Anissa Khelifi, who called herself Anissa Khel in 2012, at the time of Jean-Luc Delarue’s death, completely disappeared from radar screens after the violent conflict between her and Elisabeth Bost, the host’s first wife…
She probably wanted to disappear, after 3 and a half years of war for the legacy of Jean-Luc Delarue. Anissa Khelifi, known as Anissa Khel when the famous host died in August 2012, has not appeared in the media since her husband’s tragic death from stomach cancer. just 10 years ago. The one who will have supported Jean-Luc Delarue in his fight against the disease, but also against his addictions and against well-buried demons, “refuses all requests for interviews for several years”, indicates The Parisian. Only an appearance in “50 Mn Inside”, TF1 people show, in 2016, seems to be an exception. While the televisions will multiply the documentaries and the tributes for the anniversary of the death of Jean-Luc Delarue in this month of August 2022, it should therefore shine by its absence, even if the archive images showing it in the arms of the animator, ill at the end of his life, should swarm.
It must be said that Anissa Khelifi found herself at the heart of an unprecedented legal battle in 2012, after the death of the successful producer, at 48 years old. Former model, Anissa Khel, then 30 years old, will have at this time of her life faced, in addition to excessive media coverage, a trying war of succession, between intimidation, threats, rumors and even burglaries. After a long fight against Elisabeth Bost, first wife of the host who wanted to cancel the inheritance, she will manage to keep 50% of the fortune of Jean-Luc Delarue, promised in his will. A fortune made up of a solid real estate heritage and works of art estimated at 22 million euros at the time.
Who is Anissa Khelifi, the last wife of Jean-Luc Delarue?
The character of Anissa Khel, Anissa Khelifi of her real name, has always been shrouded in mystery. The young woman, born in 1982 in the Val d’Oise, from a family of Algerian origin, appeared on the arm of the host during several public outings at the end of her life. Presented then as a former model, she let little information filter out about her career: the people press will report that her meeting with Jean-Luc Delarue dates back to 2009 and an exhibition at the Center Pompidou, in Beaubourg. The basics of a couple will quickly appear, but “because of the host’s addiction problems, Anissa decides to take a step back”, writes Le Parisien. “It is only at the beginning of 2010 that they find themselves never to leave each other again.”
Anissa Khelifi will therefore be omnipresent, especially when Jean-Luc Delarue’s addiction problems are revealed in broad daylight, at the start of the 2010 school year, or when he reveals that he was struck by cancer at the end of 2011. Anissa Khelifi and Jean-Luc Delarue will even get married in Belle-Ile-en-Mer in May 2012, a few months before the death of the star host, already very weak. The people press, in the middle of stolen photos of the couple, will discuss their projects – the launch of a line of jewelry – but also the infallible support of the young woman with the dying producer.
In February 2011, Jean-Luc Delarue affirmed that Anissa Khel was the woman of his life to TV Magazine: “We are living a very beautiful love story. And love works miracles […]. I have an amazing wife. We are fighting cancer together and we don’t have a second to lose”. Assuring that he had “never been so sick”, he added that he had never been, “paradoxically, so happy”.
In a will written at the very end of his life (189 days before his death and modified one month before death), Jean-Luc Delarue bequeathed half of his fortune to his last wife, Anissa Khelifi, in particular the most expensive pieces. of his collection of works of art, his 350 m2 apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, as well as the large holiday home in Belle-Ile. His own son, Jean Delarue-Bost, born in 2006, inherited the other half of the cake, the production company Reservoir Prod, without his mother, journalist and columnist Elisabeth Bost, having any rights. on business management.
This final testament will be the subject of a long confrontation between the two women. Elisabeth Bost will try to cancel the marriage of May 2012, with the help of the father and part of the host’s family, believing that Anissa Khelifi had exploited the weakness of Jean-Luc Delarue. The latter will be accused in turn of having isolated him from his relatives, of having taken advantage of the deterioration of his general condition and of having tried to monopolize his immense fortune. These accusations will be followed, on both sides, by attempts at intimidation, suspicions of identity theft, an attack during a visit to the grave of Jean-Luc Delarue, a burglary, guard view … An action in search of paternity will further confuse the tracks, led by the employee of a Parisian real estate firm ensuring that her hidden daughter was the fruit of a relationship with Jean-Luc Delarue. A case that remained unanswered.
Jean-Luc Delarue converted to Islam?
Among these rumors, one of the wildest suggested that Anissa Khel had been able to convert Jean-Luc Delarue to Islam before his death. This rumor was born from the remarks of the father of the animator, Jean-Claude Delarue, who regretted on European 1 to have been deprived of the funeral of his son, in the middle of this family unpacking. The latter then said he was “baffled” to have learned that Jean-Luc Delarue was “buried in a square where all the graves are oriented towards Mecca”, in a cemetery in the Paris suburbs. “He married a young Muslim woman and I guess he must have converted somehow before the wedding,” he said. Jean-Luc Delarue’s father had also assured “to fight” to find out where his son had been buried.
Anissa Khel had strongly denied to AFP any conversion of Jean-Luc Delarue to Islam in a statement, saying that he was “Catholic” and that he wanted the place where he rests to remain secret. AFP will eventually indicate that Jean-Luc Delarue had been buried in the cemetery of Thiais, “in a division of the cemetery where the vaults of Muslim families are grouped”, but not reserved for Muslims.
A marriage and a will validated in court
Anissa Khel will end up speaking in Paris Match – her only public speaking at the time – to ensure the authenticity of her relationship with Jean-Luc Delarue and deny the rumors. “These controversies in bad taste force me to interrupt a mourning, which I was going through somehow, to restore the truth and ask for respect for my suffering. If I don’t speak, people think I have things to hide; and if I speak, they say that I try to justify myself. But, for the honor of my husband, I am ready to do it”, she explained in the weekly. “To read the press, I would have met Jean-Luc barely a year ago and would have married him in the midst of illness to inherit immediately, harming his son in the process”, she was indignant also, referring to the rumors of “suspicious burial, will and stolen money, astronomical sums allegedly embezzled” … A “tissue of lies”, according to her.
After years of proceedings and a defamation lawsuit, Anissa Khelifi won her case in March 2016, before the Paris tribunal de grande instance, retaining the share of inheritance provided for in the deceased’s will. The court then dismissed Elisabeth Bost’s request, considering that the marriage between Jean-Luc Delarue and Anissa Khelifi in May 2012 in Belle-Ile-en-Mer had been “a thoughtful act, decided before the onset of the disease of the animator” and the testamentary act carried out “in full conscience”. Anissa Khelifi’s lawyer, master Francis Szpiner, had indicated that Elisabeth Bost should pay 8000 euros to her client for reimbursement of legal costs.
What happened to Anissa Khelifi after the Delarue affair?
Young jewelry designer aged 30 at the time of the inheritance affair, Anissa Khel continued in this direction but also in leather goods according to the site Feminine. The designer would have launched with one of her sisters the brand “Ana Khel” in 2018, a “house of leather goods and fabrics” working between Switzerland and Istanbul. It would be inspired by the traditions and ancestral know-how of Uzbekistan, with the fashion codes of Paris or Milan. Le Parisien indicates for its part that Anissa Khelifi has “cut ties” with all the entourage of the star.