Six months behind bars. This is the time that Jean-Luc Lahaye has been detained in the prison of Health (Paris 14th), since his imprisonment in November 2021. Indicted for “rape”, “rape and sexual assault on minors of 15 years” as well as “corruption of minors”, the artist soon to be in his seventies was released, Le Parisien taught us on May 22, 2022.

A week after the release of Jean-Luc Lahaye, while he is still under judicial supervision, W9 is dedicating an unpublished documentary to him this Wednesday, June 1, presented by Nathalie Renoux. From the meteoric rise in the 1980s to the fall of an idol, because of his multiple escapades and legal setbacks, the show went to meet several witnesses (anonymous and famous) who closely rubbed shoulders with the artist.

Like Fabien Lecoeuvre, his press secretary from 1982 to 2004, who spoke during the show. Asked by Planet, the journalist returned to the beginnings of their collaboration. “The first time he was introduced to me was with Régine Torrent, André Torrent’s wife. I had come to do an interview, he was opening for Rachid Bahri at the Potinière theater in 1979 , he had not yet made Woman that I love“. It is thanks to this mythical tube that the artist has known glory and success.

Forty years later, the agreement has radically changed between the two men. “I haven’t heard from him and I haven’t been to see him in jail. Like everyone through the press, I know he was in an extremely difficult situation for him. Now I don’t know. no more, I do not know the bottom of the file”, assures us the writer and biographer. To understand the reasons for this distance, we have to go back a few years…

For several years, Fabien Lecoeuvre took care of the career of Jean-Luc Lahaye as a press officer. With Planet, he paints an unflattering portrait of the heartbreaker. “Jean-Luc Lahaye has faults: he is arrogant and provocative, but I know how to nuance things, even if I have been angry with him for three years”. We remember in particular the harsh and controversial remarks that the star had against the singer Julie Piétri, facing Marc-Olivier Fogiel on RTL on May 18, 2015.

However, the biographer and famous columnist qualifies his opinion. “He’s a boy that I adore, that I adored…”. Knowing the difficult past of the singer placed at the DDASS during his childhood, Fabien Lecoeuvre worked for 22 years for his association Cent Familles (created in 1985) where he held the position of vice-president before slamming the door. “When I felt all these news items happened, I resigned because it became painful and annoying. The boards of directors were much too stormy for my taste, and we only talked about the president’s news items”, he testifies, condemning the behavior of its founder. “You cannot be president of an association that defends children at the same time. And, at the same time, be convicted of corruption on a minor. There are incompatible things”.

Indicted for corruption of a minor and possession of child pornography files in June 2015, the interpreter of the tube Papa singer was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence, in a case where he allegedly had an intimate exchange on social networks with a minor. . But, he must leave the presidency of his foundation. “At the end of a board meeting on June 18, Jean-Luc Lahaye wished to submit his resignation so as not to interfere with his life’s work, Cent Familles. The entire Board of Directors gave its full support to its founding member and is convinced of its good faith and its respectability”, indicated at that time Fabien Lecoeuvre in a press release for AFP, notably relayed by Ouest-France. He was subsequently replaced by Mr. Bertrand Mirabeau.

Today, another case splashes the singer Jean-Luc Lahaye. As the first images of the documentary indicate, he is suspected of having sexually assaulted two young adolescent girls who were minors at the time, aged 15 to 17 respectively. One of them had met the singer several times during his concerts and signing sessions. Charges that the 1980s star has always denied outright, while the investigation is still in progress.

If Fabien Lecoeuvre explains in the documentary that Jean-Luc Lahaye “had a magnetism for the female audience that I have rarely seen”, he nevertheless wishes to clarify for us. “I have never seen Jean-Luc Lahaye sleep with young girls aged 14 or 15”, arguing that they were all in their twenties. ““A kind of relentlessness is a bit excessive”, judge for Planet the one who had been criticized for his remarks towards the singer Hoshi.

While the release of the word of the victims is more topical than ever, the biographer Fabien Lecoeuvre ensures to hear the fight of the associations of the protection of children and women. “The tragedy in the middle of all this is that there are real victims. I defend the MeToo movement with all my might when necessary”, before adding. “What I criticize at that time is the lack of nuance. I find that today, we put everyone squarely in the category”. Will Jean-Luc Lahaye react after the broadcast of the documentary? To be continued…