French cinema star Alain Delon has been accused of physical and psychological violence by his former partner Rosalie van Breemen in her upcoming autobiography.
The Dutch former model, who lived with Delon for 14 years and had two children with him, alleges that the actor broke her nose on two separate occasions during their relationship.
Her book, titled Amour fou, arrives in French bookshops on Thursday, November 12, two years after Delon died in August 2024 at the age of 88. The French magazine Paris Match has published advance extracts from the text, which is written in the form of a direct letter to the late actor.
Delon was celebrated for decades as one of European cinema's most handsome leading men, but Van Breemen writes that he turned their private life into a living hell. She states in the book that after breaking her nose the first time, Delon denied what he had done when she asked him why, and then broke it again shortly afterwards, adding that she did not know which assault was worse.
Allegations of physical violence
Van Breemen details two specific violent incidents in her memoir. The first was a slap so violent that it fractured her nose in front of the couple's young children.
The second attack took place in the early hours of the morning against the wrought iron bars of the bed they shared. She recalls that Delon accompanied the violence with verbal abuse, telling her that because she was crying, he was now going to give her a real reason to cry.
The former model writes that one of the most troubling consequences of the abuse was that she began to question her own memory. For years, she preferred to bury the traumatic episodes, at times convincing herself that she might have imagined or invented them.
Public claims by Alain-Fabien Delon
Van Breemen writes that she only regained certainty about what had happened when her son, Alain-Fabien Delon, spoke publicly about the violence his mother suffered at home.
In 2013, Alain-Fabien told the Italian edition of Vanity Fair that his father had broken his mother's nose twice and left her with eight fractured ribs. Delon forcefully rejected his son's claims at the time, dismissing them as complete nonsense.
The son's account was cited again in 2025 in The Last Days of the Samurai, a journalistic investigation examining the French actor's final years. Until the publication of Amour fou, however, Van Breemen had never shared her own detailed account of the assaults.
Relationship and family life
Delon and Van Breemen met in 1987, when he was already an established screen legend and she was working as a young model. The couple went on to start a family together, welcoming their daughter Anouchka in 1990 and their son Alain-Fabien in 1994.
Their relationship lasted until 2001, ending after a series of recurring crises and reconciliations. Van Breemen later rebuilt her life and married French optical entrepreneur Alain Afflelou, who founded the optical retail chain of the same name.
Despite their painful separation, Van Breemen never completely severed ties with Delon. The two maintained a close personal connection that often surprised those who were aware of their turbulent past and frequent domestic clashes.
In November 2023, on Delon's 88th birthday, Van Breemen posted a public message to him. She acknowledged that she had emerged deeply damaged from their relationship, but described it as a great love that she did not regret.
Van Breemen writes in her memoir that she has forgiven Delon for the abuse she suffered, but explains that she no longer wished to remain silent about what happened between them.
Disputes among the Delon heirs
The publication of Amour fou follows years of bitter public feuding among Delon's children. Relations between Anouchka and her brothers, Alain-Fabien and Anthony Delon, broke down publicly over their father's care, living arrangements, and estate.
Anthony Delon, the actor's eldest son from his 1960s marriage to actress Nathalie Delon, joined Alain-Fabien in public legal and personal clashes with their sister. The intense family conflict cast a shadow over the final months of the actor's life before his death at his country estate in August 2024.
Delon made cinema history starring in classics including Luchino Visconti's 1963 masterpiece The Leopard, Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 crime thriller Le Samouraï, and René Clément's 1960 film Plein Soleil. On screen, he built a global reputation playing seductive, proud, and dangerous men.
With the release of Van Breemen's book, the French press is now confronting a very different side of the cinema icon, presented by a woman who says the man behind closed doors bore little resemblance to the idol admired by millions of filmgoers.
