A man who long claimed to be the son of French film star Alain Delon through his relationship with the iconic German singer Nico was found dead in Paris on Saturday, prosecutors said. The body of Ari Boulogne, a 60-year-old photographer, was discovered at his home in the capital, authorities said, and an investigation into the cause of death is underway.

Another person is in police custody on charges of failing to assist a person in danger, the prosecutor said, confirming earlier reports in a local newspaper. The Parisien newspaper reported that the person in police custody is Boulogne’s companion. French authorities also said that Boulogne was hemiplegic, a condition that can leave a person partly paralysed.

Boulogne, also known as Christian Boulogne, insisted he was the son of Delon and Nico, who notably gained fame as a singer with the avant-garde American rock group The Velvet Underground. Delon, who had a brief affair with the German singer in the sixties, denied he was the father, though Ari was raised by Delon’s mother Edith Boulogne, who officially adopted him together with her husband.

Boulogne described his chaotic life in a 2001 book, “Love Never Forgets”. He joined his mother Nico on music tours and made appearances in several films as a teenager, plunging into a world of drug use and what he called an “artistic wonderland” that took him around the world.

After Nico died in 1988 he spent a period of time in rehab and received psychiatric treatment. Boulogne had filed a request for recognition of paternity in France, but it was refused because Delon officially is a resident of Switzerland. An appeal of the decision was pending.—AFP