Behind his broad smile, his jokes and his Canadian accent, Jean-Marc Généreux hides heavy wounds. The daily life of the former juror of Dance with the stars largely revolves around the life of sa daughter Francesca, with Rett syndrome, “a genetic disease that affects all motor functions“and is manifested by”a very serious physical and mental impairment“, as he has already explained.
At 22, the young woman has no independence, and has always been. “She developed well until she was 24 months old, and after all receded. So she can’t talk anymore, she can’t walk anymore“, he said in The Luxury Moment Tuesday, December 7, 2021, available on Télé Star Play. The Quebecer will then have had very little time to take advantage of his daughter and in particular of her soft voice. “She said ten words, we played hide-and-seek, she ate …“, he remembered. And then, she plunged into the most total silence. A new life began then for Jean-Marc Généreux, in powerlessness.”It was really hard for me. JI’m a solutions guy, and there, honestly, the solution is to give him love. That’s all I have left for a solution“, he confided.
The accomplice of Chris Marques may do everything to make his daughter happy, he knows however that his time is running out. Taken by emotion, he shared his greatest fear: “My daughter is 22 years old but many of her girlfriends are no longer there … She catches the Covid and it’s over. After … She only gets the flu and she can go. There are motor functions that she does not have. (…) There are things that are not done as naturally as for others. I’m afraid that one day I’ll be abroad smiling, making people smile, and that I get the phone call that I don’t want to receive.“
In the meantime, Jean-Marc Généreux is fighting to raise awareness about Rett syndrome while taking care of Francesca. It is moreover for her that he decided to leave Dance with the stars, a show for which he was forced to stay away for months from his family in Canada every year.