Jean-Pierre Foucault recounted a particularly tense anecdote about his experience with Johnny Hallyday on the set of Sacrée Soirée . A guest on NRJ Belgium, the 78-year-old presenter recalled a rehearsal during which a joke about Adeline Blondieau provoked the singer's immediate anger. So much so that Johnny Hallyday directly threatened to hit him.
A joke about the separation of Johnny Hallyday and Adeline Blondieau
The events date back to the 1990s, when Sacrée Soirée was one of TF1's flagship programs. Jean-Pierre Foucault presented numerous French and international celebrities each week. Johnny Hallyday was a regular guest on the show. That day, Adeline Blondieau, then Johnny Hallyday's wife, was scheduled to appear. The young woman had recorded her performance that morning, and Jean-Pierre Foucault assumed she had subsequently left the studios. At the same time, the tabloids were reporting a separation between Johnny Hallyday and Adeline Blondieau. Jean-Pierre Foucault had discovered this information in a magazine. During the dress rehearsal, the host decided to joke about it when introducing the young woman. "In a magazine, it was written that Johnny and Adeline had separated. And during the dress rehearsal, I pretended and said, 'Adeline Hallyday, well, Hallyday is over!'" he recounts.
The curtain rises… and Adeline Blondieau is still there
The joke immediately turned awkward. Contrary to what Jean-Pierre Foucault had imagined, Adeline Blondieau hadn't left. "The curtain opened and she was there even though she didn't have to come back because she'd recorded that morning ," the host continued. But someone else also heard the remark: Johnny Hallyday. The singer was in the studio and was not amused at all by the joke about his relationship. Jean-Pierre Foucault then saw Johnny get up and walk towards him : "I see a guy get up, stretch out, and come towards me: Johnny."
Johnny Hallyday threatens Jean-Pierre Foucault
Realizing immediately that he had gone too far, Jean-Pierre Foucault tried to defuse the situation and apologized to the singer. "Excuse me, I didn't know she was there, I said something stupid ," he explained. Johnny Hallyday's response was much more brutal : "You're lucky I wasn't drunk, otherwise I would have punched you in the face." The incident ultimately went no further. Jean-Pierre Foucault readily acknowledges his responsibility in this episode and doesn't try to downplay the clumsiness of his joke : "It's true that I was an idiot for saying just anything. It just goes to show you shouldn't say just anything."
"I adored Johnny, we loved each other very much."
Despite this dramatic clash, relations between the two men did not deteriorate permanently. Jean-Pierre Foucault, on the contrary, emphasizes the close bond he shared with Johnny Hallyday : "I adored Johnny, we were very fond of each other." The relationship between Johnny Hallyday and Adeline Blondieau was particularly tumultuous at the time and closely followed by the media. The singer had married the daughter of his friend Long Chris for the first time in July 1990. After their divorce in 1992, the couple remarried in 1994 before finally divorcing in 1995.
