Two children of the French rock star Johnny Hallyday are to contest his will after he left everything to his fourth wife, Laeticia, who was 32 years his junior.
Hallyday’s daughter, Laura Smet, 34, an actor, said she was “stupefied and hurt” after learning that her father, who died in December, had left nothing to his first two children.
Instead all his wealth and the rights to the 110 million records he sold will eventually go to Jade and Joy, the girls he adopted in Vietnam with Laeticia.
Smet’s lawyer said she had been left without even a “souvenir, one of his guitars or motorbikes, not even the sleeve of the song Laura”, which her father had dedicated to her.
Smet’s half-brother, David Hallyday, has joined her in contesting the will, which was drawn up in California, where Hallyday spent much of his later years.
Under French law, a wife does not automatically inherit all of her husband’s estate but generally has to share it with his children.
Although he was never taken seriously abroad, Hallyday was by far the best-known rocker in France. A fanatical biker, his funeral cortege through Paris was escorted by hundreds of leather-clad motorcyclists.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
