Together they have about ten children, but their family has never been an obstacle to their development, on the contrary, it is their driving force.
With their new show, set up on the Vrai platform, Mélissa Bédard and Bianca Longpré meet mothers from across Quebec who, like them, have chosen to be self-fulfilling, have a busy professional life or live an unconventional way of life. without giving up parenthood.
Whether singers, pastors, teachers or hockey coaches, they face the work-family balance and the diverse challenges of everyday life with inspiring ease and go beyond the question of the collapse of the traditional family model.
“Being a mother is not a handicap,” Bianca Longpré initially recalled in an interview with the QMI agency.
“What I saw [quand on a tourné la série] it is equality [au sein des couples visités]. I’ve seen a lot of committed, dedicated fathers supporting their spouses,” she added.
“For us in our organization, Dad stays at home, but I got the impression during the filming of this series that we don’t even have to ask ourselves these questions. The women we’ve met, no matter what their spouse does, and no matter what they do, they allow themselves to do it without judgement,” Mélissa Bédard said over the phone. Filming this show also came as a soothing and guilt-free balm, the singer, host and actress confided.
Inspired by their audience
The idea of making such a series sprouted in Bianca Longpré’s mind during her many meetings with ordinary women and mothers, who would tell her a bit of their story every night after their shows.
“I’ve met moms with such inspiring stories, moms who aren’t in the light, living their ordinary little lives but doing extraordinary things. I wanted these women to be heard and seen on TV. There are a lot of reality shows out there, but you never see really good stories like hers,” she explained.
For her part, Mélissa Bédard, who with her husband Karl forms a nice, big patchwork family with six children, was involved in the project from the start.
“Basically, Bianca was a woman I identified with very much. When she proposed to me the project to highlight women and families that we know nothing about and to whom we do not necessarily give the right to express themselves, I was immediately impressed and I accepted it with great joy,” said the artists, whose fifth album “Aime-toi comme ça” is currently a hit. She is also continuing her Quebec tour through the fall.
The first two broadcasts of Extraordinary Mothers particularly highlight the family of singer Jeanick Fournier, who had to explain the grief to her two children with Down Syndrome, that of Jordane, who is an emergency foster family for DPJ, and that of Joannie. who regularly has to commute back and forth between Quebec and L’Isle-aux-Coudres for work, but always comes back in time to pick up the little ones from daycare.