A Secret Affair
When Bernard Tapie met Dominique Tapie, who was only 18 years old at the time, he was married and the father of two children, Nathalie and Stéphane. For two years, they began a secret affair behind Dominique’s companion at the time and behind Michèle Layec, who was still Mrs. Tapie at that time.
A Tragedy Ruins Their Happiness
Then one day, to the great joy of the now widow of the “Boss”, he confessed everything to his wife. Fired from his house, he took a studio on Avenue Victor-Hugo in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, their “love nest”. However, a tragedy soon ruined their happiness, as Dominique Tapie recounts in her book Bernard, the Fury of Life (ed. The Observatory). Eight days later, Michèle Layec calls at the office and falls on Dominique, who works alongside Bernard Tapie. When the former owner of OM revealed his liaison with the young woman to her, he slightly modified the reality, affirming that she was so attached that she had threatened to reveal everything to his wife. After this new disillusionment, she decides to take her children to Corsica for a few days of vacation.
The “Boss” Discovers the Truth
Then one day, the “Boss” receives a call in the night, while he is with Dominique. “A gentleman told us he had found Michèle in an almost unconscious state in her bed, the victim of an overdose of medication, in other words a suicide attempt,” writes the mother of Laurent and Sophie Tapie. In tears, the former minister keeps repeating “the mother of my children!” But Dominique Tapie quickly sees the truth in this dark story. “At first very empathetic and feeling a little guilty, I regained my senses,” she shares. “But Bernard… Who is this man who finds your wife on vacation with her children, unconscious in her bed at 3 o’clock in the morning? Was he making rounds?” And when the former owner of Adidas, who died in 2021 at the age of 75, hears of his wife and children’s trip to Corsica, Dominique threatens to leave him. And when he finds her at the foot of the plane, he finally discovers that his wife’s “rescuer” is none other than his “long-term companion”. Incensed, he said to Dominique: “She really took me for a fool! This time it’s definitely over!”
