"I am mentally ill": Nicolas Demorand, presenter of France's leading morning radio show, on France Inter, revealed on Wednesday that he is bipolar, a "personal and painful" subject to which he has dedicated a book.
"Like hundreds of thousands of French people, I am bipolar. Type 2 bipolar. I alternate between phases of euphoria and periods of depression, but I am receiving treatment," the 53-year-old journalist explained in a column at the start of his morning show.
"Yes, I am mentally ill: it's raw, it's violent to say and certainly to hear, but I no longer want to hide it or hide MYSELF," he explained.
"The reason I kept quiet for so long is because mental illness is scary. Because mental illness remains a shameful illness. And yes, I was ashamed," he continued.
"For me, illness is a state, I have now decided to make it a fight," he stressed.
He wants to lead this "fight for all those, thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, who suffer in silence while it is possible to live and work with a mental illness."
The newspaper Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France revealed on Tuesday that the journalist would release the book "Intérieur nuit" on Thursday, published by Les Arènes, in which he reveals "having been bipolar for 30 years but having been diagnosed eight years ago."
Formerly called "manic-depressive illness," bipolar disorder alternates between phases of intense excitement, known as manic episodes, and deep depression. This mental illness is different from depression, and therefore the treatments are not the same.
In France, it is estimated that bipolar disorder affects between 11 and 2.5% of the population, a proportion that is "most certainly largely underestimated," according to the High Authority for Health (HAS).
In recent years, many celebrities have announced that they suffer from it, including American singers Kanye West and Mariah Carey, British actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde.
French presenter Sylvain Augier, who died in March 2024 at the age of 68, also spoke frankly about his fight against this "formidable enemy" in the book "Je reviens de loin" (I Come Back from Afar).
These public statements are welcomed by doctors specializing in mental illness, who consider them important for changing society's view of these pathologies and enabling better care.
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