Since the announcement of his cancer, a lung tumor that he revealed to the public in January 2022 from his Instagram account, Florent Pagny has wanted to play the game of transparency with all those who love and support him. It is in this spirit that he delivers his autobiography today, Pagny by Florent, to be published on April 5, 2023, by Fayard editions. A confessional testimony which is an event and where the singer hides nothing, from his modest childhood in Le Creusot to his current career, through his loves, his cancer and his problems with taxes.
On his illness, the artist reflects on how he learned the terrible news while recording a program of The Voice: “When the information falls I am stunned. I take a slap that fucks me in the air before I tackle the ground, throat so tight that I can not breathe. The earth is collapsing.”, he says and adds: “I don’t take the time to cash it in. I’m hanging up. Ten seconds later, I push open the dressing room door and head for the set. If he has one knee on the ground, the singer does not admit defeat, better, he decides to fight and confide in his audience. A choice that will do him a lot of good and allow him to feel supported by everyone…
As for the cover of his book, where we see him smoking… wouldn’t that be a provocation? Isabelle Saporta, director of Fayard editions told BFMTV that, “present everywhere”, the artist had in particular wanted to contribute to the choice of the cover. “We explained to him that we couldn’t normally show ourselves smoking. It’s not good”. But the artist insisted, “He told us, maybe it’s not right, but it’s been my life. And my life, I never hide it. It will be that photo, so figure it out.” And the editor concludes: “Here, he is like that, he is authentic. Yes, he smoked. Yes, he no longer smokes. Yes, he is sick. Yes, he fights. And he is a solar character”.
His cancer, his taxes… Florent Pagny reveals himself for the first time in an autobiography pic.twitter.com/bsLy9JYsji
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) April 2, 2023
“I wish to tell them that nothing is further from the truth”
Throughout the pages, he also talks about his mental strength during this terrible ordeal: “This disease took me elsewhere, forced me to question my fundamentals to fight for my skin to rebuild myself. I built myself until I was 60 now I am rebuilding myself and it gives me so much strength.” He who remembers his modest childhood who, at the age of 11, discovered his passion for singing by taking up a title by Gérard Lenormand on the radio. He does not hide anything from his crossings of the desert, his romantic disappointments, especially with Vanessa Paradis, about his misfortunes either with the taxman. A lack of seriousness that ended up costing him dearly! And the singer especially wants to make things clear to the general public, he pays his taxes well: “When I think that there are still people who imagine that I don’t pay my taxes, or that I am against the principle of paying them… I want to tell them that nothing could be further from the truth.”, he defends himself. A rich journey and a real reflection on life to discover in bookstores from April 5th.
VF