Natacha and Paul, the discreet children of Serge Gainsbourg

They appeared hand in hand on the square in front of the Saint Roch church in Paris. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon showed themselves united in the ordeal during the funeral of their mother Jane Birkin, organized on July 24, 2023. A ceremony at which Alice and Ben Attal, the children of Charlotte Gainsbourg, as well as Marlowe Jack were also present Tiger Mitchell and Roman de Kermadec, the respective sons of Lou Doillon and Kate Barry.

Within the Gainsbourg clan, however, two people were missing: Natacha and Paul, Serge’s first children. “They were never part of Serge’s “Birkin” period,” confided a close friend of the clan in Paris Match , April 17. They never came to family reunions, no one ever crossed paths with them. It must be complicated for them to carry the name and heritage of a man they barely knew, of a father who was so absent and so present throughout their lives.”

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“We will meet again… or not”

For decades, the singer’s elders have cultivated discretion. So much so that their presence at their father’s funeral, which took place at the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris on March 9, 1991, went unnoticed. Behind the scenes, Natacha and Paul Gainsbourg sold their respective shares of 5 bis rue de Verneuil, the singer’s former home, to Charlotte Gainsbourg. Neither of them has ever explored the place.

“We shared everything… explained Charlotte Gainsbourg in The Parisian of April 9, 2018. We manage moral rights all four of us (with Paul, Natacha and Lulu Gainsbourg, Editor’s note). There is a person who centralizes the requests.” In February 2018, Lulu Gainsbourg highlighted for her part in Paris Match that he had no contact with Serge Gainsbourg’s elders. And would have only encountered them once, sixteen years earlier. “We will meet again… or not,” he put things into perspective. “When I lived with Serge, and even afterwards, I tried to bring him closer to his first two children,” Jane Birkin declared to the magazine, in February 2020. But their mother always made sure that that was not possible.”

Françoise

In 1963, Serge Gainsbourg crossed paths with Françoise Pancrazzi, nicknamed “Princess Galitzine” because of her past union with Georges Galitzine, from the noble Russian family. Daughter of a great industrialist, she fell in love with the author of Javanese for Juliette Gréco, penniless at the time. Very quickly, the musician moved in with her at number 12, in her plush apartment on rue Tronchet. On January 7, 1964, the couple married in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.

Their first daughter, Natacha – nicknamed “Totote” by her father – was born on August 8, 1964. Two years later, the interpreter of Lilac Puncher buys him an apartment on rue de l’Arbalète. Thoughtful behind the scenes, Serge Gainsbourg nevertheless chose to maintain media silence around the birth of his daughter. An attitude a thousand miles from those he adopted for his daughter Charlotte and his son Lulu, with whom he posed on the cover of Paris Match. Natacha will barely be mentioned in certain works centered on the destiny of the artist…

When he received the first channel, in 1965, after having composed Wax doll, sound doll, Serge Gainsbourg is careful not to talk about his private life. For her part, Françoise Pancrazzi, crushed by her husband’s success, cannot resist the jealousy inherent in the companions of coveted artists (in the past, she went so far as to take the plane to Tokyo, in the only goal to slap Dalida, who had just been immortalized with Serge Gainsbourg during the filming of The unknown woman from Hong Kong in 1963).

The slap

Divorce proceedings are underway. Serge Gainsbourg leaves the marital home. If he has visiting rights for his daughter, he can only exercise it under the supervision of Françoise, specifies Paris Match. Their divorce was recorded on October 20, 1966.

That year, however, Serge Gainsbourg tried to win back his ex-wife, in order to remain close to his daughter. The couple gives each other a second chance, on the condition that they do not move in together. But the singer will not attend the birth of his son Paul, nicknamed “Vania” by his mother, on April 13, 1968. In the meantime, he has in fact started a romance with Brigitte Bardot, and visited with her 5 bis, rue of Verneuil. No photo of Natacha and Paul will ever hang in the apartment.

Françoise Pancrazzi, Natacha, Paul and Serge Gainsbourg meet for the last time for a Christmas meal organized in December 1968. Their last dinner will not be the most joyful. To the point that she decides to compartmentalize her family life. Serge Gainsbourg also distances himself. “He said: ‘They will come later,’” Jane Birkin will remember, when talking about Natacha and Paul. I tried to get them to come, but it went badly. Their mother demanded that Serge pay them a fortune to see them. Divorce imposed its presence. It seemed such a curious situation to me.”

A new life

The musician nevertheless continues to follow, from time to time, the schooling of his children, who have adopted the name “Ginsburg” (Serge’s real name) for the sake of anonymity. Natacha and Paul are still among the directors of Melody Nelson Publishing, the company which operates the artist’s catalog. Both, however, took very different paths from that of their father.

If we believe Paris Match, Paul Gainsbourg lives today “between Paris and the Oise”, and “still watches over his father’s affairs”. A collector of vintage cars, he also made theater sets. For her part, Natacha has long managed, with her husband, a modeling agency whose headquarters was in Seine-Saint-Denis. In 2016, she finally settled in Eure.