The children of late French actor Alain Delon have overruled his wish for his dog to be put down and buried with him, following a massive outcry from animal rights activists.
The legendary actor, who passed away at the age of 88 on Sunday, said he wanted Loubo, his 10-year-old Belgian malinois, to be put down and buried with him in his cemetery at his home in the village of Douchy, in north-central France.
But animal rights groups were up in arms at the idea that a healthy animal would be put down.
France’s SPA, an equivalent to the RSPCA, was one of many groups furious with the Plein Soleil’s actor’s decision.
‘The life of an animal should not depend on that of a human. The SPA is happy to take his dog and find it a family.’
Delon said of Loubo (pictured) in 2018: ‘I love him like a child.’
Alain Delon (pictured, with another dog in 2014) said he wanted Loubo, his now-10-year-old Belgian malinois to be put down and buried with him
Alain Delon’s family (pictured) said they would keep Loubo alive, against their father’s wishes
On Tuesday, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation said Delon’s daughter Anouchka had confirmed the family would keep the dog alive.
‘I’ve just had Anouchka Delon on the phone and she has told me that Loubo is part of the family and will be kept. The dog will not be put down,’ a foundation spokesperson said.
Delon was a lifelong animal lover, having built an animal cemetery at his home, which be bought in the 1970s.
He buried the remains of 35 of his dogs that he had kept at various points in his life.
But he publicly stated that Loubo was always his favourite dog.
‘He’s my end-of-life dog… I love him like a child,’ Delon told Paris Match in 2018.
‘I’ve had 50 dogs in my life, but I have a special relationship with this one. He misses me when I’m not there.
Loubo is a Belgian Shepherd, otherwise known as a malinois
He will now be looked after by Delon’s children
Delon was a lifelong animal lover, having built an animal cemetery at his home, which be bought in the 1970s
When asked what animal he would like to be reincarnated as, he said in a 1996 television interview: ‘A malinois’
‘If I die before him, I’ll ask the vet to take us away together. He’ll put him to sleep in my arms. I’d rather do that than know that he’ll let himself die on my grave with so much suffering.’
When asked what animal he would like to be reincarnated as, he said in a 1996 television interview: ‘A malinois.’
Last year, Anouchka posted a snap of Loubo to Instagram with the caption: ‘Wherever there’s an unfortunate person, God sends a dog. Thank you, Loubo, for being there for your master.’
In March this year, she posted another picture of Loubo outside Delon’s home.
It was captioned: ‘Guardian of the temple … With him there’s no betrayal, no calculation, only love.’
Though Delon’s children treated his pets with courtesy, they have also been accused of ‘inhumanly’ treating his live-in lover/carer.
Delon was one of the last living legends of a golden era for French cinema in the 1960s until his death on Sunday
All three of Delon’s children were wary of Rollin and last year sought to oust her from the high-walled household in the central French town of Douchy (pictured)
Hiromi Rollin, 66, had been living part-time with the sickly Delon as his assistant and carer for some 17 years but claimed the pair had been in love for three decades
Hiromi Rollin, 66, had been living part-time with the sickly Delon as his assistant and carer for some 17 years but claimed the pair had been in love for three decades.
The Japanese-born cinema worker declared on Monday that Delon’s three children – Alain-Fabien, Anouchka and Anthony – refused to let her see him upon his death.
She had previously accused them of taking advantage of their father’s declining mental state and said they’d evicted her from his household last July.
‘We loved one another for 30 years. I lived with him for 17 and was separated from Alain unfairly, brutally and violently,’ she told French outlet Le Figaro, claiming Delon’s children said she was nothing more than a housekeeper even though they knew ‘we were sharing the same bed’.
‘His children did not even allow me to say ”au revoir”. It’s inhuman,’ she declared.
It comes after a court previously dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Delon children against Rollin for abuse of a vulnerable person and harassment.
Anthony, 59, Anouchka, 33, and Alain-Fabien, 30, squabbled bitterly for years over their father’s medical treatment prior to his death.
Anouchka claimed that Anthony, the eldest, was aggressively hassling his father about his mental state following a 2019 stroke.
Alain Delon is pictured with co-star Ursula Andress in the film Soleil Rouge
French actor Alain Delon receives a Lifetime Award during an awards ceremony at the Locarno Film Festival, on Aug. 2, 2012
French actor Alain Delon waves as he arrives with his daughter Anouchka Delon to be awarded with an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 19, 2019
Anthony in return said Anouchka had sought to hide damning results of Delon’s cognitive tests from the rest of the family.
But all three of the children were wary of Rollin and last year sought to oust her from the high-walled household in the central French town of Douchy, where Delon lived out his final years as a recluse.
When she left Delon’s property for a trip last July, they filed a lawsuit against her and with the help of a private security company and police barred her from entering the home upon her return.
Delon himself is said to have supported the suit, according to The Times, but also confirmed the pair had been lovers, contradicting the claims of his children.
Rollin and Delon first met in 1992 on the set of ‘The Return of Casanova’ in which the actor played the titular character and Rollin worked as an assistant director.
They cultivated a strong professional relationship which later became ‘intimate’, according to Delon himself.
As he grew old, Rollin became a live-in assistant and carer, but Delon described her as his ‘Japanese companion’.
His children refused to acknowledge their relationship and claimed she was taking advantage of their father.
