French Singer Patrick Bruel Denies Wave of Sexual Assault Allegations

This article contains details of alleged sexual offences and misconduct.

French singer and actor Patrick Bruel has strongly denied a series of allegations that he sexually assaulted multiple women over his 50-year career.

Bruel, 67, has faced a wave of accusations in recent weeks, some of which are under review by prosecutors for potential legal action.

Among the latest accusers is prominent TV and radio host Flavie Flament, who alleges Bruel drugged and raped her at his Paris home in 1991 when she was 16 and he was 32.

Bruel, currently performing at a Paris theater, wrote on Instagram that he has never “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,” he said.

Born Patrick Benguigui in Algeria in 1959, Bruel rose to fame in the early 1980s with songs including “Marre de cette nana-là” and inspired a fan frenzy known as “Bruelmania.”

He has remained in the public eye, and the abuse allegations have made front-page news in France.

Bruel is scheduled to begin a concert tour in June across France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada after his current theater run, but a feminist group has launched an online petition calling for its cancellation.

In addition to Flament, about 30 other women have complained of sexual mistreatment by Bruel, according to French investigative website Mediapart.

About 10 of these cases are now under review by prosecutors in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, including one initially dropped in 2020 for lack of evidence. Two separate allegations are being examined in Saint-Mâlo and Belgium.

French government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said Tuesday that female victims should be encouraged to speak out “even decades later,” adding “it is up then up to the justice system to establish the truth of the facts.”

Flament told Mediapart that Bruel “set his heart” on her after they met on a TV program, and one day he invited her to his apartment.

She said she remembered drinking a cup of tea, and then Bruel was “doing up my trousers as I lay on his bed.” Flament said she believes she was drugged and raped.

On Tuesday, Bruel’s lawyer Christophe Ingrain said the story was fabricated and that the relationship was “totally consensual.”

“Patrick Bruel is very clear: he never forced himself on or drugged Flavie Flament. There was no rape,” Ingrain told BFMTV.

“They were two people who liked each other and might from time to time have sex when they met,” he added.

Flament immediately denied that, saying: “I never had any relationship of any kind with Patrick Bruel.”

Flament was among the first women in France to speak out about sexual exploitation by powerful men, claiming in 2016 that British nude photographer David Hamilton raped her when she was 13 on the French Riviera.

Hamilton took his own life after her allegation was supported by other accounts.

This led to a change in French law, extending the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against minors from 20 to 30 years.