Accuser tells a trial that actor Gérard Depardieu groped her bottom and breasts on film set

PARIS (AP) — A woman accusing French actor Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault told a landmark trial in Paris on Wednesday that he groped her buttocks and her breasts several times on a film set. Three other accusers told the court they suffered similar gestures in separate incidents.

Depardieu, 76, is accused of groping a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”). He denies any sexual assault.

The third day of the trial focused on the testimony of the younger plaintiff, who detailed three separate incidents. She said Depardieu first groped her bottom when she was alone with him for a brief moment as they were heading towards the film set.

“Out of the blue, he put his hand on my butt,” she said, adding she said nothing because she was “under shock” and “petrified.”

In a second incident, she said Depardieu suddenly put both his hands on her breasts: “I said ‘No.’ I was scared." She also described telling Depardieu “no” during a third similar incident.

The plaintiff said she reported the issue to her direct manager, who then alerted others in charge of the film production, prompting anger from the actor.

She said she then “minimized” the issue because she wanted to continue to do her job, adding she aimed at "handling it on her own, be strong."

She later decided to file a formal complaint out of solidarity with the other plaintiff and because, she said, “I want people to hear the truth.”

Depardieu repeatedly denied the allegations on Wednesday in court, saying: “I’m not like that.”

“I think that maybe, I don’t know, she was wary because of my reputation of being vulgar, crude, rude," Depardieu said. "But I’m not only that. I still respect people.”

The actor also told the court that he is almost always accompanied by aides on the film set, including his body guard, and suggested that he would rarely find himself alone with a film worker.

The trial continues Thursday, with the verdict expected at a later date.

The actor faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($81,000) if convicted.

On Tuesday, Depardieu acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language with the set dresser who accused him of sexual assault. He said he grabbed her hips during an argument, but denied that his behavior was sexual.

A film worker said Wednesday she attended that scene, describing the set dresser as “stuck in-between the legs” of Depardieu.

“My brain bugged,” she said, "I thought: it’s not possible that I’m actually seeing this.”

She said she realized she attended “an aggression” and reported it to the film management. Days later, she asked the other plaintiff about Depardieu’s attitude, leading her to detail the other incidents.

The Associated Press doesn’t identify by name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they consent to. Neither women has done so in this case.

Two women, a journalist and a former costume designer, testified that they were sexually assaulted by Depardieu in 2007 and 2014 -- but one didn’t file a police complaint and the other alleged assault was covered by the statute of limitations.

A third woman, comedian Sarah Brooks, alleged that Depardieu put his hand inside her shorts and inside her pants as they were posing for a photo ten years ago. She said she pushed back his hand and “he did it again.”

She did not file a formal complaint because she was 20 and felt she could not speak up against the world-famous actor. Brooks has in recent years publicly accused Depardieu of sexual assault.

This week's trial is the first time one of the more than 20 accusations of misconduct against Depardieu has reached court. Some cases were dropped because of a lack of evidence or the statute of limitations.

Some figures in the French cinema world have expressed their support towards Depardieu.

French actor Fanny Ardant, who described herself as a longtime friend of the actor, agreed his words may be rude and vulgar, yet said she never attended any gesture she found “shocking."

“What I want to say in this courtroom is that I know that the world has changed, that society has changed, that standards are no longer the same," Ardant said.

"There are things we’ve tolerated that are no longer tolerable.”

Claude Vincent, a plaintiff's lawyer, answers reporters as part of French actor Gerard Depardieu's trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Fanny Ardant arrives to testify as actor Gerard Depardieu goes on trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Fanny Ardant, left, arrives to testify as actor Gerard Depardieu goes on trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Fanny Ardant arrives to testify as actor Gerard Depardieu goes on trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French actor Gerard Depardieu leaves for a break during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French actor Gerard Depardieu, center, arrives with his lawyer Jeremie Assous, right, at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Vincent Perez arrives at French actor Gerard Depardieu's trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A plaintiff, center, arrives at French actor Gerard Depardieu's trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French actor Gerard Depardieu arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French actor Gerard Depardieu's lawyer Jeremie Assous gestures during a break as part of Depardieu's trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French actor Gerard Depardieu, right, leaves for a break during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French actor Gerard Depardieu leaves for a break during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French actor Gerard Depardieu leaves for a break during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

LOS LLANITOS, México (AP) — On a dirt field on Mexico’s Pacific coast, five cousins between the ages of 8 and 13 strip down and kick off their shoes. Nearby, adults help them fasten the pre-Hispanic-style “fajado,” securing loincloths and leather belts that wrap around their hips.

The Osuna children grab the rubber ball, all 3.2 kilograms of it — around 7 pounds or seven times heavier than a soccer ball — and begin playing. Only the hips may touch it, forcing players to leap through the air or dive low when it skims the ground.

As Mexico prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the nation is looking back 3,400 years to one of the oldest team sports: the ancient ballgame known as ulama, a ritual practice nearly erased during the Spanish conquest that survived only in the remote pockets of northwestern Mexico before its late 20th-century rebirth. Today, authorities and its modern players are leveraging the momentum of international soccer to shine a spotlight on the ancient sport once again.

While players acknowledge that tourism fueled the sport’s revival, many worry that projecting an “exotic” image undermines a tradition central to their identity.

“We must rid the game of the notion that it is a living fossil,” said Emilie Carreón, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM, and director of a project aimed at studying and practicing the sport.

