French actor Gérard Depardieu allegedly attacked the so-called “king of paparazzi” outside of a popular cafe in Rome, Italy just weeks after he was hit with sexual assault allegations, according to reports.
Depardieu, 75, dined at an outside table at Harry’s Bar with two women Tuesday afternoon when the infamous Rino Barillari, 79, allegedly snapped photos at the Via Veneto-located cafe.
A columnist for the newspaper La Repubblica, Gianni Riotta, who was present when the alleged attack took place, claimed that Barillari had been asked multiple times to stop taking photos, according to The New York Times.
As the famed photographer went to leave the bar, one of the women sitting with the French film star, Magda Vavrusova, allegedly followed Barillari into the street while shouting at him.
Depardieu then reportedly confronted Barillari “and hit him, hit him, hit him.”
“There was a lot of blood,” Riotta said.
Magda Vavrusova’s lawyer, Delphine Meillet, told the outlet that Barillari had “violently pushed” her, touching her chest with his arm, before the attack and that Depardieu was defending her when he fell and “slid” into the Messaggero newspaper photographer.
“After everything that had happened, the photographer persisted in deluging them with photos,” she said.
Vavrusova, a production manager who was listed on IMDB as a “local assistant” for Vin Diesel in the film “Babylon A.D.”, was taken to the hospital and plans to sue Barillari, according to Meillet.
It’s unclear if Barillari plans to press charges against “The Man in the Iron Mask” actor and Vavrusova.
The owner of Harry’s Bar, Piero Lepore, confirmed the incident did occur but did not clarify who was at fault, according to CNN.
In a column written by Barillari for Messaggero on Wednesday, he claims that “around 1:40 p.m.,” he “received a phone call from a friend, (Depardieu) was going to Villa Borghese.”
“Once I arrived at Porta Pinciana I saw him. There were six of them at the table, all French, he was next to a beautiful girl. I took a stand and took out the telephoto lens. But Depardieu threw ice on me. I stopped and waited patiently outside,” the photographer writes.
He claimed while outside the bar, “the girl threw herself at me, offending me, trying to provoke me, she kicked, as if she was looking for a fight. I remained motionless.”
“Then [Depardieu] arrived, shouting ‘me… Italian,’ I remained silent, he hit me three times, while everyone witnessed the scene in the heart of the Dolce Vita. I didn’t give up, he had beaten me, three punches in the face, I stood in front of his rental car, to block him and in the meantime call the police.”
Depardieu then left the area and Barillari said witnesses sat him down on the curb, brought him ice for his wounds, and “people applauded and said ‘crazy.’”
Last month, Paris prosecutors said Depardieu would face trial in October over allegations of sexual assault from two women who worked with him on the 2021 movie “The Green Shutters.”
One of the women who worked with Depardiu on the set of the not-yet-released “The Green Shutters” in 2021 claimed he cornered her in a hallway and groped her.
“He grabbed her, trapped her between his legs, and touched her body up to her breasts,” an attorney representing the unnamed woman told French TV outlet BFMTV, according to the BBC.
The “Home Front” star is also currently being investigated on suspicion of rape and sexually assaulting actress Charlotte Arnould in 2018 when she was 22.
Over a dozen more women have come forward to accuse Depardieu of similar sexual assault allegations.
The French actor has denied all the rape and sexual assault accusations.
Depardieu has acting credits in over 240 motion pictures, according to his IMDb page.
He notably won a Golden Globe in 1991 for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy” for his role in “Green Card.”
