Caroline Paulus, better known as Bambou, was a pillar for Serge Gainsbourg until his death. It was in 1980 that she met the singer, at the age of 18. For his part, Serge Gainsbourg was 34 and he had just separated from Jane Birkin. The artist's last companion, Bambou wanted to tell her story in an autobiography entitled Step by step in the night. She notably returned to their meeting but also the very difficult periods she had to face. Following his breakup with Jane Birkin, the singer went through real hell, with a series of suicide attempts.
Bambou did everything to prevent him from ending it. She particularly remembered one evening which could have been fatal.
“He tried to jump from the fifth floor of the Lancaster Hotel, I grabbed onto his jeans to stop him”, she began. Serge Gainsbourg was at his worst and Bambou was there to support him. “He drank a lot, but that's when Gainsbarre came into his life and he started drinking a lot. she continued before adding:
“The breakup with Jane was very difficult, fortunately I was there because it was a way of taking care of him and saving him” . A breakup from which he had difficulty recovering.
Bambou: “It strengthened our love”
The relationship between Bambou and Serge Gainsbourg has not been a smooth river. However, they managed to overcome the difficulties that came their way. Bambou also spoke about the singer's addictions, confiding that she too suffered from them. “It brought us together”,
she said, later specifying: “We spent our time, in our love story, saving each other’s lives.” These addictions were a very strong bond between the two and they needed to support each other not to plunge.
Bambou affirms it: they were very united throughout their relationship. “ This is what linked us, which strengthened our love”, she said before returning to her nickname, which she now uses on a daily basis. “By calling me Bambou, by giving me another identity, it was also a way of getting out of this heavy past, where I came from”,
she declared, specifying: “He gave me a huge gift”. This relationship was the best for Bambou who assures that it was the “meeting of my life, the Jean Valjean that I was waiting for, except that I did not meet him as a child but at 18 years old. We saved each other.” she concluded.
Serge Gainsbourg: that day when Bambou learned of his death
Serge Gainsbourg died in March 1991. A date that his loved ones and his fans have never forgotten. In her book, Bambou recounts what she experienced. ” At nine o'clock, I call back. No response”, she declared before continuing: “I bring in the babysitter, and at ten o’clock, I’m in tears in a taxi. I know… I know… Otherwise he would have called me”. Bambou felt that something had happened in Serge Gainsbourg's apartment. She calls the firefighters who come and break the first floor window.
Bamboo is getting more and more worried. ” It takes time. I realize that he is not calling the SAMU. I know what that means ”, she said. The autopsy then revealed that Serge Gainsbourg died of a heart attack on the afternoon of March 2, 1991. He was 62 years old and left behind inconsolable children and relatives. Back at home, Bambou did not have to announce the sad news to Lulu, his son, since the latter had had a bad feeling. “ Dad is dead”, he declared. Three words that Bambou never forgot and which deeply shook her.
