Gerard Depardieu’s son died at the age of 37. He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, instead he repeated all his mistakes

Guillaume Depardieu was the eldest son of Gerard and Elisabeth Depardieu, who together had a daughter, Julie. Their firstborn was born on April 7, 1971 in Bougival – where he was buried 37 years later. He died much prematurely as a result of complications from pneumonia contracted on a film set in Romania.

Guillaume Depardieu. A career in the shadow of a famous father

For the first time, Guillaume Depardieu appeared on the screen as a three-year-old in the film “Not So Bad” in 1974 – of course, he played there with his dad. Later, he had a break, because it was not until 1986 that he again stood in front of the camera. He was an extra on the set of the film “Jean de Florette” – both his father and mother Elisabeth Depardieu played in the production. Four years later, Gerard took his eldest son back to act as extras in his next production. This time it was “Cyrano de Bergerac”. It wasn’t until a year later that it was time for her first real role.

In All Mornings of the World, based on the play of the same name, Guillaume Depardieu played the young composer Marin Marais. Gérard Depardieu played the same character at an advanced age, of course. The unusual resemblance of father and son in this case worked out perfectly on the screen. The young Depardieu also performed so well in his role that the French Film Academy nominated him for the César Award for the most promising debut. Another nomination for this award came two years later thanks to her participation in the film “Tender Target”. He finally won it thanks to the role of Fred in the black comedy “The Novices”.

In 1996, he was awarded the Jean Gabin, and at the Gijon Film Festival in 1999 he was distinguished for his role as the writer Pierre in the melodrama Pola X. Gerard and Guillaume Depardieu later starred together in such films as “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “Love Your Father” – the latter was so important that it seemed to tell a lot about their turbulent relationship. During his prematurely ended career, the young actor played in about 30 films and several series, he also appeared on the stage of the theater. He worked until the last moment – it was on the set of the film “Childhood of Icarus” in Romania that he contracted pneumonia, which turned out to be so serious that hospital treatment was necessary. Young Depardieu, despite the efforts of doctors, did not survive – he died on October 13, 2008.

Young, angry and unhappy

Guillaume Depardieu was often called “enfant terrible” by the French press. The son of famous parents, rebellious from an early age. As a 14-year-old he started taking drugs, and as a 15-year-old he was arrested for the first time – he was caught robbing post office boxes. Such incidents have been repeated many times over the years. It was closed by for driving under the influence of alcohol, selling and possessing heroin, or illegally possessing a firearm that he threatened someone on the street. The French press also wrote about the fact that he had a foul mouth, often got into fights, and had problems with alcohol and drug abuse.

In 1995, he also had an unfortunate motorcycle accident – a suitcase fell off the car in front of him and hit his knee. The leg fracture was so severe that it required 17 surgeries. Unfortunately, during one of them he succumbed to a hospital staph infection. Young Depardieu fought the effects of the disease for several years, but eventually his leg had to be amputated. The actor fell into depression, avoided looking in mirrors for a long time – he even had suicidal thoughts.

However, he managed to pull himself together, underwent rehabilitation and returned to work with a prosthesis. After the accident, he also founded the “Fondation Guillaume Depardieu”, which helped other victims of nosocomial infections. During his convalescence, he also devoted himself to composing music – he was quite good at playing the piano and dreamed of releasing a rock album. In fact, before his death, he managed to record a few songs that were played at his funeral.

Conflict with father

For most of his life, Guillaume was furious with his father, in whose shadow he had to function: for being absent and not taking care of him, for cheating on his mother, which they found out from the press, and for years did not give her a divorce for financial reasons. He also accused his father of being obsessed with money and lavish wealth.

At some point, he even published a book about it, “Tout Donner” – this consisted of a record of conversations that the well-known television journalist Marc-Olivier Fogiel had with him. In it, he called his father a chronic liar, a drunkard and a treacherous coward, but he also admitted that he had a difficult character and always got into trouble. Guillaume was well aware that he had repeated all his father’s mistakes. He sadly said that he only saw his only daughter Louise occasionally on weekends – he wished he had been a better dad.

Gerard Depardieu sadly said that the only thing that connects him with his son are the same demons. In an interview with “Paris Match” after his son’s death, he said that he would still wonder what he could have done for him. He regretted that they had a bad relationship, his upbringing mistakes, that they were not together in his last moments. – Guillaume was too intelligent and too gentle. I tried to help him, but living in your father’s shadow is always hard, even if that father isn’t famous. Always, before our relationship became too difficult, I used to tell him that if he ever had trouble, he could come to me with it – his words Onet. The co-author of Tout Donner believed that everything Guillaume told him about his father was simply a cry for love.