The Savannah.
A place of legend, of fantasy, perched at the end of a private road, in Marnes-la-Coquette (Hauts-de-Seine).
Before leaving to live in Los Angeles, Johnny had put down his suitcases there in 1999. He ended his life there on December 5, 2017. It is in this museum-like house that Laeticia Hallyday speaks to us for the first time since her disappearance from her husband.
She returns to Paris to promote the box set "Johnny: his American dream" which will be released on Friday and will include two highly anticipated documentaries from fans of the rocker, on his tour in the United States in 2014 and his last road trip across the Atlantic in September. 2016.
Tuesday morning, she participated in the board of directors of La Bonne Etoile, the humanitarian association that she created twelve years ago with her friend, the chef Hélène Darroze.
In the afternoon, we meet at the Savannah his daughters Jade and Joy, his father André Boudou, his grandmother Elyette, alias Mamie Rock.
Johnny is everywhere.
In photos, drawings, sculptures, on walls, books, magazines, a cushion ... We walk past a display case bringing together his collection of knives, a second with his Victoires de la Musique, two Wurlitzer jukeboxes.
Laeticia Hallyday invites us to discuss in the office, where her guitars, scarves, friendships, passions are exhibited.
His life.
You wanted to receive us at the Savannah ...
LAETICIA HALLYDAY.
Yes, in this place full of memories, of emotion.
It is in this office that Johnny left almost three years ago.
This is the first time that I have been able to enter it without shedding a tear, being happy and at peace.
It may seem illuminated, but I have the impression that Johnny is there, that he is watching over us.
I am inhabited by him, every day.
What did this office represent to Johnny?
Each time he returned to France, it was his refuge.
There he shared great moments of joy, sorrow, despair, doubt before leaving on tour.
He has received a lot of friends here.
They listened to a lot of music there and watched films.
His TV, his guitars, his music, his computer ... It's a hell of a mess but nothing has changed
(laughs)
.
Everything is in its place, as Johnny left it.
My daughters and I need it.
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Legendary Johnny Hallyday: the story of a lifetime
On the coffee table, there are letters from your daughters to their father.
When he left, they left little notes for him.
We come here with the girls to light candles, meditate, listen to his music, talk about him.
In Los Angeles, we also do this in his office.
Everything is intact there, I am unable to move anything.
I will have to get there but for the moment it's too hard.
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Is it difficult to listen to his songs?
Before confinement, we couldn't do it.
It was on this occasion that we began to listen to him and watch his films.
We were a little afraid at the beginning to meet all three, but in the end it was beneficial.
We mourned, we cried a lot, but also laughed a lot.
We made playlists of his songs for the three years after his death.
We will be in Saint-Barth to share this moment with the fans.
It might sound weird, but I need it.
He is in this haven of peace, as he called it, the vault is finished.
I am bringing in a priest, I am a very believer and I have held on to that for these three years.
It helped me find light and wisdom.
You are in Paris to promote a set of records and films on his “American dream”.
Was that his El Dorado?
America has always made him dream, always fascinated him.
For him, all dreams were possible there, it fed him all his life.
The choice to live in America was linked to this.
When we went there thirteen years ago, Jade was three, Joy was not born.
He could live with them and me freely, in peace, there.
Les Hallyday, Laeticia, Johnny, Joy and Jade, on a road trip in the United States in 2016. / François Goetghebeur
The film on his last road trip tells about this American passion ...
It was Johnny's wish, this movie, and I made a promise to him to show it to the fans.
My favorite moment is at this motel that faces Monument Valley.
There, he is just man in front of nature, man in front of his life, the child he was, who has managed to evolve and to forgive.
Forgive his father, succeed in calling his mother "mom" before she leaves ...
Your relationship was also a lot of self-sacrifice on your part, wasn't it?
Yes, this is the story of my life.
Three generations of women have educated me that one had to make compromises and sacrifices to succeed in marriage.
But Johnny also did an amazing job on me.
When I knew him, I was going to be 20 years old, I was a lost soul, battered.
I don't think I would be in this world anymore if I hadn't met him.
Why is the musician Yodelice absent from the film, while he was on the road trip?
It is his choice and it is his mourning.
Everyone experiences it in their own way.
Yodelice no longer wants to be associated with Johnny, I was very unhappy about it but I respect his choice.
I have a lot of tenderness and respect for him, he is my daughter's godfather, Johnny loved him like a spiritual son.
I understand that he is breaking away from it.
Today this film has something of a testament to Johnny ...
We see him as never before, the man with his friends, his "brothers", his generosity, his humility, his courage ... We did not know that our life was going to fall into hell after this trip, that we were going having to wage war against this pernicious disease.
I felt during the road trip that Johnny on the phone was very tired, I asked his brothers to watch him.
When I joined them in Santa Fe, he shared with me his fear of not going through with the trip.
But with his incredible resilience, he didn't let go.
In Johnny's office, where his guitars and scarves are displayed ... Everything has remained in its place.
/ DOMINIQUE JACOVIDES / BESTIMAGE
Did you tell him he had cancer?
I initially thought it was just a cigarette-related infection.
He was hospitalized in Los Angeles for that, but after six hours of waiting, the doctor told me in the middle of the waiting room that he had stage 4 lung cancer. It was impossible to operate.
He's got three months.
There, I am all alone, I collapse.
But I must not show Johnny anything.
