Renaud Revel has just published the book The Paparazzi of the Republic, in which the former editor of The Express plunges into the fascinating universe of the authors of stolen photographs and the most protected men in France, the presidents. A book he presented on the set of It’s up to you on France 5 on Monday February 21, 2022, delivering some good sheets. We thus learn that many photos of Jacques Chirac have not been released. There is obviously the one where he appears naked at the Fort de Brégançon, but not only.
“A lot of photos have not been published, in particular of (Jacques) Chirac”declares Renaud Revel on the set of C to you. Among these stands out the one that the photographer and portraitist Bettina Rheims took of the Head of State in 1995, in his office a few hours after his victory in the presidential elections, in tears. “The most beautiful photo taken of Jacques Chirac“, specifies the author of the book. Why was it not published? It was his daughter, Claude Chirac who opposed it: “She found that this photo weakened him. He was barely named that he was fragile.”
Claude Chirac has always played an important role with his father. From May 1995, she was communication-opinion adviser to Jacques Chirac, who became President of the Republic. She was thus present in the entourage of the Head of State and during numerous demonstrations, as well as in various official or private trips. This is how his advice was essential on the appearance of the husband of Bernadette Chirac to the French, some lending him a major role in the choice of his slogans which contributed to his presidential victory.
Today, Frédéric Salat-Baroux’s wife takes care of her mother. As for Jacques Chirac who died on September 26, 2019, Claude took advantage of it in his own way at the end as she explained on France Inter. “We laughed a lot until the end. My luck will have been to have a father who will have kept his dignity and his humorshe remembers. Mother of a son named Martin – the fruit of his love affair with the judoka Thierry Rey -, Claude Chirac had also confided that he had decided to take charge of his parents for their last years, because she was lucky enough to be able to do so.