If Jacques Chirac reached the heights of the political sphere, his family life was more dramatic. The former head of state, who died three years ago at the age of 86, was tested by the death of his eldest Laurence and the contempt of his adopted daughter Anh-Dao Traxel, who distanced himself from him.

It's been three years since Jacques Chirac left us. Beyond the charismatic and facetious politician, he was a loving father to his daughters, Laurence and Claude Chirac, born of his iconic union with Bernadette Chirac , and Anh-Dao Traxel, their adopted daughter. However, life did not spare the former head of state, died on September 26, 2019 at the age of 86 in his Parisian home. Her eldest died prematurely in 2016, after a long battle against the anorexia , and his adopted daughter moved away from him after his election as head of state in 1995.

Laurence, the 'drama' of the life of Jacques Chirac

Everything changed for Jacques Chirac when his daughter Laurence Chirac , born in 1958, was affected by meningitis after a stay in Corsica in 1973. From then on, she stopped eating and gradually became entangled in the quicksand and dangerous of anorexia. For the politician, Laurence Chirac becomes ' le drame de sa vie ', he confided in the work of Pierre Péan, The Stranger of the Elysée , in 2007. And to regret: ' Maybe I should have done more, psychologically speaking '.
As his daughter sinks into this hell, Jacques Chirac nurtures the hope of becoming head of state and gives a lot of himself for his career. He tries to be present, as much as possible, during regular lunches which he devotes to his daughter. ' Laurence, who inherited the willful and authoritarian character of her father, finds his absence difficult ', explains Erwan L'Éléouet in his book Bernadette Chirac, the Secrets of a Conquest .

Over the years and political campaigns, anorexia takes control of Laurence's body, whose weight has even reached the 27 kilos , at the worst of the disease.

In 1987, the brilliant medical student dedicates his thesis to his parents: ' To my parents, in addition to unfailing affection, they gave me an example and a taste for work. I owe them everything. 'In 1990, despair is too heavy: she throws himself from the window of his Parisian apartment . She comes out of it miraculously, not without consequences. Unfortunately, death definitively prevails on this terrible day of April 14, 2016, when she succumbs to cardiac arrest. A death which deeply bruised Jacques Chirac.

Anh-Dao Traxel, the adopted daughter, disappointed by the Chirac clan

We are in 1979, at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. English-Knife Traxel is a migrant who fled Viet Nam by sea. In tears, she meets Jacques Chirac, at the time mayor of Paris, who hands her a handkerchief and decides to welcome the little one into his home and teach him French. With this heartfelt family, the little girl forged strong ties...until the 1995 presidential election when her adoptive father was elected head of state.

' On the evening of the 1995 victory, the president promised to take me with him, but his entourage then made me understand that he was no longer a clan leader but the president of the French (... ) Maybe my family at heart was ashamed of me because I was a service woman in a retirement home. ,' explains Anh Dao Traxel in his book published in 2014, Chirac, an unusual family . From then on, the young woman distances herself from the Chirac clan, she no longer feels welcome. ' I was considered a member of their family when Bernadette and Claude needed me to appease the Asian community or public opinion. ' , she adds.

Despite the absence of Jacques Chirac in her life, the young woman was tested by the announcement of the death of the politician. ' He's a great man who protected me. He gave me everything in my life, gave me a second chance “, confided, with tears in his eyes, Anh-Dao Traxel in the face of BFM TV, after learning of the death of his ' heart father '.

Source journaldesfemmes.fr