Phil Roy meets us in a restaurant in Terrebonne, a stone’s throw from his new home. “Sorry for the delay, I just came back from an ultrasound,” he apologizes to justify these five minutes of delay.
Phil Roy and his lover Virginie left Montreal a month ago to settle in the northern crown. It’s where they will raise their daughter Billie, 2, and her little sister, who is due to be born in just three weeks. “I can’t wait, I can’t wait,” confides Phil Roy before sitting down.
Big period, therefore, for the comedian and host, who must combine this move, the arrival of a child, but also the culmination of a project on which he has been working since the beginning of the year. In The weight of appearancea 45-minute documentary which will be broadcast on September 28 on Crave, Phil Roy undertakes a quest: that of feeling good with his body and with food.
“It all started with a dinner with friends,” explains Phil Roy. A friend – Francesca [Gauthier], who produced the documentary – asked me about one of my armadillos,” he says, pointing to the armadillo in question on his arm. “I told him he’s a big guy on his knees crying, because I’m always that big guy crying. »
Phil Roy points out that, in society, we associate weight with health, physical appearance, sport, the quality of food, control, willpower, in short, “with the entirety of oneself.” a person “.
If we do nothing, we will continue to make this association in the society in which my children and your children will grow up.
Phil Roy
Is this approach also for his daughters that he is undertaking? ” Certainly. It’s the log of courage in my fire,” says Phil Roy, his gaze piercing.
The myth of losing weight
Second in a family of three, Phil Roy grew up in Laval in a… thin family. The documentary begins with a meeting with his mother, who also demonstrates great authenticity. When Phil Roy was 14, his parents took him to see a dietitian. His mother confides that she was afraid that he would suffer from the eyes of others.
“We had a small 8 ounce glass at home. I could drink that milk, Phil Roy remembers, spreading his thumb and index finger. My little brother was studying sports. And he ate, he ate…”
In the documentary, psychologist Stéphanie Léonard, who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders, explains that people who suffer from binge eating disorder have one thing in common: when young, they had the myth imposed on them that they had to lose weight. “Being the chubby one in the gang, I didn’t think it was a big deal until adults told me: ‘You’ve eaten enough,’” says Phil Roy, who remembers going through his crisis. adolescence with food, and to have finally stopped exercising.
And what pains him the most, he confides in the documentary, is realizing that he would be ready to do the same thing with his daughters.
I don’t want my daughters to experience my body adventure, but what I especially don’t want is for them to have a father who is crazy about that.
Phil Roy
Parents are grappling with two discourses: that of the anti-fatphobia movement, which aims for the acceptance of fat bodies, but also that of observers like the triathlete Pierre Lavoie who warn against the impact of a sedentary lifestyle and obesity. . “I was less healthy when I weighed 307 pounds, and I’m never going to deny that,” says Phil Roy, who lost weight to be able to workout. stand-up. “I don’t want to deny the impact of being overweight; I just want to give it the place it should have. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Phil Roy
According to him, the two discourses can coexist. “I think we could tell young people to forget about weight loss, forget about the scale, and look outside: maybe there is something that will interest them and get them hooked on sport,” says Phil Roy, according to whom we should definitely not blame overweight young people. He remembers the hand his brother extended to him one day, inviting him to run (or rather walk) with him. “I lived at 4760, we didn’t go to 4810.” But it was what he needed to rediscover the desire to move.
How will he act with his daughters? Phil Roy has no answers yet, only food for thought. Psychologist Stéphanie Léonard advises parents to create a filter around their child to protect them from societal prejudices and to value them. One thing is clear, Phil Roy wants to continue his follow-up in psychology so that his daughters are also inclined to consult if the need one day arises, and to continue moving forward. He knows it: the quest he has undertaken is that of a lifetime.
“Soon, when I leave here, I’m going to do an hour of boxing and five kilometers of running, because this evening we’re getting food. But now I’m aware of it, I admit it to myself, and I’m trying to work on it. It’s already a step forward,” says Phil Roy, who hopes to be able, one day, to do sport in a way that is completely dissociated from weight.
“If I can close a couple of valves in the dam, and there are just three or four leaks left, I will be super happy,” he concludes. Maybe my daughters will develop it, but I won’t have passed it on to them. »
On Crave on September 28