Johnny Hallyday died on December 5, 2017 and left a devastated family behind. The death of the singer disrupted the life of his daughter Laura Smet in particular. In 2022, she spoke of her need to leave Paris in Les Echos. The actress moved to Cap-Ferret, far from the capital where she has many memories with her father.
This June 15, the rocker would have been 81 years old. For the occasion, Laura Smet agreed to share some secrets in the podcast La vie de Nelly, a fan of Johnny Hallyday. She notably spoke about her life since her death.
Laura Smet: what shocked her during the funeral of Johnny Hallyday
Laura Smet was the guest of the podcast La vie de Nelly, broadcast by France TV, on June 15, 2024. The singer’s daughter made some revelations, notably on the day of the funeral. She first delivered her first impression on the day of Johnny Hallyday’s funeral. “He was dressed in a suit, he was very handsome. I’ll tell you something. I’ve never seen a dead person before […]when I got home I said to myself: ‘but he’s not my father, he’s much smaller’. His soul was so big […]but there I saw a body that was much smaller than my father” she declared.
The superstar’s daughter still has moving memories of this difficult moment.“It was clear that he had not suffered, his face was not tense at all,” she confided. Laura Smet then assured that Johnny Hallyday, who wore a black suit and a white shirt, was “beautiful,
very eleganthairstyle as usual, but the body much smaller because my father’s soul was immense“.
photo credit: Shutterstock
Laura Smet revealed that she had never returned to the grave of her father, Johnny Hallyday, since his burial in 2017.
Laura Smet: why she never returned to Johnny’s grave
During this exchange with Nelly, Laura Smet also mentioned the place of Johnny Hallyday’s burial. David Hallyday’s sister confided that she did not know that her father would be buried on the island of Saint-Barthélemy.
“Me, I didn’t know he was going to be buried there“, she confessed. She then explained that this choice was a real surprise for her. Laura Smet took a while to accept it, particularly because of the distance.
Johnny’s fan then pointed out to her guest her “deep desire”, but that this was impossible because of his low pension. The rocker’s daughter revealed that she has never returned to her father’s grave since 2017,“because it’s far“. The island is accessible from Paris in more than 10 hours by flight.
Laetitia Hallyday pays tribute to Johnny Hallyday for his birthday
This June 15, 2024, Johnny Hallyday would have celebrated his 81st birthday. Lætitia Hallyday then paid tribute to her late husband on her social networks. On her Instagram account, Joy and Jade’s mother wrote a long text accompanied by a video of the singer. On this one, we can see the interpreter of Light the Fire declared: “My loves, this little note before going to bed to tell you that I love you. I miss you a lot. I hope you had a good day today. This message is for my three loves: my Laeti, my Jade and my Joy. Good night my loves. See you tomorrow“.
In the caption, Laetitia then wrote with great emotion “You would have been 81 years old my love. We will celebrate you today. There are days in my life when I wish I could turn back time and every June 15th is one of them“. Then she added: “If I could, I would give him all the kisses in the world, I would hold him in an endless hug and if I could, I would say ‘I love you’ a million more times…But I had to learn since his start to live differently, to live without him. I learned what sorrow was,
grief, true grief“.
