One of France’s most enduring entertainment figures, 67-year-old singer and actor Patrick Bruel, is at the center of a growing national sexual assault scandal that has roiled the country’s ongoing post-#MeToo reckoning, with more than 30 women coming forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct spanning his five-decade career.
The allegations, which first gained widespread media traction in recent weeks, have triggered official judicial reviews across multiple French jurisdictions and a public campaign to cancel Bruel’s upcoming cross-continental tour. Among the highest-profile accusers is prominent French television and radio presenter Flavie Flament, who claims Bruel drugged and raped her at his Paris residence in 1991, when she was 16 years old and he was 32.
In a public statement shared to his Instagram, Bruel has forcefully pushed back against all claims. “I have never forced myself on a woman in my life,” he wrote. “Nor have I ever drugged, manipulated or tried to subjugate anyone… nor used my fame to abuse or obtain non-consensual relations.” Bruel, who remains active in professional productions and is currently performing at a Paris theater, has not shied away from the public eye amid the accusations, which have dominated front-page headlines across France.
Born Patrick Benguigui in Algeria in 1959, Bruel rose to stardom in the early 1980s with hit tracks including *Marre de cette nana-là*, earning a massive, fanatical following that media dubbed “Bruelmania” for the public obsession surrounding his distinct baritone and brooding on-stage presence. He has maintained his status as a household name in French entertainment for more than 40 years, and is scheduled to launch a multi-country concert tour in June spanning France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada. A French feminist group has already launched an online petition calling for tour organizers to scrap all scheduled dates.
According to independent French investigative outlet Mediapart, which first broke the full scope of the allegations, Flament is one of more than 30 women to have lodged formal complaints against Bruel. Around 10 of these cases are currently under review by prosecutors in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris. One of these cases was initially dismissed in 2020 due to insufficient evidence, but has since been reopened for further examination. Two additional separate allegations are also being assessed by authorities in the Brittany town of Saint-Mâlo and in Belgium.
The latest back-and-forth between legal teams and accusers centers on Flament’s claim. On Tuesday, Bruel’s defense attorney Christophe Ingrain told French broadcaster BFMTV that Flament’s account is entirely fabricated, arguing that any interaction between his client and the presenter was consensual. “Patrick Bruel is very clear: he never forced himself on or drugged Flavie Flament. There was no rape,” Ingrain said. “They were two people who liked each other and might from time to time have sex when they met.”
Flament issued an immediate, categorical denial of the lawyer’s claim, telling reporters: “I never had any relationship of any kind with Patrick Bruel.” Flament has long been a leading voice in French movements to address sexual violence against minors: in 2016, she first publicized an allegation that she had been raped at age 13 by prominent British nude photographer David Hamilton on the French Riviera. After her claim was corroborated by multiple other accusers, Hamilton died by suicide. Flament’s activism directly contributed to a landmark change in French law, extending the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against minors from 20 to 30 years after the alleged offense.
French government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon weighed in on the unfolding scandal this Tuesday, reaffirming the state’s position that survivors of sexual violence should be supported to speak out, regardless of how much time has passed since the alleged abuse. “Even decades later, [victims] should be encouraged to speak out,” she said, adding that “it is up then to the justice system to establish the truth of the facts.”
For anyone affected by the issues of sexual violence raised in this reporting, support and confidential guidance is available via the BBC Action Line.