It was May 3, 1987. At the height of her fame, Dalida killed herself by ingesting sleeping pills with a glass of whiskey. A tragic fate, which moved his thousands of fans. Thirty-two years later, France 3 is broadcasting, this Friday, July 12, a poignant documentary dedicated to the unforgettable singer, Dalida, the woman who dreamed of another scene, directed by Gérard Miller and Anaïs Feuillette. On this occasion, his brother Orlando agreed to confide in France Dimanche returning, with great emotion, to the causes of his suicide.
France Dimanche: Is it the accumulation of love disappointments that led Dalida to commit this fatal act?
Orlando : For thirty-two years, we know, we have said, it has been written – it even filled thousands of pages -: Dalida had succeeded in everything except her private life! She said it herself: “I have succeeded in life but not in my life. ” Why ? Because she invariably chose men who, after a while, no longer accepted being “Mr. Dalida”. She has always put her career first. It was his audience that had the first place, his companions came after! With each of them she was happy, very happy even, but only for a while. Thereafter, there was always something wrong …
FD: Did you give him advice on his romantic life?
THE : Not at all ! I was managing her career and she trusted me completely on it, but by no means was I minding her heart matters. She knew very well that she could count on the love of her family. If she needed anything, we were always there, her cousin and me. We could guess, of course, when it was okay and when it was not, because we were very close, but each respected the privacy of the other. She never judged my choices, I did the same …
FD: Do you think that the fact of not having had a child could have played a role in this desire to end it?
THE : At one point, she thought about adopting, but it didn’t last long because, upon reflection, she felt that it would not be compatible with her life as an artist. She said to herself: “I’m on the road all year round and I’m not going to take this child on tour.” She was also worried that she wouldn’t be able to give him all the love and attention he needed. She was afraid of not being up to it. So she preferred to give up.
FD: The days leading up to her disappearance, did you feel that she was different?
THE : We often think that Dalida was a sad woman. This is completely wrong! She was enjoying life to the fullest and she experienced great moments of happiness. Except that fate also sent him sacred ordeals … The three men in his life still committed suicide! When, in 1967, the Italian singer Luigi Tenco, her great love, killed himself, she tried to join him a month later. She was saved by a miracle. Then it was not the same. She had understood a lot of things and had even started a psychoanalysis. She began to read, she wanted to enrich her mind, which did not prevent her from completing twenty years of an extraordinary career, but with another feeling… Her only regret will be to have left her husband Lucien Morisse who, years later, also committed suicide because things were wrong with his new wife… He was the only one with whom she could have had a child.
FD: And Richard Chanfray? Yet she was fulfilled with him?
THE : Indeed, she then shared the life of Richard Chanfray, who called himself “Count of Saint-Germain”, for nine years. At first she was very happy with him, but he was completely mad, completely unpredictable. She was forced to leave him at an age when women are still very beautiful today and feel very young. She was not 50 at the time, and she thought her love life was over. She was wrong, of course: she had a girlish body and she was in great shape, at the height of her beauty. During the two years preceding her death, she began to hate her existence as a single woman, without children, especially since a few years before an operation had left her sterile… She was still doing her job well, except that ‘she had lost the joy of living. Of course we noticed – we should have been blind – but Dalida didn’t want anyone to interfere in her affairs. It is this accumulation of hardships that led her to end her life …
FD: Yet she had a man in her life at that time, a doctor …
THE : Yes, he was the last man of his life. Doctor François Naudy had been divorced for five years, and not married as has been said. And he was only five years younger than her, not 40 as I have read. Dalida was 53 when they met, so they were of the same generation. He was a man coming out of a difficult separation, he was afraid to commit. Dalida didn’t particularly want to get married either, she just needed a shoulder to rest. He was not present when he needed to be, that’s all. He was a good person, no problem with that. But this falling apart relationship was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Despite everything, it was not because of him that my sister preferred to end it.
FD: Do you think she had premeditated her gesture?
THE : Yes. She always said, “No one will steal my death from me. Still very beautiful, she wanted to leave before time did its work. All the challenges she set for herself, even the one to go away in full glory, she has won. Today, thirty-two years later, she is still in people’s hearts, as popular as if she were still among us.
Valérie EDMOND
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