Vanessa Paradis said “I do” to Samuel Benchetrit, a French writer and director, in a small village in north-central France in June 2018. Paradis and Benchetrit got together in October 2016, when she starred in his 2018 film “Chien.” The couple quietly became engaged in November 2017, according to a source who spoke with People. Other reports claimed the engagement happened in March 2018, though neither confirmed the rumors.
Unlike his wife, Benchetrit had been married before. In 1998, Benchetrit wed French actor Marie Trintignant, but their marriage ended in tragedy. After starting an affair with the lead singer of the French rock band Noir Désir, Bertrand Cantat, Trintignant abruptly left Benchetrit, The New York Times reported. But the couple continued to have an amicable relationship, which Cantat disapproved of. A message sent by Benchetrit to his estranged wife while she and Cantat were in a Lithuanian hotel room pushed Cantat over the edge.
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Cantat beat up Trintignant, who died five days later from brain injuries. He was sentenced to eight years in prison and released on parole in 2007, The Guardian reported. Benchetrit and Trintignant share a son, Jules, who was just 5 when his mother died. In 2017, Paradis paid tribute to her then-boyfriend’s ex-wife on Instagram as a way to protest Les Inrocks magazine’s decision to feature Cantat on its cover. “We miss Marie,” she and her sister Alysson captioned the Instagram post, adding the hashtag “Les Inrocks of shame.”
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
