The French actor Gérard Depardieu has written for the first time about allegations of rape and sexual assault against him, saying in Le Figaro that he was the victim of a lynching orchestrated by a “media court”. In an open letter written in a literary style, he wrote: “Never, ever have I abused a woman.” He added: “To the media court, to the lynching that has been reserved for me, I have only my word to defend myself.” It is the first time Depardieu has personally commented after a series of allegations. In December 2020, he was placed under formal investigation for alleged rape and sexual assault after an actor accused him of having attacked her on two occasions at his home in Paris in 2018, when she was 22 and he was 70. His lawyer said he denied the allegations. After an attempt by Depardieu’s lawyers to get the case dropped, the Paris chief prosecutor said there was “serious and confirmed evidence” that justified maintaining the charges. The investigation continues. In April, the investigative website Mediapart published allegations of sexual violence against him from more than a dozen women, with some claims going back to the early 2000s. Lawyers for Depardieu said he denied any criminal behaviour. Depardieu, one of France’s most famous actors, has appeared in more than 170 films and gained international fame with English-language roles. He has continued to work prolifically in French cinema in recent years despite being placed under formal investigation for alleged rape. In the letter to Le Figaro he wrote about allegations by the 22-year-old actor, who told police she was raped at his home. He said any encounter with the woman was consensual. He wrote that she “willingly came up to my bedroom. She says today she was raped. She returned a second time. There was never constraint, violence or protest between us.” The woman’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, responded on the state broadcaster France TV Info, saying she contested Depardieu’s version of events. She said the way he had written about the woman suggested she was an anonymous stranger, but in fact she had gone to Depardieu’s home because she knew him. She was the daughter of a longtime friend of Depardieu and the actor had “held her on his knee when she was a baby, so there was a paternal link of trust to him. He invited her [to his home] to find out how she was and, in those circumstances, one does not expect, after 10 minutes, to be subjected to sexual acts.” Durrieu Diebolt said that while Depardieu said he was not a predator or rapist, it would be for the justice system to decide.