One of France’s most high-profile entertainment industry figures has become the latest high-profile figure to face legal consequences growing out of the global Me Too movement, with judicial officials opening a formal investigation into Patrick Bruel on multiple counts of rape and sexual abuse.
After 48 hours of police custody held in Nanterre, a western suburb of the French capital, the 67-year-old multi-hyphenate star – who built his decades-long career as both a chart-topping singer and a successful film and stage actor – appeared before a panel of four investigating judges on Wednesday evening. The panel upheld a request from the state prosecutor to place Bruel under formal judicial investigation over allegations of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. A final decision on whether Bruel will remain in pre-trial custody is still pending from a senior judge.
Throughout the legal process, Bruel has repeatedly and forcefully denied all allegations against him. Under the French judicial system, formal investigative status means an examining magistrate will now conduct a deep-dive review of all claims, with full access granted to Bruel’s legal team to review prosecution evidence. Judicial data shows that this process most often leads to a full public trial in the majority of cases. French legal code defines rape as any non-consensual act of sexual penetration.
Feminist advocacy groups across France have welcomed the announcement of the investigation, expressing satisfaction that the claims are moving forward through the legal system. The case lands at a moment of intense national scrutiny over how French courts handle sexual offenses, sparked by the high-profile murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna – whose suspected killer had been previously reported for multiple instances of abuse but faced no prior legal consequences.
Bruel is the second major household name in French entertainment to face widespread sexual abuse allegations in recent years, following fellow actor Gérard Depardieu. The 77-year-old Depardieu received a suspended prison sentence last year on sexual assault charges stemming from an incident on a film set, and he has since filed an appeal to overturn his conviction.
Born Patrick Benguigui in Algeria in 1959, Bruel launched his entertainment career and rose to stardom in the early 1980s, driven by the massive commercial success of hit singles including *Marre de cette nana-là* (Had Enough of That Chick). His distinctive baritone voice and brooding dark features sparked a nationwide cultural frenzy dubbed “Bruelmania” by contemporary media. Over the course of his career, he has appeared in more than 30 feature films, and most recently headlined a Paris stage production before the allegations came to light.
In the wake of the new claims, all of Bruel’s remaining performances at the Paris theater were canceled, as were nearly all scheduled stops on a planned international concert tour spanning France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada. The tour has now been permanently scrapped, according to organizers.
This is not the first time Bruel has faced sexual misconduct claims: a previous set of sexual harassment complaints against him were closed in 2020 after investigators cited a lack of sufficient evidence to proceed. In May of this year, French investigative news outlet Mediapart published a bombshell report revealing that roughly 30 women had come forward with consistent accounts of harassment or assault at Bruel’s hands, with many of the alleged incidents occurring on film sets or in backstage areas at music venues.
Last month, a high-profile accuser joined the list of claimants: well-known French television and radio presenter Flavie Flament, who alleged that in 1991, when she was 16 years old and Bruel was 32, he drugged and raped her at his private Paris residence. The Flament allegation is not included among the nine counts formally cited by judges in the current investigation, as the statute of limitations for the alleged crime has expired. However, the state prosecutor has formally requested that Flament’s claim and 12 other additional older allegations be re-evaluated for potential inclusion in the formal charges.
Reaffirming his denial of all wrongdoing, Bruel told French media in recent comments that he acknowledged he may have been “heavy-handed” in past interactions, but insisted he “always took no for an answer.” In a public Instagram post shared last month, the star wrote: “I have never in my life forced myself on a woman. Nor have I ever drugged, manipulated or tried to subjugate anyone… nor used my fame to abuse or obtain non-consensual relations.”