Singer Johnny Hallyday’s first wife has dismissed rumours that she fell out with the ‘French Elvis’ over an alleged affair with actress Catherine Deneuve.
Sylvie Vartan, who was married to the rock and roll star from 1965 until they divorced in 1980, was said to have known about the affair and rowed with Hallyday about it on his 35th birthday in 1978 – which he spent with Deneuve in Japan.
But in a post on Instagram, Vartan said she remembered that period ‘very differently’ – and posted three pictures of herself in Japan with Hallyday and Deneuve.
A new biography of Johnny Hallyday claims he had a lifelong affair with actress Catherine Deneuve (together right), and that his first wife Sylvie Vartan (together left) knew about it and fell out with him over it
She wrote: ‘According to recent wacky tales worthy of a science fiction contest, it would appear that at the time when these photos were taken in Japan in 1978, I was in a state of “helplessness” and separated from Johnny.
‘It’s funny, I have absolutely not the same look on this period, and for good reason: taking advantage of a break during a tour that I made in this country, I celebrated June 15, Johnny’s 35th birthday, with Catherine Deneuve.
‘Neither in “disarray” nor separated, therefore, but just enjoying the pleasure of sharing a happy moment with people who were dear to me.’
The allegations of a falling out were contained in a new book which claims that, despite five marriages to four different women, Hallyday found just one true love with Deneuve.
Vartan (pictured in 2019) said she spent Hallyday’s 35th birthday with him and Deneuve, and had a good time
The pair became lovers when they were teenagers, and their passionate trysts continued right up until the ‘French Elvis’s’ death three years ago, aged 74, author Gilles Lhote claims.
Hallyday frequently spoke about a favourite secret lover – referring to her by the name Lucille, after his 1964 hit ‘Lady Lucille’.
The book claims Lucille was in fact Ms Deneuve, star of films including Belle de Jour, The Last Metro, and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
Hallyday met Deneuve on the set of the 1961 movie Tales of Paris, which is called Les Parisiennes in France, and Lhote claims they continued to regularly sleep together for at least the next 50 years.
‘Catherine remains the great and beautiful love of the 18-year-old me,’ Hallyday is quoted as saying in Lhote’s new biography.
‘The tenderness and friendship have remained. We share feelings until this day,’ Hallyday added, before he succumbed to cancer in 2017.
At the time he was married to his fourth wife, Laeticia Boudou, but she allegedly, like his earlier wives, turned a blind eye to his numerous affairs, including the one with Ms Deneuve.
The film star Catherine Deneuve (pictured) kept up a lifelong affair with the rock singer Johnny Hallyday behind his wives’ backs, it has been claimed in their native France
Ms Deneuve, who is now 76 (pictured in 2017), was married to the English photographer David Bailey for seven years up until 1972
‘If Mick Jagger had 4000 mistresses, Johnny Hallyday was not far behind,’ Mr Lhote writes.
Ms Deneuve ‘was the love of a lifetime’ and she represented ‘a passion lived in hiding. Catherine was what other women do not have.’
Mr Lhote added: ‘Johnny told me: ‘When the time is right, it would be good if you recounted the real story of Lady Lucille’.
Hallyday, who sold more than 110 million records worldwide, including 22 platinum albums, said in his own 1997 autobiography: ‘When we were young, Lucille and I signed a pact. Our love was so intense, so pure, so physical and so impossible that we swore – whatever may happen to us – to look after each other in hard time’.
His career in the French speaking world was meteoric – in 1966 he was supported at a concert by a Jimi Hendrix and members of the Rolling Stones became personal friends – but he never revealed who Lucille was.
Hallyday (pictured in left in 1962 and right in 2014), sold more than 110 million records worldwide, including 22 platinum albums
Ms Deneuve, who is now 76, was married to the English photographer David Bailey for seven years up until 1972.
She had a son from an earlier relationship with the French director Roger Vadim, and a daughter with the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni.
Ms Deneuve was frequently pictured with Mr Hallyday when he was alive, but she has never commented on the details of their close relationship.
She did not attend Mr Hallyday’s star-studded funeral in Paris, but Mr Lhote wrote: ‘On his tombstone in St Barths, there was a wreath of flowers signed ‘Lady L’.’