James Franco, 46 ​​years old and his partner Isabel Paksad, 28 years old, flashy smiles at the Biarritz festival

The couple appeared this Saturday, June 22, at the closing night of the Nouvelles Vagues film festival, in Biarritz, in the south of France. James Franco, 46, and his 28-year-old girlfriend, Isabel Paksad, appeared arm in arm and bright smiles at the event’s photocall.

In recent years, the star of 127 Hours had been rather discreet, accused of sexual harassment and abuse of power by several of his students when he was their theater teacher and at the height of his glory. A complaint filed in 2021 was resolved amicably. Since relegated to supporting roles in foreign or anonymous films, he finally seems to be making his return to cinema. We will see him in particular in the new French blockbuster Largo Winch: The Price of Moneywith Tomer Sisley and in the Hollywood film The Razor’s Edge, which will be released in 2025.

Sex and addiction

In 2018, James Franco was actually sued by 5 students from his film school, Studio 4, in which he gave theater classes. The latter accused him of inappropriate behavior and some of sexual assault. One of them claimed to have been forced by the latter to perform oral sex on her. After which, she finally withdrew her complaint following an amicable agreement. Although he always denied the accusations, James Franco nevertheless admitted to having had consensual sex with some of his students. “During my teaching, I slept with them, and it was not good,” he notably declared on the microphone of the podcast “Jess Cagle Podcast”, in December 2021, revealing his addiction to sex for almost twenty years. And added: “But that’s not why I created the school, and it wasn’t me who selected the students in my class. It was not a “Machiavellian plan” developed by me, as people wanted to say. But yes, there were times when I had consensual relationships, and I shouldn’t have done that.”

“At the time, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I guess my main argument was: ‘If it’s a consensual relationship, it’s fine. We’re all adults…’” he concluded. Regarding his unhealthy relationship with sex, James Franco had also declared that he had cheated on all his partners before meeting his partner Isabel Pakzad. In a relationship with the actor for around seven years, the latter has always supported him.