15/09/2023
Love rushed into her life a year before her death, at a moment when she had already completely despair.
A young Greek emigrant appeared in her life, a hairdresser by profession, who gave her a hand in a difficult moment and offered his heart.
They met at the hospital - in the last years of her life it became her second home. A series of accidents, serious injuries, constant pain, morphine, prolonged depression - it has always been in this state now.
He came to her room with the doll and said that it would bring luck, because the toy is not simple, it is a doll from his homeland, Greece. Edith laughed, but the next day he showed up with the flowers and soon proposed.
Edith resisted, talked about a difficult life, about the age difference. He listened and said:
- For me you were born the day I saw you.
Two months later, Theo asked his parents with undisclosed enthusiasm: how would they feel if he introduced them to Edith Piaf? Theo's parents and sister Christie Lom lost the gift of speech. They said yes after lapping. Theo is furious: she is waiting for you in the car.
A week later, Piaf was invited to Theo's house for tea. But the homies survived. It turned out to be in vain: in life, Piaf was modest and shy. At first, the parents and sister couldn’t even think that Theo and Edith had something more than friendship.
After learning about the novel, father Teo became furious, reminding his son of Piaf's past and the age difference. To love Edith as a singer is one thing. Accepting that a couple wants to get married is quite different. Piaf herself realized that the family of her beloved is confused. Then she began to look for them, promising to make Theo a star.
She came up with a pseudonym for him: now he is Teo Sarapo. From the Greek Sagapo ("I love you"). Only with a French "p". This is the only phrase that Piaf knew in Greek.
Sister Teo wrote a book about this relationship. She didn't know why her brother fell in love with the woman. With his peers, Theo couldn't feel like a real man. That's the case of Piaf: understanding, feeling. Shortly before meeting her, Theo attended the war in Algeria. Having seen a lot and barely survived, he did not think about the future. Live in the moment and cherish it. Piaf, who had survived a lot, was the same.
They first took the stage together at the Olympia Hall in Paris. Here they sang about love and looked happy.
"People who don't think about love are incomplete. Those who stop believing in love because this feeling once caused them to suffer cannot truly love.” Edith Piaf.
The wedding took place on October 9, 1962. Despite a previous divorce, Piaf was allowed to marry Theo in the Greek Orthodox church on George Bize Street - for this reason Edith converted to Orthodoxy. There were much more curious people in the temple than relatives, but whatever the evil tongues said, the newlyweds were happy.
Edith gave Theo a toy railway for the wedding. I don't forgive you. The electric train ran along the city of his youth, La Frette-sur-Sien. Houses painted on plywood exactly repeated the streets of the small suburb of Paris, Theo recognized them immediately, even the hairdresser where his father worked.
Theo and Edith were able to convince even the skeptics with their love: they are not a mesallian, but a happy couple. All the more, by the moment of the marriage, Piaf had almost nothing to eat. She has wasted a huge fortune by drowning in debt. The public version of Theo-Alphonse crashed without receiving confirmation.
At the end of her life, Piaf received what she considered "undeserved". It was Theo's endless concern for the woman he admired. The 27-year-old handsome man spent days and nights by his wife's bed, feeding her with a spoon. He would bring Piaf lovely gifts, read her books and tried in every way to brighten her last days. Theo looked adoredly at his beloved woman, who was all scarred and swollen hands, and could not care for herself. But he didn't care, he loved. Fed from a spoon, gently cared for, read aloud to her, gave presents, watched comedies. And until her last breath, he made it clear that she was wanted and loved. The husband was always by her aging, broken by the pain of loss and illness "sparrow", even when she did not recognize him.
Edith Piaf died in 1963. The singer was buried by all of France. She was loved for her unique voice that couldn't be confused with anyone else. Among the many songs she sang, the most popularity were "Anthem of Love", "Milord", "I regret nothing". From cabaret singing to solo performances in the most prestigious halls in the world, Edith Piaf has established a niche at the Musique Olympus in France and around the world.
The successor of Edith Teo Sarapo, who suffered accusations of favor, received several million francs in debt. The singer had them before the wedding, and Theo knew about them. He sold the apartment to cover his debt, and almost all of the performance fees went to pay Edith's bills.
He survived Edith by seven years. In 1970, Theo's car crashed into a plane tree near the town of Chateau de la Rue.
Theo Sarapo rests at the Per Lashez Cemetery, next to his beloved wife - the legendary Edith Piaf.
- from the Internet -