Mystery Swirls Around Health Of Iconic French Actor Alain Delon Amid Deepening Family Feud

The health and wellbeing of French acting star Alain Delon is in the spotlight in France amid a bitter family feud between his three living children over the veteran star’s medical regime and control of his assets.

Jean-Cédric Gaux, public prosecutor in the Loire Valley town of Montargis, close to the village of Douchy where Delon resides in a 19th century chateau, announced last week that he had appointed an authorized doctor to assess the health of the 88-year-old actor.

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The move came amid a deepening succession dispute between Delon’s children, spanning eldest son Anthony, by French model Francine Canovas, and daughter and son Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, by Dutch model and TV presenter Rosalie van Breemen.

Gaux said he had taken the measure in response to two separate opposing letters from Delon’s lawyer Christophe Ayela and that of his son Anthony Delon, which both called for the actor to be placed under legal protection for health reasons.

Delon is reported to have been given a medical check-up on Saturday, but Anthony Delon put out a statement on Monday discrediting the examination.

He expressed anger over the fact that only Anouchka Delon had been allowed to attend the examination and also suggested that it had been carried out by a general doctor rather than an authorized specialist medic.

Iconic Le Samouraï, Plein Soleil and The Leopard star Delon has been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 2019.

Stories about his wider wellbeing started to emerge in the French media over the summer when his children expelled long-time carer Hiromi Rollin from his chateau.

The siblings cited fears that Rollin was trying to exert her influence over the actor and isolate him from his family.

They described Rollin as hired help brought in to care for Delon after his stroke.  Rollin described herself as his partner and companion.

The Delon siblings filed a police complaint against Rollin for “psychologically bullying” their father, but the suit was dismissed by Gaux on January 4 of this year for lack of evidence.

At the same time, Delon’s health hit the French headlines again in the New Year after Anthony Delon told celebrity magazine Paris Match that he was concerned for his father’s health, saying there were “major risks” that 2023 would be “his last Christmas.”

He slammed his sister for keeping him and his brother in the dark about a series of cognitive tests undertaken by Delon in a Swiss clinic from 2019 to 2022, which revealed cognitive degradation.

“She hid these results from us, for personal interests that I don’t care about today… what is serious for me is that, knowing of Madame Rollin’s actions, she hid from us the distress in which our father found himself,” he said.

“By remaining silent, she clearly put him in danger. To me, this makes her indirectly complicit in all the abuse and violence of which he was the victim. I remind you that on July 5 we recovered him in a more than worrying physical and psychological state.”

Anthony Delon is also reported to be opposed to his sister’s plan to move the actor to Switzerland, where she lives.

Alain Delon announced he was going to sue his son for defamation following the comments, communicating via Ayela that he was “extremely shocked” by this airing of family matters in the media.

Anouchka Delon also announced that she would also be suing her brother in response to his “hurtful” allegations which had also damaged their father’s “honor and dignity”.

A few days later, Ayela announced he had written to public prosecutor Gaux calling for the actor to be placed under legal protection for health reasons having learned that his children had abruptly stopped medical treatment put in place by the Swiss clinic.

“Anthony Delon has decided to treat his father’s illness with fruit juice and vegetables prescribed by a naturopath,” he said.

In a fresh statement issued after the weekend’s examination, Ayela declared: “Mr Delon replied to all the questions of the expert doctor thus confirming that his faculties are not weakened, contrary to all the defamatory accusations that have made him an object of the media since January.”

Rollin has also re-entered the media fray. In an interview with the RTL radio network on Sunday, she said the Delon siblings had destroyed her life.

She suggested personal belongings demonstrating her relationship with Delon had disappeared prior to her eviction from the chateau over the summer.

“Everything had been searched, they only returned what they wanted to return, but all the documents, the memories with Alain, which justified that I was indeed his partner, his gifts and his little love notes, all that has disappeared […]. These three children destroyed my life,” she said.

The battle over Delon, his health and his wealth looks set to continue.

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