James Franco, 46, and girlfriend Izabel Pakzad, 28, make RARE appearance at 16th Film Festival Lumiere in France

James Franco, 46, and his much younger girlfriend Izabel Pakzad, 28, made an appearance at the 16th Film Festival Lumiere in Lyon, France on Friday.

The longtime couple – they’ve been together since 2017 when Izabel was 21 and James was 39 – looked like they were enjoying themselves on the red carpet.

Franco said something that made Izabel break into a big, bright smile.

For the occasion, the Pineapple Express star wore a gray sweater with a black design on it with olive green pants.

Izabel looked beautiful in a short-sleeved, black blazer with black jeans featuring cut-outs at her thighs.

James Franco , 46, and his much younger girlfriend Izabel Pakzad, 28, made an appearance at the 16th Film Festival Lumiere in Lyon, France 

The couple have been together since November 2017 but went red carpet official in 2018.

Franco has kept largely out of the public eye over the last decade following sexual misconduct allegations. 

In 2019, he was accused and sued by five students who attended his film school, Studio 4, for behaving inappropriately towards them.

One student in particular accused him of sexual misconduct and claimed he forced her to perform oral sex.

At the time, Franco denied the allegations via his attorney and eventually settled the lawsuit. 

He is also, according to him, a recovering sex addict who has never been faithful to any woman before Izabel.

‘I had girlfriends. I could never be faithful to anybody. I cheated on everybody before Izabel,’ Franco said on the Jess Cagle podcast in 2021.

Izabel is an actor and director who studied at Penn State University and the University of Southern California.

She has most notably appeared in 2020’s Birds of Prey and the 2019 television series Baker’s Dozen.

The longtime couple – they’ve been together since 2017 when Izabel was 21 and James was 39 – looked like they were enjoying themselves on the red carpet

Franco said something that made Izabel break into a big, bright smile

For the occasion, the Pineapple Express star w ore a gray sweater with a black design on it with olive green pants

Izabel looked beautiful in a short-sleeved, double-breasted blazer with black jeans featuring cut outs at her thighs

When Franco met Izabel she wasn’t an actress and he was specifically looking to date someone who wasn’t an actress. 

‘She wasn’t an actress when I met her,’ Franco explained on the podcast. ‘I wrote a list of everything that I was for [in a partner] and it wasn’t imperative, but I was like, “It’d be nice if she wasn’t an actress.”‘

Franco said that he didn’t find out Pakzad was taking an acting class until they’d already gone on a few dates.

‘It turned out great because we share all these interests and she’s directing now,’ he said. ‘I’m just so lucky.’