An almost peaceful smile on his lips, Florent Pagny bides his time. Gilles Bouleau announces the headlines of the newspaper and ends with his “honor” guest, the “singer with the golden voice”, who accepted TF1’s invitation to come and testify to this piece of sky that fell on him. head and is called lung cancer.
But while the current topics are declined, the interpreter of “Knowing how to love” left the set. Time to rest in his dressing room.
“It was on January 25, on his Instagram account“says Gilles Bouleau, while Florent Pagny joined him. “He explained without hiding behind words what ailment he was suffering from. […] The fact that a French singer expresses himself like this left no one indifferent.” Back to those images.
A not very sympathetic tumor
“Hello, I have to make a rather special announcement. I will not be able to continue my 60th anniversary tour. I have to cancel all of my concerts due to a health problem. Indeed, I have just been diagnosed with a tumor in the lungs, a cancerous tumor. Not very friendly. It can’t be operated so I have to go into a six month protocol of chemotherapy and x-rays. Which makes me sorry. But you all know that in life, the most important thing is health. When you have a problem, it becomes a priority. This explains the reason why I could not honor my commitments”, he explained.
Fans and doctors, interviewed in the report, agree that these few words have done them good, have awakened consciences. Some smokers decided to quit, others just wanted to give him a few words of encouragement.
“I came to present the 11th season of The Voice, that was the main subject. And then also to thank the people who gave me so much love. To give some news, too.”
“I am very well. What just needs to be clarified a bit is that OK, I have a problem, I have the wrong box at the start but after that the others are pretty good. I’m at degree 1. It’s something I’ve had for between three and six months. I only have one tumor, no metastasis, nothing in other organs. We can’t operate because it’s dividing very quickly. So we don’t operate so that it doesn’t spread. But today, there are real good treatments. Chemo, immunotherapy, radiotherapy. […] I only see the good side of things. When I heard the news, I was stunned but the next day when I learned all these parameters, I was like “OK, we will face the situation and do what we have to do. I started chemo and I’m coping pretty well.”
But he also admits that it redistributes the cards. “Suddenly, faced with a situation like that, we’re going to finish the concerts, the recordings of The Voice and then, afterwards, we will take care of ourselves, but with good morale. I received a tsunami of love. And all that contributes to the fact that it’s going pretty well at a somewhat critical moment. But it is treatable.” A tsunami came from his relatives – Line Renaud, Carla Bruni, Clémentine Célarié, Pascal Obispo, Marc Lavoine, Alain Chamfort – but also from countless strangers who have loved him for decades.
No one is immune
A few more words, on a recorded clip just a few days ago, in Corsica, with Patrick Fiori and Patrick Bruel, in particular. “It was playback, because we were shooting a clip, but you know the Corsicans… they sing”, laughs the singer.
coach in The Voice, the most beautiful voice, Florent has already recorded the first episodes. Then there will be the direct, at the end of April and mid-May. “There, in May, I don’t know, because I still have six months of chemo and I don’t know how I will be in six months. Maybe in May I’ll be flawless, maybe I’ll be tired. We’ll see, we’ll get organized.”
Finally, Florent Pagny returned to this little sentence, launched in his January message: “in warrior mode”. “What does it mean ?”, asks Gilles Boulleau. “First of all, it means having good morale, not being in denial and not being afraid to talk about it. Because it’s not contagious and then it can happen to anyone.”
To close this somewhat special news, TF1 has chosen to broadcast “L’avenir”, which appears on the artist’s latest album. Quite a symbol…