“He was always strong, he fought for his family. He didn’t want to let go“. With drawn features and a trembling voice, Nathalie Marquay agreed to deliver her first words at 8 p.m. on TF1 this Thursday, March 3, a few hours after the death of her husband, Jean-Pierre Pernaut, who had presented the JT for more than 30 years old Courageously, the mother of Lou and Tom (20 and 19 years old) agreed to deliver her memories of the man who shared her life for 20 years.
And in particular of the relentless and conscientious journalist until the end, always faithful to the chain which he had joined in 1975. “He was not retired, he was a workaholic. He was always worried about the family of TF1, he wanted it to be done well. […] In the morning, when he was still working at TF1, he always got up at 6 a.m., he had to be in his office at 8 a.m., he had to write his own newspaper, we didn’t have to do it for him“, she recounted.
Even after many years on the air and an incredible experience, Jean-Pierre Pernaut found it difficult to rest. “Every day he asked for the audience during all these years at TF1. I always found him stressed on Sunday evening, because he had to restart at 1 p.m., as if he was afraid of not succeeding. Each time, with the children, we say: ‘Ah, it’s Sunday evening, he’s in a bad mood’“, she added.
However, his wife was very worried: in 2018, he had been affected by prostate cancer, before having lung cancer. “Yes he was tired, how many times I yelled at him, I told him you have to rest, the doctors tell you that you have to rest. Already when he had his prostate cancer, I told him it’s a sign from up there, you need to rest, your body is tired“, recalled the former Miss France.