On December 5, 2017, Johnny Hallyday passed away at the age of 74 in his home in Marnes-la-Coquette, following a battle with lung cancer. Six years have passed since then, and even though it is said that time always heals wounds, his widow Laeticia is still struggling to move on. This Saturday, December 16, on the set of "C l'hebdo", journalist Aurélie Casse wanted to know more about the love life of the rocker's fourth wife. "Can you still love?" the host asks. "It's very complicated," admits Læticia Hallyday, her eyes misty. It's hard to love without guilt. I have to learn to live, to fall in love without guilt. Without feeling like you're cheating on the person you love or the love of your life because you're living with guilt. Guilt that I have inside me, that I have to live with and move on. I have to get out of this shelter. Because Johnny remains a refuge for me."
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Læticia Hallyday took the opportunity to look back on her meeting with the famous performer of L'Envie, in Miami in March 1995. At the time, she was barely 20 years old and suffering from anorexia. The singer, on the other hand, is tormented and drowns his neuroses in alcohol. "I met a man as battered as I was, with flaws, with weaknesses, with this fear of love too, the fear of loving, of loving herself," confides the 48-year-old Frenchwoman, still very moved. We met, we ran away."
"I was very submissive to my husband"
Despite all the love she still has for her late husband, Læticia Hallyday says: "Johnny was an extremely possessive, jealous person." "I belonged to him," she whispers on set. I was very submissive to my husband because it was my choice and I didn't marry an ordinary man. It's a different generation and it was my life, and I don't regret anything. But yes, there were some complicated passages... But it strengthened our love. Today, it's true that it's not easy to fall in love again. In fact, I mess up all my love stories because I live with this feeling of guilt. I'm working on that, I'm taking it one step at a time." A response that half-heartedly confirms her separation from director Jalil Lespert, her partner since 2020.
'Six years of silence'
In "C l'hebdo", Læticia Hallyday also took the opportunity to take a swipe at David Hallyday, who recently released his autobiography Best Album. In this book, he talks about his half-sisters Jade and Joy, the two adopted daughters of Johnny and Læticia Hallyday. "I would like to be sure of the love I have for them, which is not an affection of principle," he wrote to them. "My door is open to them. If one day they want to, I'll be there for them. Children are not responsible for their parents' actions; Jade and Joy are my sisters in their own right, without the slightest nuance."
Asked to react, Læticia Hallyday did not hide her bitterness towards David Hallyday. "It's very touching to hear him say it because we haven't heard from him for six years. And Jade and Joy suffer a lot from it. Six years without news. Six years of broken promises. Six years of... silence, of abandonment. It's difficult. So, you can say things on TV, but not being responsible for your actions in life, that's a bit hard. In this long journey of mourning, they felt alone, not to be accompanied by an older brother and sister."