“They stuck a fantasy on my back”

By Brigitte Salino and Aureliano Tonet

Published today at 00:33

” Follow me “enjoined Amanda Lear on the anthem Follow Me (1978). In recent months, the disco diva has taken zigzagging paths. She went through the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, in Paris, playing in What happened to Bette Davis and Joan Crawford?, alongside Michel Fau. She returned to French song, with a twentieth album, Tuberose, consisting of repeats. After the series Hashtag Boomeron OCS, it will go back to television: Arte will broadcast the documentary on February 25 Queen Lear, which recites the highlights of his career. To evoke this bouquet of news, she gave an appointment in her old haunt, the Hotel Meurice, in the heart of Paris.

Salvador Dali lived here, on the first floor. What was your routine?

In the evening, we had a chamomile at the bar. Before going to sleep, he kissed me on the forehead, and left a black mark – he dyed his mustache with my eyeliner, because he was a little conceited. One day, he poured tar on a Volkswagen parked under his window, then wiped himself on the curtains…

You didn’t live here?

I couldn’t afford it. I was studying at the Beaux-Arts, and I slept in a hotel in the rue de Seine, which cost nothing. When I started selling records, I moved to Le Meurice, on the third floor, to piss off Dali. It exasperated him: “I can’t close my eyes knowing that you are above me! »

Was he cheap?

Everyone said to her, “Amanda walks for Paco Rabanne, she’s skinny as a nail, don’t you want to give her money? He replied: “Ah no, it’s my policy, I’m not helping anyone.” »

Your meeting?

Very negative. One evening, after a fashion show, Rabanne takes me to Castel. Dali was there, with his court of parasites. He asks Paco: “Who is that girl over there?” As I was ashamed of being a model, I told her: “I am a painter too, we are colleagues. » I’m not telling you the face that Dali made. “Oh no, women painters don’t exist. If you want us to be friends, never show me your paintings. »

Read also Amanda Lear: “When Dalí met me, he told me that I had the most beautiful skull he had ever seen! »

Did you follow the instructions?

Until a certain point. We spent our summers in Cadaqués, in Catalonia. Every afternoon he painted, I read to him. One rainy day, I was restless, fiddling with everything that came into my hands. “You are unbearable, I can’t concentrate. Supposedly, you did Fine Arts. Here is a canvas, my brushes, my colors: paint! »

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