Fight over Johnny Hallyday €100 million fortune grips France as family quarrels over unreleased music

July 29, 2020 / By mobanmarket

Refined Parisians often profess to scorn “celebrity culture” as a vulgar import from the English-speaking world, but France is mesmerised by a bitter battle for the fortune left by Johnny Hallyday, the “French Elvis”.

The rock star’s widow, Laeticia Hallyday, named as his sole heir, faced a torrent of vitriol on social media Saturday as it emerged that she is refusing to allow his adult children by previous wives a say in producing a posthumous album of his unreleased songs. 

Mrs Hallyday – who at 42 is younger than his 51-year-old son David – is being reviled as a “black widow” intent on grabbing all of his €100 million (£89m) estate.

A week after David Hallyday and his half-sister Laura Smet,…

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