In 2010, a brand new reality TV show landed on TF1: Who wants to marry my son ? Several young men presented themselves with their mother in order to find their other half. Among the participants, Giuseppe Polimeno, Florent Ré or even Benjamin Godard, first gay in the dating program. At the time, the charming brunette was 28 years old and introduced himself as a stylist. Today, eleven years later, Benjamin Godard has completely changed his life. He has retrained professionally, found love and is even considering becoming a dad! Exclusive interview.
What are you doing now ?
I opened a jewelry store in Italy. I live there half the year, the rest of the time I am in France. There is also the online sales site, www.maisonnumero12.com. It’s my biggest activity. Besides, I do a little real estate on my own, so sparingly. I also do interior decoration. And then after Who wants to marry my son? I did a play. We started in a very small room and went to bigger rooms. I made a few appearances in The Mysteries of Love. I was offered a recurring role but I was in Italy at the time and I couldn’t let go of my business. So they called me for a few passages.
At the time, you were a stylist … Is it over?
By the time I filmed the show, I had made my own collection. But I think that in fact I have done all the trades in the world, I have always touched everything. I get a little bored of what I do every two, three years … It’s kind of my problem. As for my shop: I gave up everything in Paris to settle in Italy. I didn’t know anyone there … I’m a bit like that.
Have you found love since participating in Who wants to marry my son ?
I am in a relationship ! It will be 5 years at the end of the year. It’s my record (laughs), so it’s good! At this level, I am extremely Zen today. I don’t ask myself any more questions. I found THE person. It feels really good.
Who is the lucky one?
His name is Steeve. He is very square unlike me. We are two opposites but we temper ourselves. He is 45 years old, he works for a big company in the food industry. He didn’t see me on the show at all. This is also what I liked, because it still caused me a lot of problems in love with this show. We’re good together. Before him, I was in an extremely toxic relationship. I was at the lowest I could be. We met on a dating app. It matched well.
How is your mom Odile?
She’s very well. She has been retired for two years. She also lives half the year in Italy and the rest of the time in France. She enjoys life and her grandchildren, we often all meet together.
She had confided to have badly lived the critics during the broadcast of the show, where is she today?
It passed, but it was very complicated, for me too, to see the surge of hatred on the Internet. We were told not to watch what was being said. But we didn’t listen, it’s human. And again, at the time there was no social networks. We did not understand, the show was funny, to be taken in the second degree. For me, it was like a comedy, to watch like a series. And then inevitably, in a show we press on each person’s character traits to make them characters. My mother came into my private life, she saw things that she would not have wanted and should not have seen. Today, it’s over, we’re laughing about it and it brought us even closer.
You seem close to your nephews and nieces on social networks … Do you want to become a dad?
Not having children is something that really weighs on me. It’s complicated to have it, but I really really really would like it to happen. It was a promise I made to my grandfather who passed away in 2020. I am the only boy and it was important to him that the lineage continues and that his name endures. I hope that one day I can come to be a dad, because it is really something that is missing in my life. It’s a project, I think about it a lot, we also talk about it a lot with Steeve. But it takes a lot of money to bring in a surrogate mother. Otherwise, there is the solution of shared custody with someone, but that poses a little problem for me. It is complicated.
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