James Franco looked smitten with girlfriend Izabel Pakzad as the pair headed for dinner in Santa Monica on Thursday.
The actor, 46, cut a casual figure in a stained tee, graphic print jacket and jeans as he strolled with his partner.
He completed his look with a baseball cap and sneakers.
Izabel – who he has dated on-off since 2017 – wore a black blouse and denim shorts which flashed her toned legs.
She paired this with strappy sandals and a scarlet handbag.
James Franco looked smitten with girlfriend Izabel Pakzad as the pair headed for dinner in Santa Monica on Thursday
The outing comes after James returned to the red carpet at Cannes in May – five years after being accused by his students of behaving inappropriately towards them.
The 127 Hours actor smiled as he joined his partner of seven years at the premiere of Kinds of Kindness – after disappearing from the limelight in 2019.
In 2019 James was accused and sued by five of his students that attended his film school, Studio 4, for behaving inappropriately and sexually towards them – one accused him of forcing her to perform oral sex.
James’ attorney denied the allegations at the time, and eventually he settled the suit.
In a podcast interview late last year, Mr Franco reiterated his belief that any sexual contact between him and his students had been consensual.
‘Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong,’ he said,
Having previously played leading roles in the likes of Spider-Man, Pineapple Express and 127 Hours, James was once a regular at parties alike.
He and Izabel began dating in November 2017 and they’ve made a point to keep their romance out of the spotlight.
The actor, 46, cut a casual figure in a stained tee, graphic print jacket and jeans as he strolled with his partner
In 2019 Mr Franco was accused and sued by five of his students that attended his film school, Studio 4, for behaving inappropriately and sexually towards them – one accused him of forcing her to perform oral sex (pictured that year)
At the time, it was believed that the actor had decided against going public with their relationship after he made headlines for alleged sexual misconduct just weeks into their romance.
The star blamed his infidelities and inappropriate behavior on sex addiction, which he turned to after quitting alcohol as a teen.
‘It’s such a powerful drug,’ he explained. ‘I got hooked on it for 20 more years. The insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time.
‘And I went to meetings all that time. I even tried to sponsor other people. So in my head, it was like, “Oh, I’m sober. I’m living a spiritual life,” where on the side, I’m acting out now in all these other ways, and I couldn’t see it.’
James said he has been in sex addiction recovery since 2016 and has ‘been doing a lot of work’ to change.
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