Pallade Veneta - French celebrity writer Beigbeder held after rape allegation

The interrogation of the 58-year-old writer, who lives in the French Basque country, started at 9:00 am (0800 GMT), prosecutor Rodolphe Jarry told AFP.

The prosecutor declined to say what he was being held for, but sources close to the investigation said the arrest followed a rape allegation made by a woman with whom the author had had a relationship lasting several months.

Broadcaster Franceinfo said the woman filed her complaint during the summer.

According to Franceinfo, the woman said she had had a consensual sexual encounter with Beigbeder in a hotel room, and then another, non-consensual one, later the same night.

Beigbeder has explored love, sex, politics and the glitzy side of Paris in his writing.

He became famous thanks to "99 Francs", published in 2000, a novel that explores drugs, cynicism and money in the world of advertising.

The prosecutor told AFP the arrest was unrelated to drugs.

In 2008, Beigbeder had been arrested in Paris for consuming and possessing cocaine.

He later said he had given up using cocaine, which he described as "a drug for old square people".

Beigbeder said earlier this year that his lifestyle had "changed completely" since living with his third wife, photographer Lara Micheli, and their two children in Guethary, a village of 1,350 people on the Basque coast.

His other successful novels include "Holiday in a Coma" and "Love Lasts Three Years", but he has also worked as a TV and radio commentator, publisher, actor and film director, and ran the "Lui" men's magazine for four years.

During the Me Too movement, he sparked controversy by failing to condemn celebrities accused of sexual misconduct.

He also defended film maker Roman Polanski, convicted for statutory rape, against his critics, calling them "a bunch of hyenas on the loose".

R.Lagomarsino--PV