On 30 March 2026, a large number of celebrities as well as ordinary people paid a final tribute to Isabelle Mergault at the Père-Lachaise crematorium. She was then buried in the Montmartre cemetery.
The passing of the famous comedian, who succumbed to cancer on 20 March last, leaves a huge void in the French entertainment landscape. While her loved ones came together for an emotional farewell, the artist’s final days are now being revealed.
A last farewell at the Père-Lachaise: the emotion of the “showbiz family”
On 30 March 2026, a moved crowd gathered at the Père-Lachaise crematorium for a symbolic tribute. A strong symbol for this lover of the theater, the deceased now rests in the Montmartre cemetery, close to her idol Sacha Guitry. Around the coffin, many members of “Ruquier’s gang” were present.
The most heartbreaking moment was the speech of her 18-year-old daughter Maya: “I have lost more than a mother. I have lost someone who understood me without me speaking,” she declared, as quoted by L’internaute.
“I will get through this”: Gérard Jugnot’s revelations on their final exchanges
The day after the ceremony, Gérard Jugnot spoke on RFM radio. The actor revealed the last text messages from his friend, testifying to her fierce determination to fight against lung cancer. “I will get through this,” she wrote to him shortly before passing away.
He portrays a woman who refused to bow down to the illness, who maintained “a will to be funny and free,” he confided in an interview for TPA.
A heavy burden to bear: the backstory of a friendship born in creation
Their strong bond was formed in 2000 around the movie “Meilleur espoir féminin.” However, the general public was unaware that the director was facing deep health issues for nearly 25 years.
On the set of the show “C à vous,” the actor revealed this heavy burden by recalling the scenario of that time: “There were still tears on the paper,” he remembered with intense pain.
The legacy of an “unreasonable heart” woman and a lioness mother
In complete discretion, the actress concealed the extent of her liver metastases to protect her acting partners. In private, she played a role of “attentive and severe” mother to her daughters Maya and Iris, according to the testimony of her ex-partner Jean-Pierre Hasson.
Her lifelong partner Laurent Ruquier explained this fatal outcome in the pages of Paris Match: “We were supposed to remove a small piece and then it escalated.” Thus, RTL mourns its most outspoken voice. Discover in our slideshow below the many celebrities present at this farewell ceremony.
