The children of the late French actor Alain Delon have rejected his wish to have his dog put to sleep and buried with him, following a massive protest from animal rights activists.
The legendary actor, who died on Sunday at the age of 88, said he wanted Loubo, his 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, to be put down and buried with him in the cemetery near his home in the village of Douchy, in north-central France.
However, animal rights groups strongly opposed the idea of a healthy animal being killed.
The French SPA, the equivalent of the RSPCA, was one of many organisations outraged by the Plein Soleil actor’s decision.
“An animal’s life should not depend on a human’s. The SPA is happy to take his dog and find a family for him.”
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
The family of Alain Delon (pictured) said they would keep Loubo alive, against their father’s wishes
On Tuesday, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation reported that Delon’s daughter Anouchka has confirmed that the family will keep the dog alive.
“I just got off the phone with Anouchka Delon and she told me that Loubo is part of the family and will be kept. The dog will not be put down,” a spokesperson for the foundation said.
Delon has been an animal lover all his life. He had a pet cemetery built near his house, which he bought in the 1970s.
He buried the remains of 35 dogs, which he had owned at various times in his life.
But he openly declared that Loubo was always his favorite dog.
“He is my dog at the end of my life… 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 bond with this one. He misses me when I’m not there.
Loubo is a Belgian Shepherd, also known as a Malinois
He will now be cared for by Delon’s children
Delon was an animal lover all his life and had a pet cemetery built near his home, which he purchased 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 he does, 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 he’s going to let himself die on my grave in so much suffering.”
When asked in a 1996 television interview what animal he would like to be reincarnated as, he replied, “A Malinois.”
Last year, Anouchka posted a photo of Loubo on Instagram with the caption: ‘Where there is an unhappy person, God sends a dog. Thank you, Loubo, for being there for your owner.’
In March of this year, she posted another photo of Loubo in front of Delon’s house.
The caption read: ‘Guardian of the Temple… With him there is no betrayal, no calculation, only love.’
While Delon’s children treated his pets with courtesy, they are also accused of treating his lover/caregiver “inhumanely.”
Until his death on Sunday, Delon was one of the last living legends of a golden age of French cinema in the 1960s.
All three of Delon’s children were wary of Rollin and tried to kick her out of the high-walled household in the French town of Douchy (pictured) last year
Hiromi Rollin, 66, had lived with the ailing Delon part-time for 17 years as his assistant and caregiver, but claimed the couple had been in love for 30 years
Hiromi Rollin, 66, had lived with the ailing Delon part-time for 17 years as his assistant and caregiver, but claimed the two had been in love for 30 years.
The Japanese-born cinema worker said Monday that Delon’s three children – Alain-Fabien, Anouchka and Anthony – refused to allow her to see him after his death.
She had previously accused them of taking advantage of their father’s declining mental health and said they had thrown her out of his home in July last year.
“We loved each other for 30 years. I lived with him for 17 years and was separated from Alain in an unfair, brutal and violent manner,” she told French outlet Le Figaro, claiming that Delon’s children said she was nothing more than a housekeeper, even though they knew “we shared the same bed.”
“His children wouldn’t even let me say ‘au revoir.’ It’s inhuman,” she said.
This comes after a court previously dismissed a lawsuit filed by Delon’s children against Rollin for abuse of a vulnerable person and intimidation.
Anthony, 59, Anouchka, 33, and Alain-Fabien, 30, had been feuding for years over their father’s medical treatment leading up to his death.
Anouchka alleged that Anthony, the eldest, aggressively harassed his father about his mental state after suffering a stroke in 2019.
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 August 2, 2012
French actor Alain Delon waves as he arrives with his daughter Anouchka Delon to receive an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 19, 2019
Anthony, in turn, said that Anouchka had tried to hide the incriminating results of Delon’s cognitive tests from the rest of the family.
But all three children were wary of Rollin and tried to drive her out last year from the high-walled household in the French town of Douchy, where Delon spent his final years as a recluse.
When she left Delon’s home for a trip last July, they filed a lawsuit against her and with the help of a private security company and the police, she was denied entry to the house upon her return.
According to The Times, Delon himself is said to have supported the lawsuit, but he also confirmed that the two were lovers, which contradicts his children’s claims.
Rollin and Delon first met in 1992 on the set of “The Return of Casanova,” in which the actor played the title role and Rollin served as assistant director.
They developed a strong professional relationship that later became “intimate,” according to Delon himself.
As he grew older, Rollin became a live-in aide and caregiver, but Delon described her as his “Japanese companion.”
His children refused to acknowledge their relationship, claiming that she abused their father.