Agathe Lecaron gives insight into her struggles with hypochondria.
On screen, Agathe Lecaron hides her anxieties well. However, despite being a 52-year-old TV host, she has been suffering from severe hypochondria for over twenty years – an illness that affects nearly 8 million people in France. The host of “Bel et bien ensemble” even wrote a book titled “Patiente zéro” where she opens up about her battle against this mental disorder that is often underestimated by society. “This hypochondria defines me so much that at one point, it had to come out. After that, diving back in remains ambivalent, because initially, there was a real trauma,” she shared in an interview with “Madame Figaro.” She added, “It’s a bourgeois mental illness, it needs to be said. I have the luxury of self-analyzing, self-examining, consulting everywhere. And in fact, the only time the anxiety disappears is when something really serious happens around me.”
“It’s very strange”: Agathe Lecaron opens up about her “total amnesia” of her middle school years.
During her childhood, school was a means of escape for Agathe Lecaron. “I felt out of place, but I quickly realized that by making others laugh, I created bonds. So, I used humor at school and at home with my parents, whom I didn’t see as happy together. Making them laugh created a form of cohesion and that fed me a lot,” she explained in an interview with “La Tribune dimanche.” Lecaron further disclosed, “As an only child, I always felt very lonely. I kept a real darkness to myself. I pretended, I adapted, even though deep down, I didn’t feel concerned about the same things as other kids.” These torments were not necessarily shared with her parents as “they weren’t really there,” she said.
In the same interview, Agathe Lecaron revealed that she has no recollection of her middle school years. “Total amnesia,” she stated. She continued, “I don’t remember any faces, any shared moments. Was there a trauma? Frankly, I don’t know. It wasn’t a happy time because I was searching a lot. But this lack of memories is very strange.”
How does Agathe Lecaron avoid passing on her anxieties to her children?
Within this context, Lecaron also fears passing her anxieties on to her children. “I must admit that my fear is already a bit hypochondriac,” she revealed in an interview with “Madame Figaro.” However, as a mother, she does her best to shield them from her own sufferings. “Our role is to try to break these patterns for our own children. I simply strive to be a ‘good enough’ mother to avoid repeating certain mistakes,” she stated in La Tribune dimanche. “When my two sons ask me what happens after death, I tell them, ‘I don’t know.’ As a child, since I didn’t have an answer, I always imagined the worst. I grew up in a very Catholic upbringing, with a lot of guilt, the idea of sin, hell… I think the source of my anxiety also comes from there.”
