“I, like all the women who have been intimate with him, can testify that Gérard is not a sexual predator.”
Gérard Depardieu was accused of rape in 2021 and has since repeatedly made negative headlines due to sexual harassment and abuse allegations. The French television channel “France TV” recently released the documentary “Gérard Depardieu: The Fall of the Monster” as part of the documentary series “Complément d’enquête” (in German: supplement to the investigation). This resulted in even more people demanding consequences for Depardieu. Now the actor’s ex-partner, Karine Silla, speaks out with defensive words in an interview.
“It’s a shame for his children”
The 58-year-old explained that she could no longer remain silent and felt compelled to speak out on the matter “Paris Match” at the beginning of a detailed conversation. “I thought for a long time before speaking out because, as we know, it is difficult for a surgeon to operate on his own child or for a judge to conduct a fair trial when the defendant is a member of his family.” , she says, even aware of the delicate situation.
“Gérard Depardieu is a man who I have loved for thirty-five years and who, above all, is the father of my daughter,” Silla explains, explaining that although it will not be easy for her, she still wants to try to discuss the topic with one another to treat with a clear head. She is not happy with the way her ex-partner is treated in the media, saying: “Everyone is talking, signaling, shouting. But who among these thousands of people knows him or has even met him? It’s as if because he is a public figure he no longer has the right to his private life. Too bad for his children, who are collateral damage!”
His words were not followed by actions
Depardieu is also entitled to the presumption of innocence, while actress Charlotte Arnould’s official rape complaint is in court, Silla argues: “It is up to the judiciary to decide, and even if some people think that the judiciary is not fair, it is the merit of working and knowing the files. I, like all the women who have been intimate with him, can testify that Gérard is not a sexual predator.”
The 75-year-old’s questionable sense of humor has also been frequently criticized in the media in the past. According to Karine Silla, his harsh words were not followed by actions. The actress Hélène Darras sees it differently. She has previously accused Depardieu of sexual assault on the set of “Disco” in 2007 – but due to the statute of limitations, the case did not make it to court. In an interview for Complément d’enquête, she revealed that she was just 26 years old when the Frenchman treated her like “a piece of meat” and ran his hands over her “hips and buttocks.”
Depardieu is now becoming a victim of the media
Karine Silla tries to justify her ex-boyfriend’s alleged misconduct towards the young women by saying that other colleagues, instead of stopping him, supported him: “The people who complain about his inappropriate behavior almost all say the same thing: It happened in front of the crew and people said nothing except, ‘It’s just Gérard.’ But the rest of the sentence is missing: ‘…and they are’ – the ones who encouraged him by laughing heartily. He put on a show for the amusement of the audience, turning his head from left to right to see if they were laughing, and they laughed and clapped.”
The actress and director finds another point of criticism about the documentary, more specifically a scene in which Gérard Depardieu is shown watching a young girl riding a horse who is on a journey to the Northern Koran. In this one you can hear him saying that she would have an orgasm if the horse started galloping. In this excerpt, the actor would become a victim because he would look bad just because of the editing of the footage, argues Silla. She demands that a court should examine the original recordings.
She concludes: “He is always respectful towards children and keeps his distance when he talks to them so as not to invade their space. He would never sexually molest a child.”