Gérard Depardieu after the attack on Barillari, in an interview with Republic he says that the photographer had “disgraceful and harassing behavior” towards him. And she says that the paparazzi category was considered “finished and overtaken by the selfie trend”. Then he tells his version of what happened at Harry’s bar: «I was at the table with a group of people including Magda (Vavrusova, his partner, ed. ), this paparazzo started taking photos but became more and more insistent, pressing , until we found it on us. He started pushing, he was also pushing Magda, and in the heat I completely lost my balance and fell. Magda got hurt. He only suffered a graze on his forehead, he continued to take photos even when we were leaving.”
Then he recounts the precedent of the argument with a paparazzo in 2015: «In Florence in front of the Medici Chapels. It upsets me that it happened again here, Italy is home. Rome is a wonderful city, of infinite beauty, my friend Marcello Mastroianni reminds me. A rude and impetuous paparazzi ruined the spell. Magda had to go to hospital for treatment, she is very shaken. They told me that Barillari even showed up outside the emergency room to take more photos.” Finally, he blames the place: «The manager of Harry’s Bar had to protect the tranquility of the customers, it would be his job to guarantee a peaceful atmosphere for all the guests, but instead he proved to do the opposite, he took the paparazzo’s defense, thus justifying his intrusiveness without the slightest respect. Many photos of Barillari are displayed in the room, in some of which he also appears. I shouldn’t have set foot in that place. And Via Veneto is terrible, overflowing with tourists who in most cases are disinterested in culture.”
