PPDA guilty of invading privacy
The TV journalist and writer must pay damages of €25,000 and €8,000 costs after writing about his love life
TELEVISION journalist and writer Patrick Poivre d’ Arvor has been found guilty of invasion of privacy after writing about one of his relationships.
The Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris awarded €25,000 damages and €8,000 costs against Poivre d’Arvor – known as PPDA – for having written in detail about his relationship with a young woman in a book presented as a novel, Fragments d’une Femme Perdue (Fragments of a Lost Woman).
Agathe Borne, who is 25 years younger than PPDA, had a relationship with him from 2006-2008, which is said to be retold in day-to-day detail in the book, including her enjoyment of Henry Miller, a suicide attempt and abortions. Her lawyer said it is clear to readers that the hero of the novel is Poivre d’Arvor and “Violette” is Ms Borne, furthermore the “novel” reprints love letters she sent him. It was written as “an act of revenge of a rare perversity,” as punishment for leaving him, she said.
Poivre d’Arvor’s lawyer said there were merely “elements” of Ms Borne in the character, and it was common for writers to mix real life aspects and imagined ones in their books.
Georges Seguin
