Parisians gripped by family feud as battle intensifies for fortune of the ‘French Elvis’
REFINED Parisians often profess to scorn “celebrity culture” as a vulgar import from the English-speaking world, but France is mesmerised by a bitter battle for the fortune left by Johnny Hallyday, the “French Elvis”.
The rock star’s widow, Laeticia Hallyday, named as his sole heir, faced a torrent of vitriol on social media as it emerged that she is refusing to allow his adult children by previous wives a say in producing a posthumous album of his unreleased songs.
Mrs Hallyday – who at 42 is younger than the singer’s 51-year-old son David – is being reviled as a “black widow” intent on grabbing all of his €100million (£89m) estate.
A week after David Hallyday and his half-sister Laura Smet, 34, opened hostilities by announcing that they were contesting their father’s will, the feud in France’s first family of showbusiness still dominates TV news bulletins and headlines.
The French are avid for every twist in the Hallyday y saga and other celebrities including Gérard Depardieu, the film star, have waded into the row. Most back Laura Smet, 34, the rocker’s daughter by the actress Nathalie Baye, and his son David, whose mother is Sylvie Vartan, a 1960s pop star.
Hallyday, who changed his name from Jean-Philippe Smet, died of lung cancer in December at the age of 74. Little-known internationally, he enjoyed adoration in France as its biggest rock star – and a reverence accorded only to royalty in many other countries. President Emmanuel Macron moved many to tears by delivering a eulogy at his funeral, a quasi state event also attended by expresidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande. ‘Johnny’ was “part of France,” Mr Macron said. The Hallyday clan occupies a place in the national psyche midway between the Kardashians and the Windsors. Maëlle Brun of the French edition of Closer, the popular celebrity magazine, said: “The deep affection for Johnny was evident from the crowds at the funeral and the huge number who watched on TV. Every French person has an opinion about the Hallyday feud and many are taking sides.”
Depardieu said he was “saddened” by the row and Daniel Hechter, the fashion designer who was a friend of the hard-living rocker, said his widow had driven a wedge between the star and his family. “Laeticia created a vacuum around him … She took the power.”
However, Ms Brun challenged the depiction of the grasping fourth wife, 32 years Hallyday’s junior, who married him at the age of 21. “Laeticia was not the manipulator that some say she was. She actually played a reconciliatory role between Johnny and his children, urging him to go and visit Laura.”
Ms Brun said Johnny’s relationship with his grown-up children was “tumultuous, especially with Laura. He didn’t approve of all her choices.” When he nearly died in 2010, she tried to commit suicide.
The outcome of what is likely to be a long legal battle over his estate is uncertain.
Under French law, children cannot be disinherited and the dispute hinges on whether Californian law should apply.
Hallyday, a tax exile, lived in Los Angeles with Laeticia and their two adopted daughters, Jade and Joy, aged 9 and 13.
Mrs Hallyday claims he left her sole copyright for his work through a trust. According to French media, Hallyday wrote up to six different wills. The first court hearing is scheduled for March 15 in Paris.