"Disgusting." Spanish writer and photographer Ruth Baza repeats that phrase. The same opinion shared by French actress Charlotte Arnould. They have discussed it in the letters they have exchanged. Both accuse the "sacred monster" Depardieu of sexual abuse. Baza sits in front of a video camera for the first time to speak in a documentary about the assault she claims to have suffered in Paris in 1995. She was 23 at the time.
Baza's testimony directly connects her with the Arnould case. The similarities are numerous. Actress, singer, and dancer Charlotte Arnould also accuses the icon. She was the first to point him out. She accused Depardieu of raping her twice. But there is one more essential fact. Like Ruth, Charlotte was also suffering from anorexia at the time of the sexual assaults. She weighed 37 kilos when, she claims, it all happened. After that, depression and "self-harm," according to Arnould's testimony. As reported by Crónica, Baza had a suicide attempt in 2024.
"When I start reading about Charlotte, whom I had obviously never heard of or knew her story, I was once again shocked. She was assaulted by Depardieu when she was in full recovery from anorexia," confesses Baza to EL MUNDO. She lists the parallels. "She had been a classical ballet dancer. I had also been a dancer until I had an injury and became a writer. Both of us were attacked by the same person at practically the same age... and weight. Charlotte suffered the two rapes in her home at 22. He assaulted me at 23, in October 1995. Charlotte was born in November of that same year. She weighed 37 kilos, I weighed 36." The pattern repeated itself. Arnould reported what happened to her to the over 120-kilo actor in 2018.
Ruth reported him in December 2023. She did so after recovering the memory of what happened to her, as she has explained on different occasions, her mind blocked the memories for 28 years due to shock, causing dissociative amnesia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Rereading her diary from that year in which she documented what happened helped her recover her memory. Crónica, the feature section of EL MUNDO, exclusively published what she wrote...
"I feel disgust. Shame. Those eyes... Groin. Silence. Nausea." She describes her mental gaps. "I don't know how long that lasted... I asked where the bathroom was. Cried again. I couldn't scream. I vomited. I splashed cold water on my face. I wanted to die. I wet my face with cold water. How do I get out of there? I washed what I could. I put on sunglasses... I went to the office. I said goodbye." There is one certainty: "He did not leave with the consciousness of having done something wrong."
The documentary with her testimony will air on March 26 on Secrets d'Actualité, the revival of a reference program in the field of French investigative journalism. Presented by the award-winning journalist Dominique Tenza on the W9 channel, the documentary is directed by Grégory Heraud, author of The Jubillar Mystery and Hackers: Les Nouveaux Braqueurs. Titled Depardieu: la chute (Depardieu: the fall) also features testimonies such as that of Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, lawyer of three other victims who have filed complaints; psychiatrist Murielle Salmona, decorated with the Legion of Honor and Lady of Arts and Letters; Marine Turchi, the reporter who uncovered the Depardieu affair in April 2023; Christophe Carrière, the film critic who was sexually humiliated in 1998 in an elevator in Cannes by the actor...
It is emphasized that none of the witnesses who have participated in this documentary, including the Spanish Baza, have received any financial compensation for their testimony.
The trial of Gérard Depardieu is scheduled for today, Monday 24, and Tuesday, March 25. The documentary will air the day after. The channel describes it as a demolition: "The chilling story of his accusers" and "exclusive images showing the actor's scandalous behavior during a trip to North Korea." To start.
Twenty women accuse the actor of inappropriate, scandalous, and even aggressive behavior. Depardieu will be judged only for the complaints of two film crew workers from the movie Les Volets Verts, who are suing him. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Arnould is still awaiting trial, and in this case, there are recordings from security cameras.
"We see him sitting, touching the breasts and thin thighs of this young anorexic woman, motionless in front of him, with her hands clasped behind her back," Le Monde reported. "Then he takes her upstairs to his bedroom without cameras. It was there, she told investigators, where he raped her." From a distance, Baza just wants him to show up at the trial, as the last time it was strategically postponed for health reasons. "I ask that he does not evade sitting in the dock. I ask for an obvious thing: justice."