Whether in music, film, fashion or elsewhere, some artists prefer to leave their true identity behind when it comes to their public and professional lives. Wouter Otto Levenbach preferred to be called Dave, Jacques Essebag is nicknamed Arthur on television, Johnny Hallyday was actually Jean-Philippe Smet and Patrick Bruel’s real name is Benguigui. The singer’s ex-wife Amanda Sthers has followed in his footsteps. Author of the novel The coffee suspendedpublished on May 4 by Grasset editions, the one who also officiates in screenwriting for the cinema preferred to turn her back on Amanda Queffelec-Maruani, her real surname, when she takes up the pen to fill her pages.
In an interview for the daily Le Figaro, Amanda Sthers spoke about this sudden change of identity before the publication of her first novel, a way of emancipating herself in her writing work: “Esther is my grandmother’s first name, my middle name. It’s the name of my freedomshe says. When I write, it’s my only bubble of selfishness with my loved ones while I’m generous.”
For Amanda Sthers, it was essential to exist other than by her true identity: “When you’re a writer, you’re nobody’s daughter, nobody’s mother, nobody’s wife” she adds. And speaking of wife, her relationship with Patrick Bruel, with whom she remained married for 3 years and with whom she had two boys, Oscar and Léon, is far from having given her a boost. accelerator in his career.
Having married a famous man has even put a spoke in the wheels for him more than anything else. “Everything was harder, more amplified” she reports, still at the Figaro. Amanda Sthers details: “I had started writing before. It brought me neither contacts nor benevolence. But for a man like him with his intelligence to look at me with admiring eyes, it saved me time. I needed to be loved and admired.“After Patrick Bruel, Amanda Sthers is now just as popular with her audience.