Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (born 27 December 1948), CQ is a French actor.

In text translated from a conversation with the French film magazine So Film, the star admits that he tallied his alcohol consumption at the behest of his doctors, who reportedly performed heart-bypass surgery on the actor in 2000, and came to this conclusion: “I can drink 12, 13, 14 bottles a day.” Depardieu alleges that he goes through occasional bouts of sobriety—but between those, his alcohol intake surges, mostly out of boredom. (Can someone get him a good book, then?) He then outlines, in detail, his normal beverage-intake schedule when he is off the wagon.

In the morning, it starts at home with champagne or red wine before 10 A.M., then again champagne.”

Gerard said he breaks up the wine with aniseed liqueur pastis—“maybe half a bottle”.

He added: “Then food, accompanied by two bottles of wine.

“In the afternoon, champagne, beer and more pastis at around 5pm, to finish off the bottle.

“Later on, vodka and/or whisky.

The actor attempts to downplay his consumption, telling So Film (according to translations) that he is “never totally drunk, just a little pissed.” And he even has a sober-up tool: “All you need is a 10-minute nap and voila, a slurp of rose wine and I feel as fresh as a daisy.”

During the conversation, Depardieu takes one of the craziest conversational detours we’ve ever seen, while attempting to prove the point that “there’s more to life than getting drunk.” Per The Mirror’s translation:

And as if to prove his point, he recalled how he once shot two lions on a hiking holiday in Africa.

Gerard insisted the shootings were “legitimate self-defence”.

He said he was pushing his truck along a dirt track after it broke down, and the lions stood in his way and wouldn’t move even after he fired a warning shot.

In 2016, Speaking to Le Parisien, Depardieu is reported to have said that he hadn’t been drinking for some time now because he “no longer liked drunkeness”.

Sources:

• https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/gerard-depardieu-drink-14-bottles-4242142
• https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/05/gerard-depardieu-resolves-to-give-up-booze