Oscar-winning actor, Kevin Spacey has spoken out while preparing to collect a film award in Italy this week, days after denying seven sex offence charges.
Spacey is being honoured by the Italian National Cinema Museum following a series of allegations made against him in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
After denying seven more sexual offences against a man in the early 2000s in a London court on Friday, the Hollywood outcast told Italian news agency Ansa that he has tried to live each day as it comes, and that he has not 'gone to live in a cave'.
'I live my life each day, I go to the restaurant, I meet people, I drive, I play tennis, I've always met generous, genuine and compassionate people,' the 63-year-old said.
'I haven't hidden away, I haven't gone to live in a cave,' he added. 'What you see in the media is not real life, I'm no getting my public life back because I've never left it'.
Among the accusations against the Hollywood star are sexual touching, touching over clothing, and forcing the complainant's hand against his privates over clothing.
Spacey faced the charges at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, having previously denied five allegations relating to three other men who are now in their 30s and 40s.
The new charges comprise three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, on unspecified dates between 2001 and 2005.
In addition to receiving the lifetime achievement award on Monday from the Italian film museum, he is also set to give a masterclass session.
Speaking in November when the award was announced, the museum's president Enzo Ghigo said: 'We are honoured that such a prestigious guest as Kevin Spacey chose Turin and our museum for this long-awaited return to an event with an audience.'
'Now, among all of the cities of the world, he chose Turin for a master class. He couldn't give us a better present than this,' Domenico De Gaetano, the director of the national museum who will moderate the masterclass, was also quoted as saying.
The decision to award Spacey with the gong has been met with widespread controversy with the actor at the centre of several sexual abuse allegations. But the actor seemed in good spirits on the day of his virtual court appearance on Friday, he was seen walking the streets of Turin waving to fans.
Spacey, appearing at Southwark Crown Court in London by video link, confirmed his identity and pleaded not guilty to all seven of the charges against him.
He now faces a total of 12 charges relating to four men between 2001 and 2013.
The two-time Academy Award winner, known for his starring roles in American Beauty, The Usual Suspects and House Of Cards, appeared at the Old Bailey in July last year to deny the five previous charges.
He pleaded not guilty to four charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
The first two charges relate to alleged sexual assaults on a man, now in his 40s, in London on March 20, 2005.
The second alleged victim, a man now in his 30s, claims he was sexually assaulted by Spacey in London on August 31, 2008.
Spacey also faces a serious sexual offence charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent relating to the second alleged victim.
He faces a fourth charge of sexual assault against the third complainant, now in his 30s, in Gloucestershire in April 2013.