The 66-year-old actress, known for starring in The Revenge of a Blonde, was Audrey Crespo-Mara's guest on Sunday, January 7, in the portrait of the week of "Seven to Eight". As usual, Clémentine Célarié is unvarnished and direct when it comes to talking about the hardships she has endured in recent years. In 2019, she discovered that she had colon cancer, from which she has now been cured but which has left its mark.
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"I was never really aware that I was sick. [...] It was like a kind of challenge of life. I figured we'd have to fight with it. It's a fight thing, a struggle thing that comes to me. At that time, the actress decided to keep her state of health a secret, from her audience, her children and even her parents. "I don't want it to exist in the real world, it's for me. I don't want to worry them, because it's worrying about cancer. People think you're dead when you have cancer. »
Read alsoClémentine Célarié, a life lesson
"If I talked about it, it was screwed"
She chose to fight this battle alone in her private sphere, but also in her public sphere. "In my line of work, if I talked about it, it was screwed. I had 150 tour dates, which was huge and all the dates would have been cancelled. So she put on a good face all those months, including chemotherapy. "I wasn't in great shape. Chemo really makes you feel like you're dying, it's very weird, when you're rebuilding yourself, healing. [...] For me, the fight was during chemo. She tells us with strength and courage about her daily life during the treatment. "I'm all alone, I'm in bed. I don't want to go out at all. I don't want to go out into the world at all. I want to create a world for myself. »
It is only when Audrey Crespo-Mara questions her more about this "world" she talks about that Clémentine Célarié reveals an emotional facet of her personality. "I think it's related to the childhood that's still in me," she says, struggling to control her emotion. "I don't cry," she insists before continuing: "I'm moved because I realize that it's actually the love you received as a child that gives you strength when you're sick." She added that she wanted to fight "for the audience, that I return to the stage. [...] I imagine that the audience is an ephemeral but profound friend and that's the wonder of maturity. »
The journalist then asks if it is not thanks to a character trait, the excessiveness, inherent to the actress that she has been able to find the strength to survive many trials. "It's funny what you're saying. We have a real shrink session with you, it's great. Thank you Audrey. I think that outburst must have helped me," she says, somewhat disconcerted.