In his 30-year career, French singer Patrick Bruel, one of the most popular in the country, has sold more than 15 million records, although in recent months he has also been accumulating dozens of sexual assault accusations. Six women have formally reported the 67-year-old artist for sexual abuse or attempted rape. Many others have done so anonymously by sharing their testimony through the digital media Mediapart, the same outlet that also revealed harassment complaints against French actor Gérard Depardieu.
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In total, about thirty women claim to have been victims of Patrick Bruel for acts allegedly committed between 1991 and 2019. Some claim to have been drugged. According to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, there are currently three investigations open in France and one in Belgium, which will be handled by the Nanterre prosecutor’s office, the suburban Paris court competent in this case, considering the artist’s place of residence.
The women, both those who have filed formal complaints and those who give anonymous testimony, recount sexual assaults and abuses that occurred during the singer and actor’s tours, on film sets, or even during professional meetings. This is the case of two masseuses who sued him for assaults during massage sessions, but the cases were dismissed in 2020 due to insufficient evidence.
Following the testimonies revealed by Mediapart in recent weeks, some well-known women have joined the Me too movement, such as TV presenter Flavie Flament, who accused the artist last Friday of having drugged and raped her in 1991. She was 16 at the time and he was at the height of his fame. The general director of Unifrance, Daniela Elstner, has also accused him of attempted rape and sexual assault in 1997 during a festival in Mexico, when she was 26 years old.
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The singer already responded last week to all the accusations through one of his lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, stating that these are “absurd rumors” and defamatory accusations and said he would fight in court to prove his innocence. As the number of accusations has grown and well-known faces have joined, this Sunday he defended himself through a message posted on his Instagram account, in which he claims to be innocent and denounces a public shaming. “I have never forced a woman. I have never drugged, manipulated, or tried to subdue anyone. I have never taken advantage of my notoriety to abuse or try to have non-consensual sexual relations,” says the Frenchman, adding: “I have never wanted to hurt anyone, and if I have hurt someone, I sincerely regret it.”
Regarding the complaint from journalist and presenter Flavie Flament, he says he had “a brief relationship” with her at the start of his career, when she was 16 and he was 30. “There was no violence or coercion in the relationship. There was no rape, no drugs, nor did I leave her abandoned in a squalid hotel,” he says, referring to Flament’s account.
Patrick Bruel, who was born in Algeria in 1959, began his musical career in the 1980s, although he had his moment of glory in France starting in the 1990s, when the phenomenon called “Bruelmania” began. He has worked as a film and theater actor and is currently participating in a play at a Parisian theater. He will start a tour in mid-next month through France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada. His first concert will be at the Cirque d’Hiver in Paris on June 16, although there is a petition signed by various organizations requesting the event be canceled, which has already gathered 20,000 signatures.
