Ten years have passed. On March 29, 2016, Jean-Pierre Coffe passed away at the age of 78 following a heart attack. In his final moments, the host could rely on the support of his partner, Christophe Dolbeau. In a previous interview with Gala, the writer opened up about his very difficult mourning process: “I couldn’t sleep anymore, I couldn’t even turn on the radio, the TV. I lived through hell for months, I couldn’t leave my house,” he said. This March 29, 2026 marks the tenth anniversary of Jean-Pierre Coffe’s death. His partner wanted to share the final hours of the former Les Grosses Têtes secretary. “He passed away peacefully. He succeeded in life, but he also succeeded in death. His biggest fear was becoming bedridden, having a stroke, being pushed in a wheelchair… He didn’t have to experience that. He passed away suddenly and without facing the problems related to aging,” he revealed to Gala, relieved that he didn’t have to see his partner suffer.
” I never expected what I went through that night”: Christophe opens up about the last moments of his partner Jean-Pierre Coffe Despite everything, Christophe remains deeply marked by the final moments shared with his partner, who was “doing very well” until the Easter weekend. Then, Jean-Pierre Coffe’s health deteriorated gradually. “He first told me ‘Goodnight’, then called me saying he didn’t feel well, and had a heart attack. I never expected what I went through that night,” recalls Christophe, who still lives in Saint-Denis-Lanneray where the gastronome’s ashes were scattered. Ten years later, Christophe explains how he managed to overcome this tragedy: thanks to the passion he shared with his partner, gardening. “When you spend six hours a day in it, you don’t think about anything else and you work. It’s a form of therapy,” he noted, before revealing everything he achieved in the last 10 years: “I take care of it (the garden), I enhance it, I organize visits. I also opened a guesthouse. I keep the house alive as before.” In the last years of his partner’s life, Christophe was already in charge of maintaining their house as the gastronome was mostly in Paris.
“He could be quite stubborn sometimes”: Christophe pays tribute to Jean-Pierre Coffe Today, Christophe continues to honor the memory of his partner, whom he describes as “He might have been a little less vehement, but he knew how to assert himself. We had a great complicity, we understood each other without needing to talk. He could be quite stubborn sometimes, but with a twinkle in his eye. When he said, ‘No, that’s not true,’ it meant ‘Yes, you’re right.’ It was very funny!” Always very feisty, Jean-Pierre Coffe had even challenged his partner: “Before he left, Jean-Pierre made a remark to me in the Coffe way, saying, ‘If something happens to me, you’ll never be able to handle this house.’ It was a way to motivate me to succeed,” he recalled. A challenge that was very successfully met!
