Gérard Depardieu offered post of culture minister in Siberia Back in France, Mr Depardieu received support from his ex-wife Elizabeth, who said he had decided to leave the country because "he wasn't getting enough attention and love." In an interview with RTL radio, she said it was wrong to attack an "extremely unhappy" man who is "inconsolable and who is fighting to try to go on living." "When someone is as lost as that, should one cast the first stone?," she asked. He can go off the rails, he can say any old rubbish...sometimes there's the worst in him, but sometimes the best...I don't understand how one can sum someone up in one act. His daughter Roxane said: "My father has been put in the dock like a major criminal, but my father is a man to whom one owes respect and not insults." The actor was branded "pathetic" by Jean-Marc Ayrault for his decision to leave the country over President Francois Hollande's 75 per cent tax on millionaires. Mr Depardieu has not confirmed whether he has given up his French nationality. He has reportedly left Russia for Switzerland where he is to attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony for best footballer of the year. He is due in court on Tuesday morning in Paris for a drink-driving offence after being stopped with more than three times the legal limit in his blood. He risks a maximum fine of 4,500 euros and a two-year prison sentence.