Fallen idol: French singer Patrick Bruel accused of rape, sexual assault
Singer and actor Patrick Bruel has been a household name in France for decades, but in the past few weeks he has hit the headlines facing shock charges of sexual assault and rape. As accusations against the former teen heartthrob multiply, members of his loyal female fanbase are defending the star.
The accusations against Bruel, 66, date back to the height of his career as a singer and teen idol in the early 90s.
Bruel was 30 years old when he became a household name in France singing radio-friendly pop-rock hits.
He quickly garnered heartthrob status among his largely female fanbase; such was the fervour around him that the media coined the phrase “Bruelmania”.
Currently starring in a play in Paris, Bruel, who is also an acclaimed actor, has faced a firestorm of controversy in recent weeks following claims by several women that he sexually assaulted them, with some alleged incidents dating back decades.
French investigative news outlet Mediapart in March published testimony from eight women claiming the star “acted inappropriately” towards them between 1992 and 2019. One was a minor when the alleged sexual assault took place.
France’s Elle magazine this week published an investigation in which four more women accused Bruel of rape and sexual assault.
Two women in France and one in Belgium have brought charges against Bruel for rape or attempted rape.
His lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, has rejected the allegations. Bruel "maintains he never rejected a refusal (to have sex), never forced anyone into a sexual act or relationship", he said.
‘He stole my first time’
Bruel’s enduring popularity – which may in part be due to his likeable, media-friendly persona – has seen him achieve both critical and commercial success.
As well as being one of France’s most high-profile singers with four decades of chart-topping albums, Brunel is also a noted actor.
He has appeared in more than 40 movies, most of which are light-hearted comedies, and was nominated in 2013 for the César Award for Best Actor for his role in ensemble comedy “Le Prénom” (What’s in a name?).
Among Bruel’s accusers are a journalist who worked with him in Monaco, two former employees at the music label BMG, two press officers, and Ophélie Fajfer, who was 19 when she met Bruel on the set of a music video in Marseille.
Fajfer claims Bruel raped and sexually assaulted her after she accepted his invitation to visit him at home in the hope it could help her launch a music career. “He stole my first time, my innocence,” she told Elle.
The two press officers described Bruel as “charming” and “warm” in public but behaving inappropriately in private.
'A need for liberation'
Bruel has in the past faced accusations of alleged sexual assault and harassment, but no charges had ever been brought.
He faced an inquiry into exhibitionism and sexual harassment in Switzerland which was dropped in 2008. Courts in 2020 closed two investigations after complaints the previous year by two massage therapists.
Fajfer’s complaint was dismissed in 2022 by the public prosecutor’s office in Nanterre but has been referred for review to the public prosecutor’s office in Saint-Malo, Brittany.
Prosecutors in Saint-Malo have also started a formal investigation into a woman's claims, made in September 2024, that she was raped during the British film festival in Dinard in October 2012 when Bruel was jury chairman.
A new complaint, reported by Mediapart, has been brought by Daniela Elstner, head of the Unifrance body that promotes French cinema. Elstner was a 26-year-old assistant at the organisation when she alleges Bruel attacked her at a French film festival in Acapulco, Mexico in 1997.
Elstner’s lawyer said she filed a complaint with police last month over an alleged attempted rape and sexual assault.
As France has a 20-year statute of limitations for this type of crime, the claim is unlikely to go to trial. Elstner's lawyer said it was motivated by a "need for liberation".
‘Bruelmania’
The snowballing accusations come in what was set to be a landmark year for Bruel.
After a run in the Paris theatre production of "Deuxième partie" (Second part), he was set to embark on a 40-date tour to mark the 35th anniversary of his breakout album “Alors regarde”, which sold three million copies in France.
The tour came about in response to unprecedented interest in his three Paris concert dates marking the album's anniversary, Bruel said on social media.
In late February, many of the concerts had sold out.
The album – which generated Bruel’s biggest hit, the stirring rock ballad “La place des grands hommes” (The place of great men) – was released in 1991, when Bruel was at the peak of his popularity.
A notable incident that year saw the police called to a Paris pizzeria when the establishment and surrounding streets were besieged by screaming fans who believed Bruel was dining inside.
Outside Paris’s Théâtre Édouard VII, where Bruel is currently performing, many fans were still supportive of the star.
“We’re living in a time when media bashing unfortunately takes precedence over the presumption of innocence," Carine, 62, told Le Parisien.
Corinne, 55, found it hard to believe “that a man who’s idolised like that” could have assaulted women.
On social media, fans have also leapt to Bruel’s defence under posts detailing the accusations against him.
Born Patrick Maurice Benguigui in the midst of the Algerian War, the star is a shrewd businessman, running a wine and olive oil production business on his estate in Provence, and has also gained fame as a top-level poker player, winning an estimated $1.5 million.
French film director Christophe Ruggia gets five-year sentence on appeal for abusing child actor
French film director Christophe Ruggia was given a five-year sentence on appeal Friday for having repeatedly sexually assaulted actor Adèle Haenel when she was a child in the early 2000s.
A French court on Friday handed film director Christophe Ruggia a five-year sentence on appeal for sexually assaulting an actor when she was a child in one of the key trials of France's #MeToo movement.
Ruggia, 61, had already been found guilty last year of assaulting Adèle Haenel, now 37, in the early 2000s when she was between 12 and 14 and he was in his late 30s.
He was originally given a four-year sentence and ordered to wear an electronic bracelet for two years in February 2025.
But a court of appeal in Paris on Friday extended the overall sentence to five years, including three suspended. And Ruggia will still have to serve two years with an electronic bracelet.
Haenel, who starred in the 2019 drama "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" before quitting cinema, was the first prominent actor to accuse the French film industry of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse.
Read moreAs Cannes gets serious about #MeToo, has French cinema finally turned a corner?
Ruggia directed Haenel in the 2002 movie "The Devils", the tale of an incestuous relationship between a boy and his autistic sister. It was her first film role.
The film contains sex scenes between the children and close-ups of Haenel's naked body.
Investigators had said before the trial that members of the film crew had told them of their "unease" with Ruggia's behaviour on set.
Between 2001 and 2004, after shooting the film, the teenager went to see Ruggia nearly every Saturday.
During these visits, she has accused him of caressing her thighs and touching her genitals and breasts.
The court of appeal said the acts were "extremely serious" against a pre-teen girl and had had a "proven impact on the mental health" of Haenel.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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Jeffrey Epstein and the French connection
On one of Paris's most prestigious avenues stands the former home of Jeffrey Epstein. As the world has discovered, the late convicted paedophile's activities went way beyond simply owning real estate around the world. In a special edition, Annette Young speaks to survivors and their supporters who are urging French authorities to deepen their investigation – not only into Epstein's actions in France, but also those of his associates.
They reveal how parts of the Paris modelling scene in the 1990s and early 2000s may have been used as a front for sex trafficking. Survivors are also calling on France to abolish the statute of limitations on sexual crimes.
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