PARIS - The family of Gerard Depardieu on Sunday denounced an "unprecedented conspiracy" against the French film star, charged with rape and facing new scrutiny over sexist comments.
Mounting accusations of sexual harassment, as well as newly released footage of Depardieu making obscene comments, are forcing a fresh debate about sexism and sexual violence in French cinema.
Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak said this week that the 74-year-old actor's behaviour shames France, noting that he might also be stripped of the Legion of Honour, the country's top award.
"Of course, we are often shocked by Gerard's comments, but our father/grandfather/uncle is being the target of an unprecedented conspiracy," several members of his family, including his daughter, actress Julie Depardieu, said in a letter published in France's flagship Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD).
Deploring a "collective rage" against the actor, they said that "in private, with his children, he is an extremely modest, delicate and even prudish person!"
On Saturday, the film star's lawyers told AFP that he was putting his Legion of Honour award at the disposal of the minister.
On Friday, the culture minister said that the Grand Chancery of the Legion of Honour would initiate a "disciplinary procedure" to decide whether to strip Depardieu of the country's top honour.
Depardieu's lawyers, Beatrice Geissmann Achille and Christian Saint-Palais, questioned whether it was part of Abdul Malak's role to participate "so actively in the manhunt" and "media lynching" to which they believed their client was being subjected.
Depardieu was charged with rape in 2020 and has also faced 13 accusations of sexual harassment or assault.
Earlier this month, broadcaster France 2 showed the actor on a 2018 trip to North Korea repeatedly making explicit sexual comments in the presence of a female interpreter and sexualising a small girl riding a horse.
Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing.
On Saturday, a Belgian municipality stripped Depardieu of the title of honorary citizen, and earlier this week the Canadian province of Quebec revoked its top honour over his "scandalous" comments against women.
