In 1904 his social standing suffered a great blow
When Debussy was named a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1903, the public acknowledged his status. However, the following year, a controversy involving another aspect of his personal life dealt severe damage to Debussy's social position. Raoul Bardac, the son of Emma, the wife of the Parisian financier Sigismond Bardac, was one of his students. Debussy was immediately attracted to his mother once Raoul introduced his instructor to her. She was sophisticated, witty in conversation, a talented vocalist, and unconcerned with marital fidelity because she had been Gabriel Fauré's mistress and inspiration a few years before.
On July 15, 1904, Debussy sent Lilly to her parents' residence at Bichain in Villeneuve-la-Guyard and then took Emma away, residing covertly in Jersey and Pourville in Normandy. On August 11, he wrote to his wife from Dieppe, informing her that their marriage was terminated but leaving out any mention of Bardac. He settled down on his own when he got back to Paris, renting a place in a separate district. Lilly Debussy shot herself in the chest with a handgun on October 14, five days before their fifth wedding anniversary, but she was saved and the bullet was left in her vertebrae for the rest of her life. Due to the subsequent controversy, Bardac's family had to renounce her, and Debussy also lost a lot of close friends including Dukas and Messager. His already strained relationships with Ravel got worse when the latter joined other ex-Debussy acquaintances in making contributions to a fund to aid the abandoned Lilly.
May 1905 saw the divorce of the Bardacs, Debussy and Emma, who was now pregnant, left for England because they could not stand the animosity in Paris. In July and August, they remained at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, where Debussy revised the La Mer symphonic sketches' proofs while also celebrating his divorce on August 2. Following a brief trip to London, the couple returned to Paris in September and purchased the property that would serve as Debussy's residence for the remainder of his life in a courtyard neighborhood off Avenue du Bois de Boulogne (now avenue Foch).
