A few days ago, Gérard Depardieu pissed in the middle of a plane aisle because the flight attendants wouldn’t let him go to the bathroom. I thought he was drunk, witnesses said he seemed drunk, but Gerard’s friends claimed that he had not been drinking. Apparently, he just kept repeating “I need to piss.” I also pointed out that those delays can be hell, and many airlines won’t let people use the restrooms while the plane is delayed on the tarmac, which seems like the situation here. Anyway, Gerard’s friend just released a statement, which looks like the most official statement we’re going to get out of this situation:
French actor Gerard Depardieu has apologised for the “humiliating” incident which saw him removed from a flight to Dublin, a friend said. Depardieu, 62, urinated in front of fellow passengers after being refused permission to use the lavatory as the plane prepared for take-off. Staff told him to stay seated but it is understood he urinated into a bottle.
Fellow actor Edouard Baer, travelling with him, said his friend had prostate problems and had not been drinking. After being removed from the flight, Depardieu caught a later flight to Dublin.
He was flying to Ireland with Cityjet to film Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia.
Sober
In a statement issued on Depardieu’s behalf to French media, Baer said he had passed him the bottle in which to urinate, but it had overflowed.
“Gerard was upset at this and offered to clean up the mess,” he said. “He has prostate problems and it was very worrying and humiliating for him. He was also stone-cold sober at the time. This is not the way he usually behaves.”
A passenger on the CityJet plane contacted a French radio station on Wednesday and to say that Depardieu had stood up minutes before take-off and declared in a loud voice: “Je veux pisser, je veux pisser” (English: I want to pee).
Following the incident, the aircraft taxied back to the terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport and Depardieu was removed from the flight.
Cityjet confirmed the plane had been delayed and it took off later than scheduled.
In a statement the airline, a subsidiary of Air France, said: “Flight AF5010, which was due to depart at 1845 from Paris to Dublin, was delayed due to an incident on board involving a passenger who refused to remain in his seat as the aircraft was taxiing on the runway.
“The captain returned the aircraft to stand where the passenger was offloaded.”
[From BBC News]
Okay, hearing that he has prostate problems actually makes me feel sorry for the guy. And if this version is true – that Gerard was peeing in a bottle – I still think it’s gross, but I wonder why the airline and the witnesses had a completely different story. It’s hard for me to understand, because I’m a litigious American, why the airline seems to be mocking and baiting Gerard when they should have just kept their mouths shut. They were partially in the wrong too! I don’t know. I guess I’m just going soft.
Here’s Anderson Cooper’s giggle-fit.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Could have been worse? He could have done Number 2.
The best part of this story was the Anderson Cooper ridiculist. He is *so* cute. I LOVE Michael K’s take on it. Silver Fox just got a little more attractive to me 🙂
I still think he was drunk. I think this is all a cover up since people were so outraged.
Passengers said he was drunk, that he smelled of liquor, and if you have prostate trouble, the last thing you need is alcohol.
He just seems nasty to me anyway.
Does that give him the right to pee on the plane and gross out everyone else around him like that? Nope, he is not the first or last to have medical problems. I cannot sympatize with Depardieu, he is just downright disgusting.
Do I feel sorry for him….Depends.
i feel really sorry for him. how embarressing. my grandad has prostate issues too and when he has to go he has to go and he cant go long without needing to go. If thats true of this story then it really is deplorable of the airline to make fun of the poor guy
I dunno why, but I like Gerard. He’s a very good actor and usually polite, considerate man. So I’ll believe the prostate thing.
Oh, Anderson Cooper is just adorable. Haha. And Gerard is creepy looking.
@RocketMerry- Polite and considerate are two words not frequently associated with Gerard Depardieu. Sorry to disagree with you, but he has never been a nice man.
I love the bottom photo. “Ne touche pas ma bouteille de piss ou je te couperai!!!”
(apologies to French celebitches in advance for my “piss” poor grammar – it’s been a while)
@Pyewacket, Oh, but he was nice once, I read it in the news! And he produces wine in Tuscany! And he says he loves Italy in an ad for tomato sauce!
Yeah, you’re right, he’s not the most polite man in the world but I kinda like him anyways. Sigh. *smiles helplessly*
Dear Gerry;
Lay off the brie.
c’est tout –
xox
As a french I can say that I don’t feel sorry for him , this guy has a long history of rudeness and he’s very entitled, he’s just plain gross.
Some fat peeing frenchman with my bagel? No. Some giggly Anderson Cooper with my morning coffee? Yes Please!
Not funny to laugh at someone with a medical problem. Who feels it knows it.
Didn’t his mother teach him to use the restroom before boarding a plane? Sorry but I’ll go for drunk here, prostate or no.
