Marrakech’s Hidden Gem: Inside Jamel Debbouze’s Lavish Riad Retreat

Jamel Debbouze and Mélissa Theuriau said their vows for life on May 7, 2008 in Cernay-la-Ville in the Yvelines. The next day, they took a flight to Marrakech. The celebration continued for three days in a riad that the couple owns in the upscale Targa neighborhood. It is a five-hectare property with a sumptuous decor "that blends the oriental style dear to the comedian and all the contemporary comfort". Jamel and Mélissa do not show their love nest, but Le Journal de la Maison has a little idea: a place "in the purest Moroccan tradition". Open lounges, carved fountains, and "benches covered with sandy fabrics" are built around the shaded central patio. A way for the actor to pay tribute to his Moroccan origins.

The sumptuous riad regularly welcomes the Debbouze family. This allows the comedian to forget the other major real estate project he was unable to carry out in France. After achieving fame, he offered his parents a nice house in Elancourt, the city adjacent to Trappes, before thinking of realizing his teenage dream, that of acquiring a large plot of land in Trappes and making it a grand residence, a haven of peace. An old hunting lodge was already erected on this property located in a forest on the border between the commune of Elancourt and that of Maurepas, Le Parisien had reported in 2013, specifying that this building is just steps away from the new property of the parents of the teenager Jamel. But the comedian had to abandon this beautiful project, because "it was not in compliance with urban planning law", Jean-Michel Fourgous, the mayor of Elancourt, had explained at the time.

Shortly after, the house was left abandoned. The forest invaded the entire property. Graffiti and tags on the walls. The building became a refuge for squatters. The lifeless body of Laurent, a 47-year-old homeless man, had been found in the building. "A natural death", the investigation had concluded at the time. This news would have saddened the comedian. Ten years ago, Jamel was still planning to carry out "beautiful projects" on his abandoned land. Since then, nothing more.