“Her condition is weak”: Singer Jeane Manson victim of a heart attack

Singer Jeane Manson suffered a “heart attack” on Tuesday and was hospitalized in Lyon, after an appeal hearing in the defamation case between her and the daughter of actor Richard Berry, her agent announced on Wednesday.

The firefighters confirmed that he was treated in the evening for “chest pain”.

Jeane Manson, 73, was rescued “by the firefighters” in the grounds of the court of appeal, then hospitalized “in critical condition”, according to the artist’s agent. “His condition is weak” and “an intervention is scheduled for today,” he told AFP.

The former American partner of Richard Berry left the courtroom quickly in the evening, visibly very agitated, when her lawyer was to take the floor for his plea, noted an AFP journalist.

The Lyon Court of Appeal re-examined the case between Jeane Manson and Coline Berry-Rojtman. The judgment was reserved until July 17.

In an article published by Le Monde in February 2021, the latter spoke of sexual violence that she suffered as a minor in 1984 and 1985 at the home of her father who then lived with Jeane Manson, accused of having participated in these attacks. The investigation opened in Paris targeting the actor accused of incest by his daughter was dismissed on August 31, 2022 due to statute of limitations.

Jeane Manson had decided to sue her ex-daughter-in-law for defamation before the Aurillac court, in Cantal, where she lives part of the year.

In April 2022, the court sentenced Coline Berry-Rojtman, born in 1976, to a fine of 2,000 euros for defamation and 20.00 euros in damages.

“Not a liar”

The Riom Court of Appeal (Puy-de-Dôme) confirmed this conviction in December 2022. But in December 2023, the Court of Cassation annulled this judgment and sent the case back to the Lyon Court of Appeal.

During the hearing Tuesday, Jeane Manson repeated: “I’m not a rapist, not a liar.” “I am a victim, I haven’t slept for three years,” she insisted.

Her lawyer Jacques Verdier denounced Coline Berry-Rojtman’s “revenge” against her father, of which his client “appears as a collateral victim”.

For her part, Coline Berry-Rojtman maintained her position: “For me, this is the most blatant injustice because I am being prosecuted for having denounced the facts of which I was a victim.”

“She must be protected,” insisted one of the defense lawyers, Patrick Klugman, at the close of the proceedings, calling on the court to “put an end to this scandal”.