childhood, career, women… what you need to know about the son of Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc

He didn’t want to be like his parents. But the song caught up with Thomas Dutronc, and the son of Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc, born in 1973, managed to make a name for himself. “Having famous parents is an opportunity, but one that can also weigh heavily,” he confided to “La tribune du Dimanche”, in 2023. A weight from which he managed to free himself brilliantly. Portrait.

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Son of Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc, how did Thomas Dutronc spend his childhood?

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“As far back as I can remember, it’s certain that I had special parents », confided Thomas Dutronc to Catherine Ceylac in the show “ Tea or coffee “, in 2008. “But I think I was special too, so I always felt a little apart. Except in a good way. » And added: “ I had a great childhood. » A childhood marked by the eccentricities of his father, Jacques Dutronc, like his pet cheetahs.

“He had to take care of his cheetah, Sumo, who slept with him in his bed,” said Thomas Dutronc in the show “ There is not only one life in life », on Europe 1, in 2020. And added that his father had two felines: “We had to give them a whole leg of leg per day, and every week, a live hen. The cheetahs looked like they were having a hard time in a Paris apartmentso he gave them to people who had a park. »

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Another particularity of Jacques Dutronc: his (great) consumption of cigarettes and alcohol. “ When I was around twelve years old, I was a bartender in Corsica in the summer, for my father and his friends. They mainly drank beers, pastis and whiskey,” Thomas Dutronc confided on Instagram, in 2023. “I was a little bored with pastis and the like, I wanted to make them cocktails all the time! I insisted a lot and sometimes they gave in and asked me for one to please me! »

Among these friends Serge Gainsbourg, dont Thomas Dutronc was close. “He invited me to dinner once a month when I was 14,” he recalled, still on Europe 1. “He took me to very chic places, sometimes I went there with a friend or two […] I was very lucky to know him. » Ensemble, iThey were talking about the life and music. But Thomas Dutronc’s musical education was mainly provided by his mother Françoise Hardy.

“As a child, my mother made me listen to things, I remember that I was a big fan of Eddy Mitchell and Alain Souchon, she always took me to see them at the Olympia, I loved that,” hashe slipped in the show “Vivement Dimanche”, on France 2, in 2021. But, despite his musical education and his singing parents, Thomas Dutronc initially did not want to pursue a career in music.

Why did Thomas Dutronc not want to become a singer?

Rather good at school, Thomas Dutronc very quickly gained the trust of his parents. “As soon as I entered sixth grade, I became completely independent. My friends fought with their parents, not me. As I had good results in class, they trusted me,” he confided to “Paris Match” in 2009. His good results made his mother hope for horizons very far from music: “I had such good results in math that my mother would have loved for me to become astrophysicist. »

If Thomas Dutronc never imagined doing a doctorate in astrophysics, he also did not envisage becoming a singer like his parents. “I wasn’t born when my father stopped [la musique, ndlr], my mother was the same,” he confided on Europe 1. “I saw my father more in the passion for having an aperitif and going to a restaurant, I knew that well. I said to myself : “There are enough singers in the family”. I just wanted to play guitar. »

Which musician made Thomas Dutronc want to play the gypsy guitar?

If Jacques Dutronc had a lot of guitar, Thomas Dutronc only got into it late. “Around 18, when I started playing guitar, I felt immature,” he admitted on the show “Europe 1 Musique Club”, in 2016. “I met a guy who was passionate about jazz, it wasn’t my world at all. » And it was a shock for him, a revelation. In particular his encounter with the music of Django Reinhardt.

“At my parents’ house, as strange as it may seem, we never listened to music, with the exception of the French variety that my mother loved very much. At 18, I listened to Pink Floyd but also Bach and Chopin,” he told “Paris Match” in 2009. “And then there were the two shocks of my life: Django Reinhardt and Brassens. » That’s when he started playing gypsy guitar. And everything came together.

