French actor Gerard Depardieu has been charged with rape and sexual assault after authorities revived a leaked 2018 investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
The office said Depardieu was not arrested when he received the start-up charges on Dec. 16 last year.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has dealt with the allegations after the case was leaked to the French media.
Reports in the country say the allegations relate to allegations made by an actress in her 20s dating back to 2018.
The film’s first anti-star investigation was dropped in 2019 due to a lack of evidence, but was revived again.
French newspaper Le Parisien and BFM TV reported that the actress and dancer attacked Depardieu in August 2018 at his home in Paris.
The actress, who has not been named, initially filed a complaint detailing rape and assault attack in August 2018 in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence.
The probe was taken over by Paris investigators, but was soon dropped.
Depardieu lawyer Herve Temime was not immediately available for comment, but it has previously been said that the actor “completely denies rape, sexual assault, any crime ”.
Depardieu is one of the few successful French actors in Hollywood
Depardieu is one of France’s most famous stars.
He has appeared in 200 films over six decades and is among a handful of French actors who have made a name for themselves in Hollywood.
He won a Golden Globe for his performance in Green Card, a 1990 English romantic comedy.
His first big hit in France was Les Valseuses (Going Places), Bertrand Blier’s classic farce about two thatches.
Prior to crossing the Atlantic, Depardieu played a range of roles ranging from Jean Valjean, the saint-thief in Les Miserables, to Christopher Columbus.