Gerard Depardieu
French actor Gerard Depardieu Tobias Schwarz/Reuters

French film star Gerard Depardieu has said that he killed and then ate a pair of lions while on holiday in Africa. The overweight actor, 65, has been boasting of his "banquette de lion".

The actor, 65, has been boasting of his "banquette de lion". Depardieu has claimed that the lions were killed in self-defence. He says he killed them because they failed to move from in front of his car, which was stalled. The incident took place in

The incident took place in Burkino Faso, in West Africa, where lions are a critically endangered species.

Depardieu is reported as saying. "We broke down on a bush track. Two lions waited in front and wouldn't move. Hours passed and we couldn't get out of the car. The African driver was very afraid. We had no choice. We had to shoot them. " In an interview this weekend with the Independent magazine he has now claimed that the

"We broke down on a bush track. Two lions waited in front and wouldn't move. Hours passed and we couldn't get out of the car,"" he described. "The African driver was very afraid. We had no choice. We had to shoot them."

In an interview this weekend with the Independent magazine Depardieu says the lions were then eaten. He did not supply further details of how the lions were skinned, prepared and cooked.

During the same interview the actor also talked about the incident in 2011 during which he was removed from an Air France flight because he urinated in the aisle, while the plane was preparing to take off.

"I have lots of friends in the UK. And in Ireland. Where incidentally I recently pissed in a plane," he said. "There was this air hostess un peu depressive [slightly depressive] and I urgently wanted a piss. We'd been delayed 45 minutes, there were seven planes in front of us, and the

"We'd been delayed 45 minutes, there were seven planes in front of us, and the hostess blocked me with her foot, so I pissed in a bottle."

In August 2012 Depardieu was arrested for assaulting a motorist in Paris. Three months later, he was arresed for drink driving. In September this year he said,"I can't drink like a normal person. I can absorb 12,13 14 bottles of wine per day."

In September this year he said, "I can't drink like a normal person. I can absorb 12, 13 14 bottles of wine per day."