“My father was more into…”: Isabelle Adjani's niece opens up like never before about the actress's missing brother

Tuesday, December 10, 2024, Zoé Adjani gave an interview to Le Figaro. Fourteen years after the death of her father, Éric Hakim, who was the brother of her aunt, Isabelle Adjani, the young actress made some upsetting confessions.

© BestImage Zoé Adjani lost her father when she was younger.

IN BRIEF

• On December 25, 2010, Zoé Adjani lost her father Éric Hakim, Isabelle Adjani's brother, to a heart attack at the age of 53.
• Zoé Adjani discusses how her father's death influenced her career and her desire to preserve her family's legacy.
• Discover how Zoé Adjani navigates between her family heritage and her own artistic identity in a demanding environment.

A huge loss… On December 25, 2010, at the age of twelve, Zoé Adjani lost her father, Eric Hakim. At the age of 53, Isabelle Adjani's little brother, died of a heart attack.Tuesday, December 10, 2024, Zoé Adjani gave an interview to Le Figaro. While her father was a photographer, assistant director for Marguerite Duras and actor and her mother was a documentary producer, she made rare confidences to their subject.

“She knows the difficulty of this job, my father was more into creative madness. I have this mix, stone and ardor! Very young, I was dragged around on the sets”, she declared. On October 7, 2021, in the columns of Paris Match, the young actress confided : “I want the essence of my character from my dear dad who was very in touch rebellion, very angry, an anger that ended up devouring him. He didn't find a way to express it and it turned against him”.

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Zoé Adjani: “You can imagine the harm that can do!”

In all transparency, she had declared: “With my aunt Isabelle, we talk about him, sometimes, when we manage, she and I. It's not easy. Many upset stories… I lost my father, she lost her little brother. You can imagine the harm that can do!”.

With the name she bears, the young actress has not stopped being questioned since her childhood. “I am proud of my work and I would like to receive praise, even if it starts, for reasons other than this name. I have often been advised to change it. Do you realize ? Crossing out my father's name when I do everything for him!“, she had let go.

Zo&eacute Adjani: “Putting my heritage in there”

In the columns of the magazine Au Féminin, it was with great emotion that Zoé Adjani spoke of the man who left her on Christmas Day. “My father died when I was 12, so that played a big role in what I wanted to keep from him, putting my heritage in there and what I wanted to highlight. No one is ever asked to change their last name in relation to their professional background. Except for actors, because it's a particular profession, there is a spotlight…”, she had analyzed.

In 2018, In an interview with the Swiss magazine L'illustr, Isabelle Adjani also spoke about the death of Eric Hakim. “He was a gifted person, ultravulnerable, ultrasensitive. He was trapped. I was his nurse very early on, even though we were only two years apart. It's a terrible failure not to be able to help someone you love get through it…”, she had deplored.