“I couldn’t tell him that your father died.” Carole Bouquet looks back on her “terrible” mistake with her son Dimitri Rassam.

It’s a painful confidence that Carole Bouke made in front of the documentary camera Rassam-Berry saga, cinema in the veins , broadcast on France 2 on Sunday, May 28. The actress does return to the death of her former companion, producer Jean-Pierre Rassam, the father of her child, Dimitri Rassam, born in 1981, with whom she lived happily for seven years. “I found everything for him. I found him beautiful, funny, intelligent (…). Dimitri’s birth was a joy. [Jean-Pierre] it was celebrated for months, the house was always full, there were dinners every evening. Anyway, it was normal to have dinner with fifteen people every evening, but there, in particular, with the birth of a child,” recalls the nostalgic actress, who is now 65 years old.

Jean-Pierre Rassam died suddenly on January 28, 1985 at the age of 43 from heroin withdrawal medication. He leaves an orphan Dimitri, only 3 years old. “I never thought that he would die from the excesses he did (…). I have never seen that Jean-Pierre is in danger,” says his former companion.

A grieving, widowed Carole Bouquet experiences an impossible mourning. So much so that he does not feel his shoulders to inform his son, hiding his father’s disappearance from him for a year. “I made a terrible mistake, but because I couldn’t tell. I didn’t tell Dimitri, I didn’t tell his son. (…) I couldn’t tell him “Your father is dead”, I couldn’t say that”, he admits today in front of the France 2 camera.

It’s crazy what I did

Carol Bouquet

The truth is revealed at a birthday party. 4-year-old Dimitri really demands his father’s presence. I said to myself. “What I did is completely crazy. I didn’t tell him anything.” But since I couldn’t pronounce it, I couldn’t say it. And I still have a little trouble. “Jean-Pierre is dead,” I say, but it’s not true for me.

The missing producer’s brother, Paul Rassam, later appeared to help Carole overcome this ordeal. Dimitri’s uncle received his young nephew every weekend and paid special attention to his development. If he doesn’t appreciate being called a surrogate father, he nevertheless occupies a central place in the life of his nephew Dimitri. “Paul was in many ways and there is someone who fills that place. He loves his brother so much that he never wanted to occupy him completely. But that’s exactly the role he has for me.

In the video, Carroll Bouquet dug by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.