A man and a woman, One and the other, Itinerary of a spoiled child, One plus one… At 87, Claude Lelouch has directed numerous successful films and notably received the Oscar for best foreign language film for A man and a woman. If his career has been crowned with success, this regrets not having been a present father.
Pour rappel, Claude Lelouch a seven children : Simon, born in 1969 from his marriage to Christine Cochet, Sarah, born in 1976 from her relationship with Gunilla Friden, Salomé, born in 1983 from her relationship with Évelyne Bouix, Shaya, Sabaya and Sachka, fruits of her love affair with Marie- Sophie L. and finally Stella, born in 1998, her marriage to Alessandra Martines.
Claude Lelouch: “I devoted more time to my cinema than to my children”
Monday November 11, 2024, for Le Parisien, his wife, Valérie Perrin assured that she was welcomed with open arms by her new family. “With Claude’s seven children and my two children, we have nine in all, and eight grandchildren”she indicated. For his part, Claude Lelouch regretted: “I devoted more time to my cinema than to my children. I didn't accompany them to schoolI didn't make them do their homework. If I talked about that in my films, it's because I have regrets. But I've always been there in case of trouble: I'm Samu, number 15.”.
Finally, the successful director slipped: “Et
Valérie has wonderfully recovered this family.
Where the other women had succeeded in dispersal, she succeeded, naturally, in the feat of reunion. I can never thank him enough.”. In the Claude Lelouch documentary, Life as in the Cinema, Claude Lelouch had already confided:
“I was divorced often, so it was the mothers who took the children back. The children, when they were little, looked at me with the look of their mothers. They took revenge a little bit. I suffered a lot from my children who looked at me like a bad dad”.
Claude Lelouch: “I apologize to them for not having been a good dad”
Sunday November 5, 2023, in A Sunday in the Country, on France 2, Claude Lelouch assured that he had not been a very good father. “I spent too much time on cinema.
All the time that I could have spent with them, I spent it with my camera, I spent it with my actors so I ask them for forgiveness for not having been a good dad.”he confided with emotion before adding: “As time goes by, we have become very good friends. And then, obviously, I am spoiled by my grandchildren. I am a very, very good grandfather”.
In 2021, in the columns of Paris Match, Valérie Perrin assured that this remained an injury for the director. “On a more intimate level, he often put his passion before his children. I know he suffered from it (…) Some people no longer spoke to each other when he lived with Marie-Sophie”she indicated before specifying:
“When I came into their life, they welcomed me with kindness. I made sure that they talked to each other, that they found each other“.
