Audience: In 2018, you left TF1 to pursue your artistic passions. The departure is final?
Sandrine Quetier: There, I honestly don’t want to go back. I had some great times there, but that’s part of the principle of evolution… In recent years, I’ve been thinking about my life after, I’ve been anticipating my desires for music, fiction, theatre. I wanted to go towards things that I hadn’t done or had done very little, for lack of time. So it seemed logical to me to stop the TV, having the feeling of having done the trick. And what’s great is to start an adventure from zero experience, it’s a challenge, a real excitement.
“I created my first group at 17”
Is your rock band a teenage dream come true? What were you listening to at the time?
I have always made and listened to music. For my first band, I was 17 years old. Music accompanies me in all my moments of life, happy or sad. I had a revelation when I was 14-15 years old with the Beatles, which we listened to as a family. The Stones and rock culture followed, but also soul with Sly & The Family Stone, James Brown, fifties titles like Elvis. It was eclectic, but what speaks to me the most is rock and its energy…
How did you meet François Pavan and Jean Bocheux, the two other members of Molly Pepper?
Jean, I got to know him through mutual friends. It’s a real big pub and it does a lot of things, a real Swiss army knife! I loved his titles, but we had to get out of the first confinement to see each other again. That’s when he told me about François, an album director-producer-musician, another jack-of-all-trades. During the second confinement, we all met at Jean’s, in his garage, and we wrote and recorded twelve titles, four of which have already been released on our EP1. What’s nice is this three-way creation. And, on stage, bassist Guilhem Hatt joins us!
“Nikos has always told me that I am an actress!”
Who is Molly Pepper?
Everyone and no one! He’s an imaginary character behind whom you can put whatever you want. Plus, it sounds sixties, English rock band… It’s a pretty cool name.
How did TF1 react to your departure?
They were extremely surprised. I had shared this desire to quit with very few people. But they understood that it wasn’t to go to another channel or get a raise: I really wanted to find fulfillment elsewhere and in a different way. Very quickly, they offered me roles in their fictions… Which was a way for them to support me in my new life. I remained on super good terms with TF1.
Nikos was in on the secret?
Yes, and it was above all he who, for ten years, kept telling me: “You are an actress!” Today, he is happy to see that I am following my dreams. He follows me, encourages me, he is super benevolent: everything Nikos, what!
He didn’t offer you The Voice?
Oh no… but I would have refused, I think I’m too old! (Laughs.)
In general, what were the reactions on your life change in the media?
There were 10% of: “Oh dear, but anything!”, and 90% who said to me: “It takes courage!” I don’t see it that way at all, because I had anticipated everything in my head for two or three years, so I was just following the next step. With my foresighted Capricorn side, I put some money aside… I imagined the worst: “What if for two years, I don’t have a job at all!” Fortunately, I was able to shoot two months after the TV shutdown, but it was not a foregone conclusion. I found myself in front of a blank page to write.
And your children, how did they receive the news?
At first, they were very worried, then quickly quite proud! But their father (Fabrice Michelin, his ex, editor’s note) and I raised our children, Lola and Gaston, in this philosophy of going after their desires. Life is not something linear, we evolve: the Sandrine who was 25 and the Sandrine of today, it’s not the same at all!
What does a day in the new life of Sandrine Quétier look like?
No two are the same! There are “file” days because I have set up a program production box for companies… I also do a lot of business seminar conventions that I love! From time to time, I record titles for Molly Pepper and, when I have films, I learn the scripts, or for the theater, I learn my score and I rehearse…
Tell us everything: what’s your rocker “drug”?
I run on Coke Zero and energy! But above all the desire to create our own sound and garage style… Whether it works or not. The first victory is that Molly Pepper exists!
Can we say that life begins at 50?
At all ages, you can achieve things… I didn’t consider it a hindrance, I feel like a kid. I am in full adultescence but… controlled!
Key dates
1. December 30, 1970
Sandrine was born in Paris to parents who were managers of an import-export company for electronic parts. She has an older sister, Catherine.
2. 2001 & 2003
She becomes mother of Lola then of Gaston. “A fairly unique whirlwind of feelings, there’s nothing else that gives you that”she tells us.
3. 2006
It inaugurates the presentation of 50′ Inside, the flagship Saturday program on TF1alongside Guillaume Lacroix then Nikos Aliagas.
4. 2022
Molly Pepper’s new single is due out in November. And at the theater, Sandrine will be at the Tête d’Or, in Lyon, from January to March 2023 with Deux jours pour ruptre.
See also: TF1: relive Sandrine Quétier’s farewell
Interview by Béatrice Nouveau