After Sophie Garel, another part of our youth passed away yesterday. Claudine Longet left us on Thursday May 14, at the age of 84. It was his nephew Bryan Longet who announced the news in the American press without specifying the cause of death. The one who had grew up in France before make a life in the United States leaves behind a career as brilliant asmarred by a legal episode about which she never wanted to speak publicly again, and for good reason, she had committed to it before the courts.
Before arriving at this dark chapter, the Frenchwoman experienced a true success story. Claudine Longet married the famous American singer and television host Andy Williams in 1961. Together they had three children and formed one of the most prominent and envied couples of their time. At her side, the Frenchwoman had gained visibilitylinking together television appearances and musical recordings with a disarming naturalness.
However, their separation, announced in 1975marks the beginning of a completely different story. Long before this divorce was made official, Claudine Longet met Spider Sabichan American Olympic skier and figure on the alpine ski circuit of the 1970s. The two had already been a couple since 1972, and their relationship therefore continued after the breakup with Andy Williams. Everything seemed to be going well, until March 21, 1976the date on which everything changes! That day, Claudine Longet kills her companion with a rifle shotat their home in Aspen, Colorado.
A trial that made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic
His version of the facts, delivered to the emergency services when they arrived on site, is that Spider Sabich was showing him how the gun worked when the gun went off accidentally.. The theory of involuntary manslaughter is accepted, but everything is not over since the family of the deceased skier files a complaint and becomes a civil party. The trial which follows is then a real judicial soap operamarred by poor management of evidence and searches deemed illegal which seriously complicated the work of the prosecution. Claudine Longet initially risked up to ten years in prison.
The final verdict is much more lenient. Found guilty of manslaughter par négligence à l’issue d’un règlement à l’amiable, elle est condamnée à two years of probation, a fine of 250 dollars and thirty days in prison. A light sentence in view of the facts, which caused a lot of ink to flow at the time. Among the conditions imposed by justice was also a solemn commitment: never publicly mention Spider Sabich nor the circumstances of his death. A silence that she held until her last breath.
Claudine Longet: a life she rebuilt far from the spotlight
After the trial, Claudine Longet moved on in her own way. She had settled in Hawaii with her children and Ronald Austin, one of her lawyers during the trial, who became her life companion. A new beginning, far from the cameras and questions to which she could no longer answer anyway. The following decades passed in total, almost absolute discretion.
Claudine Longet leaves behind a strange destiny, between musical success, flamboyant American life and dream life turned upside down by a tragedy that she carried in silence for almost fifty years. A story that the United States has never really forgotten, and which resurfaces today at a time of sadness at its disappearance.
