It was a television interview by Janette Bertrand with a young gay man and his father that prevented Jean-Sébastien Girard from committing the irreparable at the age of 18.
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“I would like to find this young man one day to thank him,” confided the comedian and presenter Marie-Claude Barrette in the “Open your game” podcast.
“When I saw him in Janette, I asked myself: Why is this man his age, happy, fulfilled and comfortable in his own skin, happy and on TV and not me?” Then I felt the urge to tell my mother. The evening before, I told myself that I had two options: either I say it or I commit suicide,” adds the now 48-year-old artist, who until then had hidden and rejected his homosexuality.
“A boy like no other”
When he explained to his mother that he had “something terrible” to tell her, “worse than anything she could imagine,” she was relieved to learn his secret, which she had long suspected.
“As a child, I made the decision not to tell anyone in my life. For me it was a mistake. I was defective. There was something “dirty” there. “I didn’t want that, I rejected that in my life as a child and teenager,” continues the comedian, who called his show “A Boy Like No Other.”
The radio man feared that his mother, with whom he still maintains a close relationship, would see him differently.
“I was ashamed of my mother. I said to myself: She will see me as gay, not as her son. Because I myself had prejudices against homosexuals, I judged stereotypes,” reveals the ambassador of Iterligne, a listening, intervention and awareness service for the LGBTQ+ community. Obviously this was not the case.
He emphasizes that suicides by young homosexuals still occur in our time and confirms that he has heard numerous statements to this effect on the Interligne crisis line.
“Suicides will still occur in 2023. You only have to read the comments under such a news story to realize that it is still very present and to understand the reality of these people,” regrets the person who the theater has helped to express and convey to the outside world.
Generalized fear
Jean-Sébastien Girard also admits to being an extremely anxious person. His hypochondria is also one of the manifestations of his generalized anxiety.
The comedian has not only developed hypochondria towards the people he loves, but also explains that he finds it difficult to project himself into the future; He finds it difficult to even plan a trip in the near future.
Aging causes anxiety; Over the years, screening tests, statistics, and more possibilities for diseases came along.
“We often joke about hypochondria. First, I often use this as a comedic device on television and radio because it’s funny, the thoughts that hypochondriacs have. It’s funny, but there’s a real burden involved. It’s invasive. It’s my nature and I will always be a hypochondriac,” he says.
— Do you suffer from stress or have suicidal thoughts? You can contact Interligne speakers online at this address: https://interligne.co/