He’s looking very corpulent these days
I’m torn. On one hand I think this guy IS rude and probably WAS drunk, but what if he has prostate problems on top of that? I’ve dealt wirh patients before who really had no control over when they urinated. Of course, they usually wore catheters to keep from leaking all over… I don’t know, I guess I think both sides could have conducted themselves better.
@brin-lmao! I saw what you did there… 🙂
See. I said there are medical reasons why people cannot hold it, and the airlines should be more sensitive to those folks, no matter their age.
RocketMerry, I’ve kinda liked him too. Not necessarily his looks, but the sense of humour he imbibes in the characters he’s played.
brin – You’re on the ball today, girl!
My mom knows a woman who was on a plane when her stomach began cramping. They were on the runway waiting to taxi, so the plane wasn’t moving, and she got up to use the bathroom. The flight attendants made her return to her seat even though she explained to them that she needed the bathroom urgently. They told her to use an airsickness bag, to which she responded that it wasn’t that kind of stomach problem. They still refused to let her use the bathroom, and she eventually had a small accident because she simply couldn’t help it. Even then they wouldn’t let her get up to clean herself or change her clothes for another 20 minutes or so. She said it was the most humiliating experience of her life and she’s now terrified of flying because she doesn’t want to get stuck in that situation ever again.
Re: Gerard, if this version of events is true, then I feel very sorry for him.
Having had bladder problems due to a severe illness at a young age, I remember embarrassing and yes very painful times when I wasn’t able to use the facility due to societies timing..but my body said otherwise. So if the health issue is true..I do feel sorry for him. I wound up w/ a bladder that needed to be removed after 20 operations and 6 months of wearing a catheter while I gained enough weight to survive the operation..I was only 30. So add in his extra yrs and whatever else he my have wrong..and possible alcohol.. Yes, it could have been beyond any control and very painful…
Why would you go to the trouble of peeing in a bottle if it wasnt absolutely neccessary…if being an ass was his aim just pee in the damn floor..
I have IBS and I often dread flying when I have a flare-up out of fear it will happen on the plane. I once had serious cramps during the landing but fortunately was able to calm it down with the help of medication and some deep breathing. But I do feel for anyone who has a medical issue while flying.. you cannot always control it and airlines got to be so rigid they’ll make a federal case out of a simple bathroom use – sure it’s not allowed but what’s worse: breaking the rules of having an accident in the cabin? I go for the first.
Those of you with medical problems, I appreciate you saying so.
But, the Anderson Cooper video . . . I’ve played it a few times and I giggle like a kid every time.
Depar . . . Two!!!!!
If he had prostate problems, he could have just said so to the attendants and something could have been done quietly. Besides, you can tell he’s a drinker by the redish color in his cheeks and forehead.
I’d rather have people think I was drunk!
I really do hope this makes airlines change their policies. Those flight attendants can be real bitches and control freaks. Who the fuck doesn’t let a person piss? Is this fucking grade school or something?
Hypothetical question – What would the airline do if someone became violently ill with vomiting? They have the barf bags, but you could have an unexpected bout of nausea and vomiting, and not make it to the bag. They would treat you as if you were ill, and it would involve taking the plane back in and letting you off, because you were ill. That is exactly what the airline did for Mr. Depardieu. So what is the big deal? Could media be at fault for making a big deal out of illness, including Coopie?
Some of those airline rules are really inhumane!
Everyone should threaten to make ‘protest diarreha’ in support of bathroom human rights.
Once I was traveling with my young daughter and she barfed, all over herself, unfortunately not into a bag. But I was thrilled to have the bag to put all the barf-cleaning detritus into. When the flight attendant went by I tried to hand her the bag. She asked me if it was a diaper, and I told her no, it was, you know, barf in that barf bag! She told me she couldn’t take it as they aren’t allowed to touch “human waste.” Which I can appreciate but it seemed weird that the one and only time I ever managed to get barf into a barf bag I was stuck holding it for the rest of the flight.
@brin, LOL! Good one.
Brin: LMAO @ your comment. I actually did laugh out loud for a bit there. Thanks for the laugh!
I feel compelled to remind everyone that Depardieu in his youth raped girls with a roving boy gang in the French countryside–admittedly so in an interview. When it caused a brouhaha, he changed his story and said he “merely” watched. Then he denied everything. Look it up. Depardieu deserves no pity. He’s a drunken, lying, public-peeing pig who deserves scorn, not sympathy.
Funny,I always liked AC until I saw that clip. Given his anti bullying stance shouldn’t a bit more sensitivity be called for? As someone who completely judged a drunken man on a plane who the (Irish) stewardesses treated so kindly I felt I had witnessed Grace first hand. On my flight home I peed in the seat due to a medical emergency. Laugh all you want but for the grace of God next time it could be you, or someone you love dearly.