Maripier Morin has come a long way in almost three years. She put her life back on track by first becoming aware of her addictions, mistakes, and shortcomings. She also reflected on why she got lost at some point in her life. Today she seems ready for a fresh start.
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In recent weeks, Maripier Morin has participated in several shows and podcasts in which she has been able to take stock of her resilience, explain the changes that have marked her life in recent years and put into words the path she has taken be covered. The young woman, who will be 37 in July, has devoted herself intensively to self-observation and the healing of her childhood wounds. She returned to each moment that weakened her to the point that she eventually succumbed to alcoholism and other addictions. A useful and necessary step to being reborn in a new light, peaceful, resilient and ready to face the rest of your life under a milder sky.
Photo: Husband Photographer/TVA
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HABITS TO DECONSTRUCT
In the Imparfaite series, Maripier Morin openly confided in Julie Bélanger how she saw herself before the 2020 denunciations that forced her to hit rock bottom and embark on a process of rebuilding. “In life I go with the slaps, otherwise I don’t learn,” she confided in particular. If what happened to me had had less impact on my life, I don’t know if I would have gained all the insights I needed to make. I have taken on responsibility in recent years.”
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She admits that therapy wasn’t exactly fun. Going to play with her bugs three times a week was very difficult for her. “I was so mean to myself! I looked at others, I compared myself, I’ve never been so good, so beautiful, so thin… There was nothing that worked. I no longer knew who I was. There were so many layers of pain that I drowned. This constant self-deprecation had its origins in the fact that he did not take part in the Olympic Games in figure skating. However, she had trained for years to achieve this goal, but a minor injury shattered her dream. “Then I did the Occupation Double but was treated very badly in the media. I developed a sick need to be loved, to be recognized, and to excel. I needed more and more.”
She also came back to this desire for endless love, which occupied her completely, in the podcast “Open your game” with Marie-Claude Barrette. “I wanted to be loved at all costs! Today I understood that I cannot be loved by everyone. But when someone shows me love, I welcome their words and it overwhelms me. Before I thought it was a lie.
Courtesy of ICI Radio-Canada
This lack of self-confidence was described to her by her psychologist. “He told me about a narcissistic flaw, meaning it was a flaw in my self-esteem. I’m unable to love myself, appreciate myself, and admit that I have any worth. I think it’s because of my failure as an athlete and because of my double work.
A PAINFUL TIME
While she was successful and popular and seemed to shine everywhere, the young woman experienced the darkest episodes of her life. Her marriage to Brandon Prust seemed more like a toxic relationship than the beautiful fairy tale she wanted us to believe. “It’s not his fault, it’s just that the match between him and me didn’t work out,” she told Marie-Claude Barrette.
Even in her daily life as a hostess, she no longer had any respect for herself, preferring to play the game that was expected of her to make herself popular. “When I was on a TV show, I put myself in a state of mind. I had to put on a show to be vulgar, to eventually be crowned, to get the business rolling… But three quarters of the time, no one saw it was me, five minutes before entering the set, I was crying in my dressing room, because nothing was going right in my life. I was deeply unhappy. But I wanted to seek recognition, validation, love, recognition, acceptance…”
In early July 2020, Maripier discovered the denunciation post on Instagram at the same time as everyone else, and it’s a blast which, in hindsight, will finally have done him a favor. “July 7th, 2020 is the greatest gift of my life, although I know someone has suffered from this story. I don’t minimize it. But I drowned in myself and was all alone. I had everyone huddled around me. I no longer knew how to reconnect the bridges.”
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A LOVE THAT SAVES
Even if most of his colleagues and producers left him overnight, only one important person remained in Maripier’s life: his lover Jean-Philippe Perras. “I wouldn’t have gone through it if he wasn’t there,” she confessed to Marie-Claude Barrette. He really is a beautiful person. His presence, his ability to listen, his calmness… He never got angry at the ordeal we were going through. To this day I don’t know why he stayed. It’s an immensely valuable relationship.” With Jean-Philippe by her side, she got help and rebuilt herself in new surroundings, a large, peaceful house in the country. In particular, speaking to Julie Bélanger in her documentary series Imparfaite, Maripier admitted: “It’s amazing what the love of family and caring people can do.” We have absolute calm. I go home and it’s relaxing. Along with Marie-Claude Barrette, she added, “We put a bird feeder in front of the living room window and it’s fabulous.” I’m reopening to all the little things in life. Everything becomes extraordinary. It is magic.”
Photo: Patrick Seguin
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THE FUTURE
Maripier Morin still has many questions about her future and what she wants to do. “I am experiencing too many disappointments at the moment to dream of going back to the same level as before,” she explained to Julie Bélanger. I have to listen to myself to leave space for myself. She has thought about leaving this job, but she doesn’t know how to do anything else. “In therapy I was asked what I would do when I got out because everyone thought it was over for me forever. I replied that I didn’t know, but that I had to create something. I knew I had to find a way to be creative and I did that with the Seeds of Hope podcast. I like this job, I like to communicate, to work in a team, to develop further… I have an entrepreneurial streak and projects in this direction are pending. That’s all I can do When I was 20, I was a fashion representative for two years and then started working in television.
However, Maripier now wants to do her work at her own pace, take her time and take care of herself. “I also had to wait for the right moment for me. I’ve been on maternity leave for the past few months. I wanted to take the opportunity to build my concrete love relationship with my daughter. But I don’t know what will be after that.
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