French actor Gerard Depardieu found guilty of sexual assault

French movie star Gerard Depardieu, 76, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021 and has received an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

The conviction follows a four-day trial in March in which a set designer, 54, and an assistant director, 34, testified to having been groped by Depardieu. Their account of events was deemed coherent and consistent by the judge.

Depardieu is one of the most recognisable French actors of all time, having starred in more than 230 films including Cyrano de Bergerac and Going Places.

Over the last three decades, he has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 20 women.

Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, the set designer's lawyer said the trial was "a victory of two women, but it is the victory of all the women."

"Today, we hope to see the end of impunity for an artist in the world of cinema," she added.

In addition to his sentence, the judge ordered that Depardieu pay €14,040 and €15,000 in damages to the two victims.

The trial is one of several recent high-profile sexual abuse cases in France. In December 2024, 50 men were convicted of raping French woman Gisèle Pelicot over a nine-year period, a case which sent shockwaves around the nation and made Pelicot into an international feminist icon.