France, March 26 -- Veteran actor Fanny Ardant told a Paris court on Wednesday that she could vouch for the behaviour of fellow French film legend Gerard Depardieu

"I have never witnessed anything that I would have found shocking," said the 76-year-old of Depardieu who has been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist abuse.

"I'm a woman myself, I've been through things like that. I've been slapped and insulted. I know you can say no to Gerard."

Ardant and Depardieu first met on the set of the 1979 film Les Chiens. Two years later, they starred in the Francois Truffaut feature The Woman Next Door. And they have been the big names in a range of films and plays over the following decades.

Ardant was among the stars in the...