That's exactly what the Osuna family is trying to do. After ulama player Aurelio Osuna died, his widow, María Herrera, 53, continued his legacy, teaching the ballgame to their grandchildren in their small village in Sinaloa, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) northwest of Mexico City.

“This seed will bear fruit someday,” she said.

According to the Popol Vuh, the sacred Mayan book, the world was created from a ballgame, where light and darkness clashed to balance life and death and set the universe in motion.

Long before the Maya, the Olmecs — the earliest known Mesoamerican civilization — practiced the sport; the recreation of this clash of opposing forces was common in various pre-Hispanic cultures. The evidence is in millennial rubber balls unearthed in Mexico and in nearly 2,000 ball courts found from Nicaragua to Arizona.

The game, depicted in codices, stone carvings and sculptures, had many variations and meanings, from fertility or war ceremonies, to political acts and even sacrifices.

While some players were beheaded — possibly the losers — Guatemalan archaeologist and anthropologist Carlos Navarrete explained this occurred only during specific periods and in certain regions. The physically demanding game was primarily a big social event, drawing crowds for fun and betting.

Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés was impressed by the spectacle presented by the Aztec emperor Moctezuma but the Spanish ultimately banned ulama and ordered the destruction of its courts, likely viewing the tradition as a form of resistance to Christianity. For the Catholic Church “the ball was the living devil,” Carreón said.

The game — played by hitting the ball with the hip, the forearm or a mallet — survived only on the Mexican northern Pacific coast, where the colonial process led by Jesuit priests was less aggressive and ulama was accepted in Catholic festivities, said Manuel Aguilar Moreno, a professor of art history at California State University.

On the opening day of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, spectators watched as burly men contorted their bodies in unexpected ways to keep the rubber ball moving for as long as possible. The exhibition sparked studies about the ballgame and how to preserve it in the following decades.

Luis Aurelio Osuna, 30, Herrera’s eldest son, began playing hip ulama after school, just as his father did decades ago in Los Llanitos, a ranch next to the port city of Mazatlán. Now his three children also play.

Osuna and his mother teach the children how to hit the ball and guide them through the complicated rules, which include a scoring system with points that are won and lost.

They do it out of passion, but also out of pragmatism in a state where organized crime is pervasive.

“We need to find a way to keep them entertained with good things,” said Osuna.

Hip ulama teams have up to six players and the Osuna family sometimes participates in tournaments or exhibitions.

Decades ago, matches were big events tied to religious feasts, sometimes stretching on for an entire week. But those days are gone, as interest waned and rubber balls became hard to get.

In the 1980s, filmmaker Roberto Rochín documented the work of perhaps the last rubber ball-maker in the mountains of Sinaloa. The artisan made them similar to the Olmecs, who discovered that mixing hot rubber sap with a plant created a strong, elastic and durable material. This civilization made some of the oldest balls of the world.

During the 1990s, staff from a resort in the Mexican Caribbean traveled across the country in search of Sinaloan families who could represent the ballgame as a tourist attraction in the Riviera Maya, where no one played it anymore.

“It’s pure spectacle: they paint their faces and put on feathered costumes,” Herrera said. Yet, she acknowledges the value. “That’s where the revival began.”

The ballgame began to spread and to be known outside Mexico. Osuna, with the family team his father had formed, ended up playing hip ulama in a Roman amphitheater in Italy. It attracted so much attention that they were hired for a deodorant commercial, he said.

As the World Cup approaches, authorities and corporations are launching exhibitions in Mexico City and Guadalajara, and featuring ulama players in ad campaigns highlighting Mexican heritage — a move that has sparked mixed feelings.

“We’re not circus monkeys,” says Ángel Ortega, a 21-year-old ulama player from Mexico City who recently participated in a TV commercial alongside football players.

Ilse Sil, a player and member of the UNAM project led by Carreón, believes that institutional support will help to preserve ulama but officials need to promote the game in communities and schools to recruit more young players, as it remains a marginal sport with approximately 1,000 players mainly in México and Guatemala.

In Los Llanitos, Herrera’s grandchildren love playing. They don't care where — in the dirt field, in a court or even in the house corridor — but always with the precious inheritance: a handmade decades-old rubber ball from the mountains of Sinaloa. They say it cushions the blows better.

Eight-year-old Kiki is the most enthusiastic. He says he is determined to keep practicing until he fulfills the dream of leading a team of his own.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Juan Osuna plays ulama, a traditional Mesoamerican ballgame dating to pre-Hispanic times, in Los Llanitos on the outskirts of Mazatlan, Mexico, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The Osuna family poses for a photo before a match of ulama, a traditional Mesoamerican ballgame dating to pre-Hispanic times, that they organized in Los Llanitos on the outskirts of Mazatlan, Mexico, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Iker Salgueido plays ulama, a traditional Mesoamerican ballgame dating to pre-Hispanic times, in Los Llanitos on the outskirts of Mazatlan, Mexico, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Iker Salgueiro stands still as an adult fastens a pre-Hispanic-style “fajado,” or leather belt, in preparation for ulama, a traditional Mesoamerican ballgame dating to pre-Hispanic times, in Los Llanitos on the outskirts of Mazatlan, Mexico, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Youth play ulama, a traditional Mesoamerican ballgame dating to pre-Hispanic times, in Los Llanitos on the outskirts of Mazatlan, Mexico, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)