Quebec celebrity chef Giovanni Apollo accused of sexually assaulting his daughter

Giovanni Apollo in a photo shared Jan. 19, 2016, on Twitter (Source: @apollo1333 / Twitter)

Quebec celebrity chef Giovanni Apollo, whose real name is Jean-Claude Apollo, has been charged with sexually assaulting a minor.

Noovo Info reported that the complainant is Apollo’s daughter, Coralie, who is now 27.

Apollo, 55, appeared at the courthouse in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que. on Friday to formally face the charges.

The offences allegedly happened in Quebec’s Montérégie region between 2011 and 2017 when the complainant was a young teenager, according to the charge sheet.

Apollo is facing two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference, and one count of sexual exploitation.

The accused is known on TV as Chef Giovanni and was the star of his show, Apollo dans l’frigo.

He also published cookbooks.

He was embroiled in controversy in the fall of 2017 after an investigation by La Presse revealed that he misrepresented parts of his identity, including his qualifications and place of birth, to the public.

He had claimed in the past that he was born and raised in an Italian village when, in fact, he was born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France.

“It may be that some parts of my personal life might have been romanticized or that some statements about me could have been nuanced,” Apollo wrote on Facebook in 2017, addressing the newspaper’s report.

Apollo also faced sexual harassment and intimidation allegations in a Radio-Canada report, also in 2017.

He denied the allegations in an affidavit.

“With respect to the allegations of psychological harassment and of a sexual nature, I reiterate that I have never committed such acts,” he wrote.

With files from Noovo Info and The Canadian Press.