While Jacques Martin’s clan is made up of no less than 8 children, the death of the host in 2007 could have caused it to explode when it came to the thorny question of inheritance. But, according to his eldest daughter Elise, none of this happened and for good reason: he had prepared everything before his death.
Interviewed by the magazine Gala on the occasion of the broadcast on May 4, in prime time on the Paris Première channel, an unpublished documentary Behind your applause, Elise Martin confided that her father had taken the lead. “He had done it right, yes. And then, in general, I think that in the family no one would have liked to engage in legal battles that last for years“, she explained. The one who was born in 1965 from the first marriage between Jacques Martin and Annie Lefèvre – another child, David, was born in 1961 – also assured that shortly before his death, the host had bothered to open his heart to her.”He did a little with me, but he was so modest… However, I managed to have moments of conversation with him and I am very happy today. We mentioned in particular the fact that we had had parallel lives, that our paths had not really crossed. I have always suffered a lot from his absence“, she added.
At the very end of her life, marked according to Elise Martin by “a stroke from which he never really recovered” and “cancer that has metastasized“, Jacques Martin “didn’t want to see anyone anymore. Like a wounded animal, he ducked into a corner and hid from everyone.“Since then, the family of the man who had a rich and sometimes complicated love life has been completely dislocated and the family ties do not really exist.There are already four living abroad: Judith and Jeanne, Cecilia’s daughters [Attias, NDLR]are one in New York and the other in England, I believe that my youngest sister, Juliette, is in Switzerland and Clovis, the youngest, I do not know [deux enfants nés de la dernière histoire de l’animateur avec Céline Boisson, NDLR]… The ones my brother David and I see regularly are Frédéric and Jean-Baptiste, the children that dad had with his second wife, Danièle Evenou“, confided Elise.
The full interview with Elise Martin can be found in Galaedition of April 21, 2022.