Actress Emmanuelle Debever Dies by Suicide

A French actress who originally accused film star Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault has died by apparent suicide at the age of 60. Emmanuelle Debever jumped off a Paris bridge into the Seine days before a documentary was broadcast about allegations of sexual misconduct against Depardieu, authorities in Paris said Thursday, per The Daily Beast.

Debever left behind a “worrying note” about a week before her death, followed by a report of her disappearance by her partner, but was later found injured after the fall and sent to the hospital, where she died. Given Debever’s allegations against the movie star, the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into her death. More than a dozen women have accused the movie star of sexual misconduct.

“This probe will gather and verify the cues mentioned by the media and search the circumstances that may have led to this death,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, according to Variety. In this case, there are no indications of a crime having been committed.

A documentary containing several allegations of sexual misconduct was broadcast by France 2 on the day of Debever’s death, according to the BBC. For the first time, the documentary reported that an actress, Charlotte Arnould, filed suit against Depardieu for rape in 2018. The actor was also shown using lewd language during filming in North Korea in 2018.

It has been reported that several figures in French cinema have distanced themselves from Depardieu ever since the documentary was broadcast, and France Télévision announced a suspension of Depardieu’s films.

On Dec. 13, François Legault, the premier of the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, announced that Depardieu, 74, would be excluded from the National Order of Quebec due to his “scandalous remarks,” the outlet reported. The documentary did not include Debever’s allegations.

According to Debever, who spoke out against Depardieu on Facebook in 2019, he allegedly sexually assaulted her while the two of them were filming the period drama Danton in 1982. Debever, who played Depardieu’s young second wife and was 19 at the time of the film’s production, wrote: “The superstar indulged himself during the shoot. Making the most of the privacy inside a carriage. Slipping his paw under my skirts the better to feel me up.”

In the 1980s, Debever made a few films and television shows but then disappeared from the public eye. Depardieu, who has worked on over 200 films since the 1970s, faces two separate rape and sexual assault investigations.

The actor has repeatedly denied abuse allegations, and his former agent accused the media of orchestrating a show trial against him. He refuted all accusations brought against him in an open letter to Le Figaro newspaper in October.

“All my life I have been provocative, over-the-top, at times crude,” Depardieu said. “I have often done what others did not dare to do: test limits, shake up accepted wisdom …. But I am not a rapist or a predator.”

“Never, ever have I abused a woman,” he wrote. “To the media court, to the lynching that has been reserved for me, I have only my word to defend myself.” He has not addressed the allegations in the documentary.