Solène Delinger 08:00, January 29, 2024

Laurie Darmon, a committed singer who suffered from anorexia nervosa, brings together multiple personalities on the Folies Bergères stage this Monday, January 29, 2024, so that they can express themselves freely about their relationship with the body. A feel good evening entitled Corps à cœurs and in which Joyce Jonathan, who also suffered from eating disorders, takes part. For Europe1.fr, Laurie Darmon and the singer tell us more about this unique event and their story. 

Their bond has certainly never been more unbreakable. Friends for years, Laurie Darmon and Joyce Jonathan are once again preparing to share the stage of the Folies Bergères together alongside other personalities for the third edition of the feel good evening Corps à cœurs, imagined by Laurie. An important moment for these two thirty-somethings who, like many women, suffered from eating disorders, and who will express themselves freely about their relationship with the body, through a song, a dance or even a simple text. Proud to carry out this project together that echoes their history, Laurie Darmon and Joyce Jonathan spoke at length to Europe1.fr. Self-confidence, social injunctions, quest for perfection, anorexia... The two singers were disarmingly sincere. Interview. 

Laurie, how did you come up with the idea for this show?

Laurie Darmon: It all started from my personal journey because I suffered from anorexia nervosa from the ages of 17 to 27. After my recovery, I spoke about it publicly and in a song. Many people then sent me messages telling me that it spoke to them and telling me about their journey. I found myself with a subject that I didn't necessarily know what to do with... I organized showcases and conferences around this subject. It was the beginning of a certain

Body to Hearts

because there were hybrid things, musical readings, interaction etc... I had to stop all that during Covid. I thought about it and said to myself that I would like several artists to intervene and that we no longer only talk about anorexia nervosa. Because when we talk about anorexia, we first talk about self-confidence and our relationship with the body. 

Why did you call this show

Corps à cœurs

? 

Laurie Darmon: I made different puns. At first I thought of “open heart” then this idea of ​​“heart to heart” came to me. It was October 2021, I was finally launched! Then, I wrote to the artists, starting with friends with whom I had already had conversations about the relationship with the body and self-acceptance. I told myself that they had relevant things to say. I didn't always get a "yes" right away. 

Which artists were more reluctant?

Laurie Darmon: Louane is one of my best friends but it took me a while to convince her. I told him that my approach was not that of a real production which confronts the artists with exercises. There, these are artists who speak to other artists in a very free way. And then, they all saw that I was caring and that I respected their limits. In the end, it was they who asked for more!

Joyce, did you hesitate? 

Joyce Jonathan: I was immediately convinced by Laurie's proposal. On the other hand, it was more complicated for the book (editor's note: Laurie Darmon released the book

Corps à cœurs on January 18,

 which reproduces her exchanges with the different artists participating in the show). I have always conveyed the things I felt through my music and my compositions. There, all of a sudden, I was delivering something to Laurie. When I saw the written testimonies, it gave me a bit of chills to tell myself that I had to take responsibility for all of this. Finally, it gave me a little boost to tell me that it was time for me to own my story. 

Like Laurie, have you suffered from eating disorders?

Joyce Jonathan: I had an eating disorder for eight years. I was in the middle of it when I participated in

 Dancing with the Stars

 in 2014. I had a very bad experience because I couldn't accept the fact of being sick at all. I had to do eight hours of dance rehearsals every day and I arrived on an empty stomach in the morning. I allowed myself two compotes and I checked 50 times that there was no sugar. In the end, I wasn't in good enough shape to do this competition. I blamed myself afterwards because it's a unique experience that you don't experience 1,000 times in your life.

What was the cause of this anorexia?

Joyce Jonathan: I started working as an image artist when I was 20 years old. At the very beginning, very naturally, I had less shape. TV beautified me. Honestly, at first, I said to myself: “Wow, I’m not bad!”. Then I did my first tour and I gained weight because I was eating junk in my dressing room. I experienced a breakup at the same time and I thought it was because of my weight gain. So I started the Dukan diet to lose weight, but it completely disrupted me! Dukan had become my spiritual master. It was obsessive, I made lists of what I ate, I counted calories. Today I understood that there is nothing like listening to your body. We don't gain weight when we eat because we are hungry.

READ ALSO- 

Anorexia, bulimia, hyperphagia: eating disorders worsened by the crisis

Joyce, did you heal after

 Dancing with the Stars

?

Joyce Jonathan: Not really... I started doing a lot of sport and became very thin. Because I didn't eat like someone who does a lot of sport. I realize this because I have achieved some form of healing. Food no longer haunts my mind. This afternoon, I was in rehearsals for Les Enfoirés. and there were sandwiches to eat. In another life, I would never have been able to eat a sandwich. This afternoon, I ate the sandwich like everyone else. I wasn't sitting there thinking, "Oh my god, what's in this sandwich?" Which would have been the case four years ago. I could very easily become disgusted. Today, I will never again have this notion of disgust even if I eat a little more at Christmas or during a nice meal with friends.

Laurie and Joyce, how did you get out of your anorexia?

Joyce Jonathan: It was very gradual. I thought I was starting to heal even though I still had a long way to go. Then I fell back into my old ways again. The hardest part was changing my habits because I had created new standards for myself. I got through it thanks to motherhood. Becoming a mother completely changed my outlook on things because I became responsible for someone. And above all it allowed me, in quotes, to kill the mother. The mother was now me. Before I gave birth, I couldn't really find my place between child, young adult and woman. Something was wrong. Also, there is a real duality in eating disorders. We are both our friend and our worst enemy. I didn't want to be my own worst enemy, I wanted to focus on my daughter.

Laurie Darmon: In my case, I had to understand that anorexia was only the concrete manifestation of my discomfort. And this discomfort had nothing to do with food. I had psychoanalytic follow-up. I was a law student when I started this therapy, I emerged a young singer-songwriter. There was something I didn't dare take on. Affirming my desire for expression helped me feel less about the contours of my body. I could take up space because I felt more at home. There is a real relationship between the place we occupy physically and the place we declare to the world.

Joyce, did you experience weight restrictions during and after your pregnancy?

Joyce Jonathan: I went from my single weight to my double weight several times before getting pregnant because I had phases of bulimia. I have been congratulated several times for my pregnancy even though I was not expecting a child... And it turns out that I was thinner when I gave birth than before my pregnancy. On the other hand, yes, I have suffered a lot of injunctions around my weight. Those around me were much more sensitive to the fact that I was gaining weight rather than losing it. When I was very thin, well when I was skinny, it didn't really bother those close to me. When I was fat, it bothered them. 

Do we feel this pressure more when we are an artist? 

Laurie Darmon: It's even more difficult to have a peaceful relationship with your body when you're exposed. Because the public expects to see the same physique over time. We are therefore kept in an image that must be respected.

And this problem also affects men, also present in your show... 

Laurie Darmon: When I asked men to participate in the shows, some replied: “But it’s a show for women!”. Of course not ! Men also have bodies. But many are not aware that they respect codes to embody virility and masculinity. They have as much to deconstruct as we do.