Actor Gérard Depardieu to 'Sell Everything' in France

Gérard Depardieu

THE TELEGRAPH: Actor and tax exile Gérard Depardieu pledges to sell all his properties in France, including a chateau, several restaurants and a fishmongers, in latest diatribe against his native country

French actor Gérard Depardieu has declared that he will "sell everything" in his home country, including his chateau and restaurants.

Already living as a tax exile in Belgium, with another address in Russia where he has been granted citizenship, the provocative star has said that this time he wants to sever all ties with France, including his string of properties.

“I think I want to sell everything in France!” he told TV Magazine. “I don’t want to be a part of this country anymore, even though I love the French.”

In 2012, Depardieu sparked a furious debate in France after becoming a tax resident of Belgium in order to avoid a 75 per cent levy on millionaire earners - a move dubbed “pathetic” by Jean-Marc Ayrault, then French prime minister.

The following January, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, awarded a Russian passport to the 66-year-old star of Green Card, Cyrano and the Asterix films.

Depardieu is currently registered as living in the town of Saransk, with his address listed as 1, Democracy Street. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Friday, September 4, 2015