At 93, the “Santiano” singer says he took drastic measures to avoid seeing his loved ones tear apart after his death.
By Marc Fourny
© Jean Michel Nossant/SIPA / SIPA / Jean Michel Nossant/SIPA
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Ihe Hallyday succession left its mark… Hugues Aufray, who knew Johnny well for having been his neighbor in Marnes-la-Coquette, has no intention of making the same mistake as him about his inheritance. In an extensive interview given to West France, the interpreter of “Santiano” announces that he has made all his arrangements so that his descendants do not tear themselves apart around the inheritance… “To avoid the worries of succession that the family of Johnny Hallyday had, I gave all my possessions to my children. I have nothing left, I bequeathed everything to them, so there won’t be any problems…”
It must be said that the private life of Hugues Aufray, 93, is not trivial… He is the father of two daughters, Marie and Charlotte, the fruit of his marriage in the 1950s with Hélène Faure, who died last year. He never wanted to divorce, even though he was living in a relationship with his new partner, Muriel, more than forty years his junior… Patriarch at heart, his clan also includes several grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. grandchildren.
READ ALSOSuccession: inheritance, an inexhaustible source of conflict
With 60 years of career on the clock and hits galore (“Céline”, “Stewball”, “Hasta Luego”), one could believe Hugues Aufray at the head of a sacred heritage. But according to his own words, this is not the case: “Each time I had a good year, I entrusted my interests to a partner, who took over everything from me, he explained one day to Gala. I was a candid, I’ve been robbed all my life. It was the chance that I had. When you’re rich, you’re prone to do stupid things or say to yourself, “It’s okay, now I’ve made enough money, I’m retiring.” Stop? For me, that’s unthinkable. »
Real estate
With his stamps, he nevertheless managed to acquire a farm in Orgnac-l’Aven (Ardèche) in the 1960s and a property in Marnes-la-Coquette where he lived with his clan for more than forty years. A home that he has now sold to settle with Muriel in Marly-le-Roi, in the Yvelines, probably to settle his inheritance issues. “The finish is approaching,” he confides philosophically in West France, alluding to death. It’s neither a concern nor an anguish, but I’m getting organized…”
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Recently, he scared himself by falling down the stairs with his head back after fainting the day after an MRI – probably a reaction to the iodine he was injected with. “I could have stayed there, several doctors told me that it was incredible at my age that I got out of it so well…” He was simply forced to stop for a few months to restore a broken wrist right. From now on, here he is again on tour, the guitar slung over his shoulder. “I will never retire because I have never worked. I sing and I play music, so I have fun, even if I get paid to have fun! »