We know their fathers, together, sublime, in Borsalino among others. We know less about the bond that unites them both. Anthony Delon and Paul Belmondo gave an interview to Paris Match this Thursday, April 18, 2024. For the occasion, they reproduced the famous shooting of their fathers for the magazine, in 1997. Enough to make them invisible behind these two monuments of French cinema? Not at all. A bit boastful, they looked back on their friendship, since childhood and on the many anecdotes which marked their common journey. “With Anthony (…) we are friends all the time, without needing to meet up”, confides Paul Belmondo. And Anthony Delon adds: “There has never been any rivalry between us, except for a princess… But it was a misunderstanding!”
Anthony Delon and Paul Belmondo almost died in a helicopter
The two men, only one year apart – Anthony is 59, Paul is 60 – did the 400 moves together, as they share with readers. “We almost died together in a helicopter accident!”, reveals Paul Belmondo. “A bit of your fault…”adds Anthony Delon. “It’s true, I wanted to go down to take a piss. The plane turned into the wind, the turbine failed, the skids broke, and we almost rolled over”, confirms the first. And the second to complete: “Paul was behind, leaning against 200 liters of kerosene, we could have exploded. Can you imagine the newspaper headlines!” A story told in two voices, accomplices. Accomplices as their fathers may have been. In 2006, Alain Delon confided to Paris Match : “Jean-Paul is my friend. Not just a colleague of fifty years. I know him well. I filmed with him, I lived with him, I vibrated with him, I cried and laughed with him on film sets that we won’t do again. I love him and I admire him, no offense to those who pitted us against each other in an absurd rivalry.”
A friendship that lasts for generations
No rivalry among their descendants either, but a different approach to life, marked by their education, in particular. “When I needed it most, [mon père] knew how to give me the love that allowed me to build myself. Even if you had to eat lamb’s brains once a week to become intelligent…”, remembers Anthony Delon. For his part, Paul Belmondo is moved to have “could [se] rest on a solid family foundation.My father was often absent, but when he was therehe was dedicated to us 100%“, he continues. And among their children, the Delons and the Belmondos remain linked, confirms Anthony Delon: “They met, like us, through friends.” And the legend lives on…