Depardieu to live in Istanbul, Dubai

ISTANBUL

World-famous French actor Gérard Depardieu has decided to move away from his hometown and spend more time in Turkey and Dubai in an endeavor to live a life full of peace, which he hopes to find by sailing among the waves.

The 58-year-old fishing boat named “Notre Dame D’Afrique” that the actor will use as a home in Turkey is being transformed into a yacht in Tuzla.

Depardieu, a 73-year-old actor who became a Russian citizen in 2013 in response to the law on raising taxes on the rich, spoke to L’Obs magazine on the decisions about his new life. Depardieu said he now wants to live less in his country and spend more time in Istanbul and Dubai, adding that he was after a more peaceful life and that he hoped to find this peace by sailing among the waves.

He said he bought two big fishing boats, adding, “One of them is in Dubai, I turned my boat in Istanbul, which is used for tuna fishing, into an apartment.”

Depardieu also said that he would go to France to shoot a film but does not want to live in the country where he was born, adding that he had put his vineyards and his house in Paris up for sale.

The actor, who is known for his passion for sea and fishing, brought the fishing boat he bought from a friend in France to Turkey to redesign and build it into a cruising yacht.

The boat is being prepared by world-famous designer Turhan Soyaslan, a shipbuilding and ship machinery engineer. Stating that the 19.5-meter-long boat, built in 1964, will be delivered to Depardieu two months later, Soyaslan said: “We took the wooden boat from Marseille in 2019 and brought it to Istanbul. We are currently repairing and turning it into a yacht at the shipyard in Tuzla.”

“On his way from Dubai to France, Depardieu stops by Istanbul to see his boat. We use all original parts in the renovation. It will have the original engine installed on the boat in 1964. We have prepared a two-story living space, but it only contains a cabin and a saloon. It is being designed as a living space, not a luxury yacht,” Soyaslan added.