Delon vs Delon: French screen legend Alain Delon attacks son over defamation claims

One of France’s most esteemed actors, Alain Delon, has hit back against his son’s accusations he’s going senile… with a lawsuit.

Delon, 88, was a star of the screen throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s - and one of France's sexiest of sex symbols. Known for his collaborations with directors like Jean-Luc Godard, Delon has expressed concerns in the past that his children would fall out over the execution of his will.

Following a stroke in 2019, his son Anthony Delon, whose mother is ex-model Nathalie Barthélémy, spoke to Paris Match last week claiming Delon was on his way out.

“He is weak. He is fed up,” Anthony said. “He doesn’t speak much, it tires him or it annoys him when we make him repeat, because his voice is no longer always clear, or audible.”

Speaking of his half-sister Anouchka Delon, Anthony continued: “My sister never informed my brother and me that between 2019 and 2022, my father had been subjected to five cognitive tests during his visits to the clinic in Switzerland and that he did not pass any of them”.

Delon quickly responded via the actor’s lawyer, Christophe Ayela, that he was “extremely shocked by the media outburst orchestrated by his son Anthony”. Delon “cannot stand the aggressiveness of his son Anthony who keeps telling him that he is senile,” Ayela added.

The star of The Leopard and The Swimming Pool has teamed up with Anouchka’s lawyer, who has filed a complaint for defamation and harassment against Anthony.

The patriarch’s lawyer commented that Anthony has “only one goal, to harm the reputation of his daughter Anouchka and the unique relationship that he has always had with Anouchka.”

The media back-and-forth between family members is in stark contrast with last year, when siblings Anthony, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien Delon joined forces to remove Delon’s carer Hiromi Rollin from his home. The siblings accused Rollin of attempting to gain a share of their father’s estimated €245 million fortune.