Don’t talk to Macha Méril about old age. At 81, the actress is in much better shape than some women younger than her, contrary to what one might think. In any case, this is what she confided to Vincent Remy and Jean-Philippe Pisanias in What lives!work published at the beginning of May by Buchet-Chastel editions: “I am aging as all women should normally evolve” she concedes to them. If the other women no longer have the same energy as before, the reason is very precise for Macha Méril: they take their roles of mother and grandmother too much to heart, to the point of forget yourself.
According to her, aging is a matter of state of mind: “I see youth in my eyes. I’m not talking about the one we inherit, or not, from our genes, but about a state that we concoct for ourselves during our existence.“Having children and grandchildren means agreeing to lock yourself into a role that pushes you to let go:”If certain women end up decrepit, it is because they accept the places of mother or grandmother assigned to them. It is absolutely necessary to refuse this confinement.” His “scarce energy“would therefore be due to the fact that Macha Méril never had a child.
If the actress regrets not having known the joys of motherhood, she prefers to see the good side of things: “It was a great misfortune, but at least I avoided taking on these roles and was able to grow old naturally.” she says. Macha Méril remained married to Michel Legrand for five years. A cloudless happiness brutally darkened by the death of the composer in 2019. “We were on the same wavelength, we wanted the same thing. I had no doubts about his love and he about mine. We must rise from the heaviness of things, poetize the real” she confided.
Despite the absence, Macha Méril continues to have links with Michel Legrand thanks to a medium who communicates with the deceased: “He even talks to me. It’s very personal, you’re going to say that I’m crazy but I have a clairvoyant who puts me in touch with him. (…) He’s talking to me. He gives me instructions (…) It gives me a lifeline and a purpose in life.” An unbreakable bond.