Gerard Depardieu reveals he was a child prostitute in revealing autobiography It Happened Like That

FRENCH actor Gerard Depardieu has confessed that he was once a prostitute, a car thief, and an occasional grave robber, in a revealing new book.

(FILES) In a file picture taken on February 19, 2010 French actor Gerard Depardieu poses for photographers during the photo c...

IN A revealing new autobiography, French actor Gerard Depardieu has confessed that he was once a prostitute, a car thief, and an occasional grave robber, before being saved from homelessness by a theatre talent agent who paid for him to study French drama.

The 65-year-old award-winning actor tells all in his autobiography, It Happened Like That (Ca C’est Fait Comme Ca), in which he also spoke of his unlikely friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and the death of his son Guillaume in 2008, Britain’s Independent reports.

Depardieu, who became a global star after his role in the 1990 romantic comedy Green Card, revealed that his mother often told him about her attempts to abort him using knitting needles, adding: “And to think I almost killed you.” His family was so poor that as a child he helped deliver his siblings as his parents could not afford a midwife.

Depardieu wrote that he began to wander the streets when he was just 10, but could pass for 15. He also quickly realised that he was attractive to men. He wrote: “I’ve known since I was very young that I please homosexuals,” adding that when men approached, asking for sex, “I would ask them for money.

Unlikely friends ... Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, greets Depardieu during their meeting in Putin's residence in Sochi. Picture: AFP PHOTO/RIA-NOVOSTI/MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV

“I would rip some of them off. I would beat up some bloke and leave with all his money.”

He also admitted that he would occasionally help another man dig up newly buried bodies to steal jewellery and shoes from them.

Describing himself as a “rough-hewn peasant” he eventually married actor Elisabeth Guignot, and had two children, Guillaume and Julie. He had two more with two other women, but Depardieu admitted that family life doesn’t suit him.

He said that when his children have complained about being associated with him, he has said, “What do you want? Change your name, for heaven’s sake, if it bothers you.”

Of his friendship with Mr Putin, the actor said, “We could have both become hoodlums.” He wrote: “I think he immediately liked my hooligan side … the fact that I had occasionally been picked up off the pavement dead drunk.

“Like with me, nobody would have betted a penny on him when he was 15.”