In a bizarre incident, renowned French actor Gerard Depardieu was removed from a flight after urinating in front of fellow passengers when cabin crew denied him access to the bathroom.
The incident occurred on a delayed Air France flight from Paris to Dublin on Tuesday evening.
According to a passenger who spoke to French radio station Europe 1, Depardieu, 62, urgently needed to use the restroom as the plane taxied.
However, his requests to be allowed out of his seat were ignored by the cabin crew.
Witnesses claim that Depardieu pleaded, “Je veux pisser, je veux pisser” (I want to pee) but the flight attendant informed him that he would have to wait for fifteen minutes until the toilets were unlocked and the flight was in the air.
Unable to hold it any longer, the actor allegedly unzipped his pants and proceeded to urinate on the carpet.
One disgusted passenger stated, “You could tell he’d been drinking.”
However, friends of Depardieu defended him, asserting that he was not intoxicated and was simply trying to relieve himself privately using a bottle.
They confirmed that the flight attendant had indeed asked him to wait fifteen minutes but added that the flight was further delayed for an additional twenty minutes.
Depardieu’s fellow actor, Edouard Baer, offered him an empty bottle to help ease his discomfort.
Unfortunately, some urine spilled onto the floor, leaving the actor embarrassed.
Despite offering to clean up the mess himself, the crew decided to turn the plane around and return to the terminal.
Ground crew then escorted Depardieu and his companions off the aircraft, causing a delay of over an hour while the mess was cleaned.
No charges or fines were imposed, and Depardieu was able to catch the next flight to Dublin.
One of his friends revealed that he felt his explanation about the misunderstanding and the flight attendant’s inflexible attitude had been understood by the authorities.
Air France issued a statement confirming the incident, stating that Depardieu “did indeed urinate in the aircraft.”
Depardieu is considered one of France’s most celebrated actors, with a career spanning over four decades and over a hundred films.
He gained international recognition for his role in the film “Green Card,” which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor.
At present, he was traveling to Ireland to film scenes for his upcoming movie “Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia.”
The actor has often admitted to struggling with alcohol consumption, claiming to have given it up multiple times but experiencing limited success.
His recent behavior includes head-butting a photographer in Italy, using offensive language towards a French interviewer on TV, and rambling incoherently.
In a 2005 interview, he confessed to consuming “between four and eight bottles” of wine daily.
