88-year-old Alain Delon was taken under judicial protection

Judicial protection was applied against Alain Delon, the famous French actor, who in recent years has been suffering not only from a progressive illness, but also from difficult relationships in his family, which has been torn apart by scandals for the second year.

Yesterday, January 29, the first point was made in the long, painful and very ugly legal history that haunts the family of Alain Delon. His two sons and daughter consider their own father inadequate and, since 2023, have been publicly fighting with him and among themselves – not only for his health, but probably also for their inheritance.

A judge has ruled that the veteran actor must be placed under judicial protection. This measure precedes the declaration of guardianship. In essence, it does not limit a person’s actions except for the most important decisions such as donating property or selling real estate.

A court-appointed lawyer must now monitor both Alain Delon’s financial affairs and personal matters—his treatment.

Family scandals began in the middle of last year, when Delon’s children – 59-year-old Anthony (born in a marriage with Nathalie Barthelemy), 33-year-old Anushka and 30-year-old Alain-Fabien (born by Delon in a civil union with Rosalie van Bremen) – were thrown out of his father’s house, his assistant and longtime friend Hiromi Rolland. They felt that Delon’s companion was protecting him in every possible way from communicating with them and generally took too much power over their father, who had still not recovered from a stroke in August 2019.

Mutual lawsuits followed: Delon’s children against Rolland, Rolland against the children of his former companion. The plaintiffs, who are also defendants, accused each other of neglecting the health of the actor, who really seriously neglected his treatment. Neither complaint was considered worthy of prosecution.

Then the children started a quarrel among themselves. Anthony Delon in an interview with the magazine Paris Match reproached his brother and sister for hiding the results of medical examinations proving that the father was often in a state of mental confusion.

These revelations enraged both Alain Delon himself, who announced that he would file a libel suit, and Anushka, who, not without reason, considers herself responsible for her father’s health. The fact is that in recent years Alain Delon lived either on his estate in Douchy in the French department of the Loire, or in Switzerland, in Geneva, with his daughter. It was in Switzerland that he was observed by doctors. Anthony was worried, in particular, by the fact that his father had not gone to Geneva for medical consultations for a long time.

Children continue to accuse each other of neglecting Alain Delon’s health. But attention or inattention manifests itself in different ways. The brothers, especially the eldest, are suspected by the sister of being ready to stop the treatment. The sister, who is trying to move their father to Geneva closer to the doctors, is reproached by the brothers for wanting to exert a decisive influence on Delon.

As they say, the share of the inheritance will depend on the place of life and death of the actor. The actor has both French and Swiss citizenship, but since taxes are higher in France, his sister will be able to claim the lion’s share of her father’s fortune.

The brothers seem to think this is unfair. The division of the inheritance while the father is alive stuns the public watching the development of the conflict.

The news of judicial protection, oddly enough, was greeted with approval by all parties. The fact that specially appointed “agents” will take care of 88-year-old Alain Delon pleases both his sons and daughter, and even Hiromi Rolland, who has been removed from home. She is especially pleased that the children will no longer be involved in the actor’s health; the justice system has taken responsibility for this.

Constant scandals and mutual accusations of those closest to him turn the last years of the great actor’s life into a boulevard play. A huge, exciting life and brilliant roles are remembered by the public much less often than fresh family squabbles, without mentioning which now no book about the actor, or even an obituary, can do. Alain Delon himself assures that he no longer clings to existence: “I want to die. Life is over.” But life does not listen to the poor old man.

Alexey Tarkhanov, Paris