On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his victory at Roland-Garros, Yannick Noah agreed to look back on his entire career in a series of podcasts for Europe 1. To do this, Jacques Vendroux went to Étoudi, the Cameroonian village of which the former tennis player is the leader. Over the episodes posted online since May 26, he talks about his childhood, his rise in sport, his musical career and his charitable commitment.
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In 1988, his mother, Marie-Claire Noah, created the association Les Enfants de la Terre whose goal is to help children in difficult situations. "She [her mother, Editor's note] managed to make sense of what was my success because once you have the car, the nanas, the best table, it's going for two minutes, me, I didn't feed on that at all, it wasn't my education and my trip at all. And all of a sudden, it gave meaning to my work, to my life, to my status as a well-known personality to be able to use that for something useful," he explained.
"The kids were excited because they saw me at Star Academy."
Yannick Noah
His commitment also involves participation in programs that Yannick Noah does not seem to keep an excellent memory. "I agreed to do certain shows that seemed so empty to me. We pretended to laugh, I was asked stupid questions, I sometimes felt like I was on the verge of prostitution," he said before letting go: "But one day, I did the "Star Academy" and it was very painful because I really felt like a whore, to be there to sell a product. It's a therapy to sing and of course I want it to work but it was a mandatory passage because it was a wonderful promotion of my project. But I wasn't well."
On September 24, 2004, the former tennis player had agreed to share a duo with Grégory Lemarchal. Together, they had performed The Lionesses and at the end of the show, the artist had sung, alone, Mon eldorado. A performance that did not go unnoticed since that evening, more than 6 million viewers, or 30% of audience share, had followed the TF1 telecrochet. Among them, several million children. "It turned out that the next day, we had a visit to Necker Hospital. And then, the kids were overexcited because they had seen me at "Star Academy"! You realize!", added Yannick Noah.
Enough to make him forget his first feeling and convince him to take on the role of godfather two years later. "So, the "Star Academy" that I redid after, I had a reason to do it that was something else, it gave meaning to all that," he concluded.
