Feud erupts in French film star Delon's family over health
An explosive interview by the son of French film legend Alain Delon sparked open warfare in his family on Thursday, with the screen legend immediately indicating he was outraged and would file a complaint over his eldest child's comments.
Anthony Delon told this week's Paris Match magazine that his father was finding it hard to accept his frail state of health and also accused his half-sister of leaving the star vulnerable by concealing health problems.
Now in a "weakened" state, Alain Delon, 88, "can no longer bear to see himself like that, diminished", Anthony told Paris Match.
The star of classic films including "Swimming Pool", "The Leopard" and "Purple Noon" suffered a severe stroke in July 2019 and now rarely leaves his estate in Douchy in France's Loire region.
"He doesn't speak much, it tires him or it annoys him when we make him repeat, because his voice is no longer always clear, or audible," Anthony Delon said in the interview.
There are "major risks" that this was "his last Christmas", he warned.
- 'Extremely shocked' -
But Alain Delon was "extremely shocked by the media outburst orchestrated by his son Anthony" and will file a complaint against him, his lawyer Christophe Ayela told AFP in a statement.
Alain Delon told him "he cannot stand the aggressiveness of his son Anthony who keeps telling him that he is senile", and what is even "more shocking" is that his son "claims that he may have lived his last Christmas".
The lawyer said Delon had asked: "'What father could bear that?'"
There was already concern about the well-being of Alain Delon after his three children last year filed a complaint against his former live-in assistant Hiromi Rollin accusing her of harassment and threatening behaviour.
Rollin, who was evicted in July from the actor's property, disputed the accusations against her and also filed a complaint of her own.
French prosecutors on Thursday said no further action would be taken regarding any of the complaints, saying there was insufficient evidence to indicate any crime.
Delon rarely appeared on screen after the 1990s. His last major public appearance was to receive an honorary Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 although he did attend the Paris funeral ceremony for his great friend and fellow star Jean-Paul Belmondo in September 2021.
- 'Harm the reputation' -
In the bombshell interview, Anthony Delon, 59, the son of Delon's former wife Nathalie Delon, also took aim at younger half-sister Anouchka, the daughter of Alain Delon and Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen.
He said he had reported her to the police, while not filing a complaint, for failing to inform the family over his father's performance in cognitive tests from 2019.
Anthony Delon said day-to-day care of his father is now in the hands of his father's third youngest child Alain-Fabien Delon, whose mother is also Rosalie van Breemen.
"My sister never informed my brother and me that between 2019 and 2022, my father had been subjected to five cognitive tests during his visits to the clinic in Switzerland and that he did not pass any of them," he told the magazine.
The results showed "a cognitive degradation which places my father in a position of psychological weakness, and therefore of vulnerability," he added.
Alain Delon's lawyer Ayela responded that Anthony "has only one goal, to harm the reputation of his daughter Anouchka and the unique relationship that he has always had with Anouchka."
Anouchka meanwhile issued a statement through the same lawyer, saying her half brother's comments were "abject", adding she would file a complaint against Anthony for defamation, slander, threats and harassment.
Anthony Delon then hit back with a post on Instagram, accusing his half-sister of visiting their father at his estate on Thursday "to throw the Paris Match in his face and make him sign (this) despicable statement."
P.Smid--EWJ
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