“I used to go to the Patrimonio guitar festival, where I ended up meeting Antoine Tatich, a Corsican guitarist who made me play in public for the first time. […] A third musician joined us, Jérôme Ciosi, very well known there. We played bossa jazz with three guitars in a nightclub in L’Ile-Rousse. Essentially instrumental music, a bit like the Manouches. I said to myself : “Here’s a niche where I can exist as Thomas.” »

He therefore began music with the support of Françoise Hardy. « My mother was pretty great. She said : “I give you five years to succeed. Until then, I will help you financially. I consider that you are undertaking medical studies.” » He met Biréli Lagrène, with whom he went on a world tour. On his return, he put on a show with Matthieu Chedid, accompanied by a record initially of instrumental music, then he began to write texts. “This is how the album Comme un gypsy sans guitar was born. »

The premier album by Thomas Dutronc, “Comme un gypsy sans guitar” (2007), was a resounding success. It notably allowed him to win the trophy for original song at the 24^th Victoires de la musique, in 2009. Enough to allow him to make a name for himself. He released three other albums (“Silence on tour, on tour en rond”, 2011, “Éternels until tomorrow”, 2015, and “Frenchy”, 2020), before assuming his name by releasing a duo album with his father, “Dutronc & Dutronc” (2022).

What films has he starred in?

In addition to his career as a singer, Thomas Dutronc has several times performedactor. In 1999, he notably made an appearance in “Le Derrière”, by Valérie Lemercier, then in 2001, he played in “Confession d’un dragueur”, by Alain Soral. After a cameo in “Hénaut Président” (2012), by Michel Muller, in which he plays himself, Thomas Dutronc gave the reply to Alexander Lamy in “Belle fille” (2020), by Méliane Marcaggi. The opportunity for the singer and the actress, friends for several years, to come together on a project.

On the set of “Vivement Dimanche”, in 2020, Thomas Dutronc and Alexandra Lamy recounted their incredible meeting at the Book and Wine Festival. “What did we read… We read, we really read a lot! “, she joked. And he says: “There was a horse that swerved and, as a result, I glided and landed on my chin. Alexandra laughed a lot, she made fun of me. But, at the same time, she was very kind, she gave me a little teddy bear that she had in her bag to stop the blood from flowing. » He added with humor: “We hadn’t drunk anything, it was the horse that was drunk!” »

Who shares Thomas Dutronc’s life?

Since the start of his career, Thomas Dutronc is very discreet about his private life. He has never spoken publicly about his companions, past or present, contenting himself with distilling a few details through interviews. To Catherine Ceylac, for her book “À l’amour, à la vie” (2019), published by Flammarion, he notably told that he had “been deflowered par a prostitute, at the age of 14.” “And it’s a good memory,” he slipped, also adding that he preferred “mature” women. “It may be cliché, but I like the doll-like, sexy, femme fatale side […] Age, on the other hand, is not a barrier. Love is a matter of the soul, you don’t choose who you fall in love with. »

At “Gala”, in 2023, Thomas Dutronc admitted that he had lived “ two great stories », damaging the image of a heartthrob that we can sometimes attribute to him. “There was a time when I was called the “ideal son-in-law”. That may have contributed to it,” he confided. “My first manager said that jazz guys are attractive because they are at the heart of the night and the parties. I don’t know. I try to remain charming, friendly. […] I experienced two great stories. I know how to commit. »

Where does Thomas Dutronc live?

He said it, he even sang it: Thomas Dutronc “no longer loves Paris”. So he left. He settled in Corse, an island dear to his parents where they had a house in which Jacques Dutronc now lives. “I bought a pied-à-terre there, about ten years ago, because my lover had a house there,” he told “Gala”, in 2023. “At After spending time there, I ended up settling there. » He therefore lives « about twenty minutes from [son] father », installed at Monticello. Enough to allow him to “see regularly” his father. Before the death of his mother Françoise Hardy, Tuesday June 11, 2024, he went to Paris once a month to visit her.