The lover of French screen legend Alain Delon has accused the actor’s three children of “inhumanly” preventing her from saying goodbye to her partner before he died on Sunday at the age of 88.
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 yesterday 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.
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
Until his death on Sunday, Delon was one of the last living legends of a golden age of French cinema in the 1960s.
The Japanese-born cinema worker said yesterday that Delon’s three children – Alain-Fabien (2L), Anouchka (R) and Anthony (C) – refused to let her see the actor (L) after his death
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
French actor Alain Delon arrives for the funeral ceremony Funeral of Jean-Paul Belmondo, Paris, France – Sep 10, 2021
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.
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.
In an interview with French and Japanese media last year, Rollin said the Delon children told her, “You are not his companion. You take care of the dogs and the house.”
Delon’s performances in some of the best films of the 1960s and 1970s were widely acclaimed, his on-screen charisma impossible to ignore
Delon is pictured with Jane Fonda in the film ‘The Love Cage’, 1964
Alain Delon is pictured with co-star Ursula Andress in the film Soleil Rouge
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
French actor Alain Delon receives a Lifetime Award during an awards ceremony at the Locarno Film Festival on August 2, 2012
Delon’s performances in some of the best films of the 1960s and 1970s were widely praised, and his screen charisma was impossible to ignore.
Delon was seen as an instinctive genius, far from an intellectual actor, who prided himself on never working on his technique.
Former Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob called Delon “a lion, an actor with a steely gaze,” while Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera called him an “icon” who had climbed “the Olympus of the immortals.”
He was one of the last living legends of the golden age of French cinema in the 1960s.
Her fellow 1960s star Brigitte Bardot, 89, said Delon “leaves an enormous void that nothing, no one, can fill”, while French President Emmanuel Macron called him a “French monument” who “played legendary roles and made the world dream”.
Although he had countless fans worldwide, his political views and personal life were divided.
Delon’s relationships with women in particular caused much controversy.
His sons accused him of domestic violence, which Delon denied. He previously admitted hitting women during arguments.
Delon married Francine Canovas, better known as Nathalie Delon, in 1964. The couple had Delon’s first son, Anthony, during a stormy relationship that ended in divorce in 1969.
The actor also had a number of tumultuous affairs, describing German actor Romy Schneider as “the love of his life” after their relationship in the same decade.
Other well-known relationships include those with pop diva Dalida and model and actress Mireille Darc, and with Rosalie van Breemen, a Dutch journalist and model who raised Delon’s two youngest children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien.
She later described their 14-year relationship as “hell.”
German-born Velvet Underground singer Nico claimed that Delon was the father of her son, Christian Aaron Boulogne. The actor continued to deny this until Boulogne died of a heroin overdose in 2023.