For decades, Bernard Pivot has put culture in the spotlight on the small screen with Apostrophes or Culture broth. Withdrawn for several years, the ex-host agreed to explain his silence in the columns of the Sunday newspaper of this April 2.
Bernard Pivot has had several strings to his bow between journalist, animator, writer or even president of the Goncourt prize. The 87-year-old even tried his hand at acting. But if the former presenter ofApostrophes et culture broth no longer appears on the screens, it is above all a personal choice, as he explained to Tele-Leisure in 2018. “I’m the one who decided to quit, so I don’t see why I would have any regrets. I don’t feel any nostalgia and I’ve definitely moved on. I’ve had the chance to do shows in live for twenty-eight years. But I had reached an age where I said to myself that a younger animator, more in touch with new forms of literature, had to succeed me. I did not want to keep my chair. up to 95 years old!” did he declare. Moreover, it has now been several years that he no longer intervenes in the media.
A health-related withdrawal
The former TV presenter also withdrew from the presidency of the Goncourt prize. Although some admirers who grew up watching his show wonder what he’s become, Bernard Pivot preferred to hide in silence. But what is the reason for his absence? On the occasion of the Quais du Polar in Lyon, his hometown, the writer gave an exceptional interview to the Sunday newspaper, where he was a columnist. Asked about the secret behind his withdrawal, Bernard Pivot made sad revelations. “I remained silent because the evil struck me in the head, seat of the brain and speech”, justified the one who confided in his relationship to old age. Before adding, in a poetic way: “Better then to be silent while waiting for the memory to recharge and for the thought to bloom again.
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“I was sick, disabled”
At the beginning of 2022, the state of health of Bernard Pivot caused great concern, in particular because of his hospitalization for a month. It is for these reasons that the writer has chosen to bow out. “I stopped television to anticipate what would have happened inexorably: the weariness of the public. ‘Grandpa Pivot, he’s getting tired and he’s starting to break them…’ In addition, I wanted to take time to write some books. At 84, I resigned from Goncourt to make way for a younger writer. he explained. It also caused him to withdraw from Sunday newspaper: “Finally, to my great regret, I abandoned my chronicle of JDD because I was ill, handicapped, and could no longer write as I did for your readers, for our readers, if you will, for more than a quarter of a century.”
Article written in collaboration with 6medias.
