Patricia Herszman was one of the "daughters" of Madame Claude, who ran a famous luxury prostitution ring in the 1960s and 1970s.

The former prostitute, guest of Europe 1 this Wednesday, publishes Call-girl du tout Paris, confidences of a daughter of Madame Claude at the Editions du Nouveau Monde.

INTERVIEW

She was one of Madame Claude's "daughters", who ran the largest luxury prostitution ring of the 1960s and 1970s in France.

Patricia Herszman was the guest of Europe 1 this Wednesday evening.

The former prostitute publishes

Call-girl du tout Paris, confidences d'un fille de Madame Claude

at the Editions du Nouveau Monde.

In her book, she looks back on her adventure as a call girl.

It was in 1975, "the most beautiful year of her life", when she was 18, that Patricia Herszman joined the network of Madame Claude, whose real name was Fernande Grudet.

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One day, by chance, Patricia Herszman helps out a woman on a motorcycle.

This is a relative of Madame Claude, who offers to recruit her.

But Patricia Herszman refuses.

She met her again a few months later in Saint-Tropez.

This time, she accepts.

"I made myself want a little", jokes Patricia Herszman, who then changes her first name and calls herself Florence A. Her vision of the profession is far from received ideas.

“I wasn't offering my heart,” she says, “I was hiring my time”.

Without minimizing the sexual side, which "obviously had its place", she explains that "it was not at all a constraint."

Madame Claude, far from clichés

In her book, Patricia Herszman has given herself the mission of "setting the record straight" concerning Madame Claude. "Certainly, she was someone a little rigid on the organization of work, but on the other hand, contrary to everything that has been said about her, she could be very maternal", she says. . "In any problem of everyday life, you could always count on her."

Between the two women, there was a form of complicity, tinged with admiration on the side of Patricia Herszman. "I had a very special relationship with her that not all the girls had", she explains, "because we shared the same vision of the profession, the same goal". This goal, Madame Claude summed it up by the expression "exchanges of good services". The famous pimp never spoke of prostitution.

"Me, my goal, which I shared with Madame Claude, was to make everyone happy and to make life easier for the boys", explains Patricia Herszman.

"By having a date with a girl from Claude's, they knew that they were going to a place where they were safe and where they would be received in a pleasant environment by a girl with whom they would be able to talk about practically everything. ", she remembers, specifying that" the finality was nevertheless in spite of everything the few minutes which one spent horizontally ". 

His story with Gianni Agnelli, the former boss of Fiat 

Among Madame Claude's clients, politicians were legion. But they are not the ones who marked Patricia Herszman the most. Her most beautiful adventure is the one, "amico-sentimental", that she had with Gianni Agnelli. Nicknamed "the Avvocato", he was the boss of Fiat and the president of the football club Juventus Turin. 

Once, on a whim, Patricia Herszman left with him for a few days in Italy, without anyone knowing.

All of Italy will believe that he was kidnapped.

"We were both fooling around, walking in the fields and doing very simple things that he didn't have the time or the opportunity to do," recalls. it.

"He didn't have anyone around him with whom he could share that kind of carelessness, of letting go. With me, he felt good. He always said that with me, he felt like he had twenty years."

The tragic end of Véronique, her best friend

In her book, Patricia Herszman also recounts darker moments, such as the tragic story of her best friend, Véronique. In the community too, the young woman is approached by Yemenis for a trip to their country. Véronique offers Patricia Herszman to accompany her, but the latter arrives late for the meeting, and Véronique leaves with another girl.

They will never come back. They will be found dead in a car in the middle of the desert, a case that will unleash the press. Upset, Patricia Herszman will try to get answers. "I had some connections with barbouzes, war correspondents, journalists, etc. I wanted to play a role in this investigation to find out as much as possible," she explains. "I wanted us to punish the people who did this."