Francoise Hardy , the French singer known for her lilting, melancholy voice, has died aged 80. Her death was confirmed by her son, musician Thomas Dutronc, in a post on Instagram. He shared a baby photo of himself with Hardy, with a caption reading “maman est partie” or, “mum is gone.
” Hardy was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 2004, and had to undergo years of treatment. In 2015, she was placed in a coma for a short period after she began to experience difficulties speaking, swallowing and breathing. In 2021, the cancer and its treatments diminished the quality of her life to the extent that she advocated for euthanasia, and even said that France was “inhumane” for not legalising the procedure.
“My physical suffering has already been so terrible that I am afraid that death will force me to go through even more physical suffering,” she told Femme Actuelle . Born in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944, Hardy had described growing up with an emotionally absent father and a mother who lived a very solitary life. “At the weekends, my sister and I were sent to my grandparents’ house and that was it,” she told The Guardian .
“The atmosphere was so strict and there was a lot of shame perhaps to do with my parents’ separation. “My grandmother told me repeatedly that I was unattractive and a very bad person, which makes you think as a child that you will never meet anyone.” This, she said, led to a feeling of otherness and a lack of self-confidence: “I knew t.
