PARIS — Depardieu, one of France's top movie stars, has been at the center of a growing number of sexual assault allegations in recent years that have tarnished his legacy and exposed broader divisions about sexual conduct in France.Lawyers for Depardieu, who has consistently denied wrongdoing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Investigators are probing alleged groping by Depardieu on two film sets, with one alleged case in 2014 and the other in 2021, one of the sources said.Paris police and the public prosecutor's office both declined to comment.Depardieu's case has become a dividing line in French society, with some women viewing him as a symbol of the country's inability to tackle sexual abuse by powerful men in the wake of the #Metoo movement.