I breathe and don't tell her about the severity of the cancer.
If he had known, he would have given up.
And I wanted him to fight, for his daughters, for his family.
It was his third cancer.
I told myself he was still capable of a miracle.
He's died a thousand times, my husband, and he's got up so many times.
To say nothing to him was to prolong his life.
But this time he didn't get up ...
When life took hold of him, I didn't know how I was going to survive without him.
He was everything to me, a husband, a father, a refuge, a compass, a friend, a confidant, the father of my children.
My daughters were in pain to see me so unhappy.
They helped me up.
They gave me strength.
And then I couldn't disappoint Johnny.
I always wanted my husband to be proud of me as much as I was proud of him.
I had to keep my promise to raise our little girls in our values of courage and dignity.
"In the film, we see Johnny as never before, the man with his friends, his brothers, his generosity, his humility, his courage", says Laeticia.
/ François Goetghebeur
Are you going to stay and live in the United States with them?
Yes.
I'm American.
The official ceremony took place in September.
There again, I respected his wishes, I went to the end of naturalization.
I did it for him and I'm very proud of it.
I have learned a lot from America in thirteen years.
At first, I didn't like Los Angeles.
I found this city without soul, without culture, sprawling.
I have dual nationality, I am French above all.
These are my roots.
Are you going to sell your house in Marnes-la-Coquette?
I do not know yet.
I'm going to keep the one in Saint-Barth, it's a family home, but I'm going to have to part with our home in Los Angeles.
Johnny is no longer there and she is too big for the three of us.
We will take a smaller house.
The girls will thus be able to complete their studies in the United States.
Afterwards, they will do what they want.
I will respect their life choices.
This summer, you signed an agreement with Laura Smet which ended the legal battle over inheritance.
How will you manage with her and David Hallyday the memory of Johnny?
I understand your curiosity, but I prefer to remain very modest about this matter.
It is a family that needs peace to rebuild itself.
The dialogue is renewed.
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Really ?
The page is turned.
I'd rather not talk about it.
I would have preferred that things stay in the family, that we talk to each other, as my husband would have liked.
We had to face this mourning in the public square.
I lived two really difficult years, I learned what suffering is.
But that was our life with Johnny.
It has always aroused curiosity, fabrications, jealousy, hatred.
I saw people on TV that I didn't know and who told about our lives.
I have experienced betrayals, disappointments, abandonment.
There is no more Johnny, there is no longer the light, so they are gone.
But I have forgiven and the main thing is to talk about his music again.
VIDEO. David Hallyday on Johnny's legacy: "It was a very painful period"
As artistic director, what are you going to do?
I am the keeper of his memory and I will try to uphold that.
I fight against projects that are done for the wrong reasons, as I did against a recent musical
(Editor's note: “The Idol of Young People”)
.
I also think that the exits should be slowed down.
There's too much.
Johnny and I started a production company, Born Rocker, fifteen years ago.
I worked on his image, his styling on tour, I participated in his last four albums ... I learned a lot by his side, I was nourished by his clairvoyance, his instinct and obviously his teams .
Johnny's former manager, Sébastien Farran, has resigned.
Who are you working with?
I kept the team that worked for Johnny at Universal and Warner, it's also his memory.
They too have gone through very hard mourning.
And it has been vital for all of us to bring music back to the fore.
There is still so much to do.
The entire documentary on his American tour will be released in theaters in February.
We are going to start working on a museum, in Paris I hope, on a biopic ... There is still the project of a Johnny-Hallyday esplanade in front of Bercy, where fans can meditate.
It was an iconic place for him.
VIDEO. A museum for Johnny? “It would be amazing! "
Your father, André Boudou, also came back to you ...
I found him in mourning.
We didn't always know how to love and understand each other ... But my father found his place in my life, me in his and this reunion helped me a lot.
You also have a new man in your life.
Yes and it helped me a lot.
It was a question of survival, of finding my place as a woman without betraying Johnny, without cheating on him.
The man who lives next to me is very courageous, because we were often a couple of three.
At first, I kept comparing them.
But I'm learning to love differently, to live in the present moment.
The girls also accompanied me on this path of rebuilding a woman.
How do they live all these trials?
I find them very resilient.
Schools in California have been closed since March and until April 2021. They can accompany me to Paris, because they are educated on Zoom.
They work from 6 p.m. to midnight, every day.
They live to the rhythm of their dad
(laughs)
.
Jade is in her teens, she's literary, she wants to resume my humanitarian work.
Joy is a showgirl, she inherited from her father.
Would Johnny have worn the coronavirus mask?
Of course !
For his daughters, to set an example for them and for him, because he was fragile and afraid of dying.
He was often rebellious, but this was a matter of life and death.
He was a resilient, my husband.
I have often wondered how he would have experienced the confinement.
I think he would have loved it, he had become very homey, he liked to stay at home, with his wife in the kitchen, with his daughters listening to music, watching movies ...
How would he have reacted to the terrorist assassination of Samuel Paty?
He would've done a song about this professor, that's for sure.
After the Charlie Hebdo attack, he was very upset, moved to tears.
He wanted to pay tribute to the victims through a song, with the words of Jeanne Cherhal (
Editor's note: "A Sunday in January"
).
After this new attack, he would have gathered the teams, would have recalled Jeanne to express her distress, her revolt ... He would have liked to share the suffering of the people.