It is with usual frankness and that he has been recognized for decades that Eddy Mitchell returned, without filter, on the reasons for the death of his friend Johnny Hallyday. Six years ago, France’s favorite rocker left us prematurely, at the age of 74, following a few months’ battle with lung cancer. For his friend Eddy Mitchell, this death could have been avoided if Johnny had paid more attention to his health, which he had been abusing for years, despite the remonstrances of his doctors and those around him. Worse still, the Old Scoundrel makes serious revelations on the alcoholism from which Johnny Hallyday sufferedwho made fun of the impact his addiction had on his physical health.
In an interview given this Thursday, December 14 to PointEddy Mitchell makes new revelations about the relationship he and Johnny had with alcohol: “Johnny drank to get drunk. We followed the same path, but he went harder” confesses the one who knew Johnny Hallyday from the age of 16. Together, the two friends have experienced everything, successes and drinking binges. But for Eddy Mitchell, Johnny Hallyday cultivated his death, and played with fire until the endwithout worrying about what his disappearance could represent for his loved ones: “I miss him, but he wanted it!”
“He never listened to anyone”
If Eddy Mitchell also assumes that he consumes alcohol excessively, and love, for example, red winethe singer estimated that his friend who died in 2017 was destroying himself with white alcohol: “We must avoid white alcohol, it destroys bones, and Johnny had hip surgery at 40”. Shocking revelations which could displease his widow, Laeticia Hallyday, who has been taking care of her husband’s image for several weeks, due to the exhibition she is dedicating to him in Marnes-la-Coquette from December 22, 2023.
Speaking to Le Parisien a few years ago, Eddy Mitchell spoke of his regrets at not having been able to bring Johnny Hallyday back to his senses: “I regret that he ruined his life a little, that he didn’t listen to his loved ones like me to calm down. In life, I was a bit like his big brother. When he did things that were disturbing, I would tell him to calm down. But he didn’t listen to me. He never listened to anyone.”