James Franco makes first public appearance in six years following previous controversy

James Franco has made his first public appearance in six years following his misconduct lawsuit.

The 46-year-old was accused of behaving inappropriately towards a number of students at his film school back in 2018.

Five women, which included film students from Studio 4, accused the Pineapple Express actor of sexual misconduct.

A year later, two students filed a lawsuit against Franco and his partners, accusing the school of exploiting them sexually.

Actor James Franco made his first public appearance in six years. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

The suit accused the film star and his partners of providing 'an environment of harassment and sexual exploitation both in and out of the class', whilst allegedly engaging 'in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behaviour towards female students'.

Michael Plonsker, Franco's lawyer, said at the time: "James will not only fully defend himself, but will also seek damages from the plaintiffs and their attorneys for filing this scurrilous publicity-seeking lawsuit."

However, in February 2021, a financial settlement of $2.23 million (£1.75 million) in damages was reached.

After six years, Franco has stepped out again in the public eye after attending the Nespresso party at Cannes 2024.

The actor was joined on the red carpet by his partner of seven years, Isabel Pakzad, 28, wearing a black suit and white shirt.

Franco, 46, pictured with his girlfriend Isabel Pakzad, 28. (Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Pakzad wore a black dress with silver wedges.

The reason behind Franco's Cannes appearance was to promote his new film with co-star Tommy Lee Jones.

The Razor's Edge would have been shown with the hopes of attracting a buyer for the movie.

This comes after Franco admitted to wrongdoing during in an interview on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Podcast in 2021.

The actor, who said he was battling sex addiction for over 20 years, said: "I [was] completely blind to power dynamics or anything like that.

"I didn’t wanna hurt people."

He claimed he 'could never be faithful to anybody' until he met his girlfriend, Isabel.

"I cheated on everyone before Isabel," he confessed.

The actor, who gave up drinking at the age of sixteen due to alcohol abuse, says that an alcohol abuse sponsor once encouraged him to remain single and 'just hook up'.

Franco apologised in 2021. (SiriusXM)

Franco explained: "And I, in fact, I wasn’t like really a one-night-stand guy.

"Like people that I, you know, got together with or dated, like I’d see them for a long time, years.

"It’s just that I couldn’t be present for any of them.

"And the behaviour spun out to a point where it was like I was hurting everybody."

He says that the turning point came when his sister-in-law Iris Torres gave him a book on sex and love addiction.

Franco believes that the person portrayed in the book was him and that realisation hit him 'like a bullet'.

"Oh my God, that's me," he added.