarks. “I have never had any feedback on what is happening now. When I hear things, I am stunned. I do not know the man that is being described now”assures the actress.

Nathalie Baye and Gérard Depardieu are very close. She acknowledges that he may have made heavy jokes, but “people who make rather heavy jokes, there are half of France, even three quarters”, estimates the actress. Nathalie Baye repeats it “never never” she hasn’t seen or heard any on set “sordid, vulgar things”. She has not had recent contact with him. However, he doesn’t live very far from her home. “I don’t know what state he is in.”confides Nathalie Baye, “This story upsets me.”

Indicted since 2020

Gérard Depardieu has been indicted since 2020 for rape, following a complaint from an actress then aged around twenty, Charlotte Arnould. On France Inter, actress Anouk Grinberg once again denounced the “monstrosity” of Depardieu and called to put an end to “the other monstrosity, […] that of people in the cinema who are indifferent to the harm done to women, to the humiliations inflicted on them”. She has known the actor for 30 years and recently spoke to support Charlotte Arnould.

A second complaint for sexual assault was filed against Gérard Depardieu by the actress Hélène Darras, for facts a priori prescribed, dating back to 2007 on a shoot. In all, around fifteen women testified against the actor.