Married in 1950 to Thérèse Michielsen, known as Miche, (died last March at the age of 93), Jacques Brel had three daughters: Chantal (born in 1951 and died in 1999), France (born in 1953) and Isabelle (born in 1958). On the occasion of French Father’s Day, France, the artist’s second daughter, confided in Version Femina magazine.
“I don’t know what a father is every day”
She describes a man more an artist than a father, absent, mentally involved in projects far removed from parenthood. “I don’t know what a father is every day. Unlike other men, he did not hide it. He was inhabited by something stronger than him“, she explains.
Jacques Brel was aware of this. If his infidelities to his wife were little secret, with his children, he did not try to play a role that did not suit him either. “It was he himself who asked me one day to no longer call him dad, but by his first name. We did not have a classic parent-child relationship”, says France.
“I took it as it was”
Despite everything, the artist’s daughter remembers very good moments and happy memories. “I took him as he was. When he was with us, he was there. I loved talking to him, listening to his songs. In the restaurant, when we were with him, out of discretion, he always stood with his back to the room not to be recognized and then refused autographs because he was with family.”
Today, France Brel is remarried, mother of two grown children and says she is “happy“.
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