Interviewed on the autobiography written by his son Anthony Delon entitled Between dog and wolf published on March 10, 2022, Alain Delon told journalists from the JDD be disappointed with what he may have read there. Described as violent by his eldest son, the film’s actor The swimming pool concedes to having been authoritarian. But only because of the character and stupidities of Anthony who was, according to him, a very turbulent child and teenager. “He describes you as violent but he forgives you and speaks a lot of love…“ indicates the journalist, “Yes of course. But not all children do this. I haven’t been terrible with him. I was a serious and strict father, that’s all. But he was the son of Alain Delon, it’s not easy.”
You have to think like a man
Asked about the anecdotes and confessions made by Anthony in his autobiography (in particular the fact that his father hit him with a whip), Alain Delon confides: “There are some good things, some less so. He is now almost 60 years old, an age where you have to think like a man of that age rather than like a kid. What makes him happy hurts me a lot. It’s hard for a father. But these are his memories… It’s probably a way to kill the father.”
As a reminder, the father of Loup and Liv (born in 1996 and 2001, the fruit of his love with Sophie Clerico) was only 4 years old when his parents (Alain Delon and Nathalie) divorced. His father having rebuilt his life with Mireille Darc, he first lives with his mother. Rebellious, he was sent to a pension in the Paris suburbs at the age of ten before escaping from the establishment two years later. He then asks to live with his father but changes his mind at 15 to join his mother again. “My father freaked out and jumped on me (…). That day, my father said to my mother: ‘Your son has disowned me’.” told Anthony Delon to the magazine SHE.
The full interview with Alain Delon can be found in the JDD of May 29, 2022.