For Benjamin Castaldi, whose career took off with the launch of the Loft twenty-five years ago, Loana’s disappearance is not just a news story, it is an entire chapter of his life that closes abruptly. When the news of the former Loft contestant’s death was confirmed, Benjamin Castaldi paid a moving tribute to her. He mentioned Loana, whom the whole country fell in love with because, unlike many others after her, “she was not a character”. “She was a woman. A real one. With her flaws, her gentleness, her vulnerability laid bare…” he said in the caption of a beautiful portrait of Loana on his Instagram account.
“But that’s also why we let her fall. We applauded her light without protecting her shadow. We consumed her authenticity without considering the price she would pay. We watched her live, love, fall without ever really wondering who would lift her up after. The truth is that we are all somewhat responsible. Because we all watched. Because we all commented. Because we all, at some point, looked away when it became too hard,” he declared, with the certainty that “we have forgotten the essential along the way: behind the phenomenon, there was a woman.”
“I feel the need to stop,” said Benjamin Castaldi. While many media outlets today want to hear his testimony about Loana, Benjamin Castaldi has stated that he will not appear on talk shows. “Thank you very much for your messages and for your invitations to speak about Loana,” he said. “I have already expressed everything I had on my mind in the text I published, and today I feel the need to stop. One cannot denounce the violence of the media machine and continue to fuel it with the best intentions,” he added.
Aurore Aleman’s husband thanked those who had contacted him but admitted that he did not feel capable of discussing it further. “I sincerely believe that today the best thing for Loana is silence, respect, and dignity,” he concluded, captioning an animated loop of the eye from Loft Story with a tear falling.
On W9, the team of “Tout beau, tout neuf” learned about Loana’s death live on air. The presenter Jordan de Luxe, very moved, remembered his last interview with the reality TV star. He revealed that she had told him a wish that now pinches the heart a little: “She had told me: ‘if one day I leave, I would like to be remembered by a photo, the one that resembles me the most, that made me the happiest, it’s the one where she waves to the public from a car on the Champs-Elysées’. She waves goodbye, she won. She had told me: ‘I would like us to only remember that of me because I think about this photo all the time'”.
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