Following the interview with Julien Lacroix, The duty gathered the reactions of the women who had denounced it in July 2020. Seven of the nine women expressed themselves on this first public interview, on which they have very divided opinions.
In a relationship for six years with Julien Lacroix, Geneviève Morin, who claims to have been sexually assaulted eight months after their break-up, believes that she has no say in her return to the public sphere.
It shows itself to be nuanced on the cancel culture (culture of cancellation), on the idea of ”closing the door to someone who tries to make an effort”. “If he’s mostly talking about his drinking problem, I don’t think I have much to say about his return,” she said. None of the women he says he contacted wanted to talk to or meet with him. He feels ready, he decides he is ready and he says to Quebec “be ready, I’m back”. It may be that yes [le Québec soit prêt], but it may not be. “
Seeing Julien Lacroix’s name appear on his cell phone when he contacted her last summer triggered a panic attack in Kamélia Chartrand, who accuses him of a non-consenting sexual relationship that occurred in 2010 and who is afraid of him . “My heart was struggling, sweating, tremors, nausea, shortness of breath and a feeling of suffocation,” said with emotion the woman who had testified anonymously in 2020.
If she reveals her identity today, it is because she wants him to realize the consequences on her life. “What I experienced ten years ago, I’m still branded with a hot iron […]. “She also wonders about the length of the interview:” Why 45 minutes? It gives the impression that he is worth more than me, that he is someone who is not dangerous, that he has lost everything and I am just there nobodyto whom it happened. “
Kamélia Chartrand believes that Julien Lacroix has no empathy for her. “I want a written apology and peace. And peace is also knowing that I can turn on the TV without seeing his face and re-traumatize myself for the umpteenth time. […] I consider that the ball is in the court of the public, and it is they who must decide its fate with full knowledge of the facts. Like two other women, she believes that being a public figure, being on stage and being successful is “a privilege.”
Gabrielle Prince-Guérard accuses Julien Lacroix of a forced kiss in a bar in 2015 and of having followed her home by insisting heavily on having sex, which she refused. She wanted him to interview her inappropriate sexual behavior. “The terminology, ‘messing around’, ‘screwing up’, I think that diminishes what we’ve been through. Me, in my head, “screwing up” is not studying before his math exam and getting a bad mark, and I think that shows how much he hasn’t taken responsibility for. “
She is shocked that he says “you can have the same sexual relationship and have two different versions and both are right”. By these words, “he ‘legitimizes’ his actions”, she is indignant.
A few days before her childbirth, the comedian Rosalie Vaillancourt, who at another time often shared the stage with Julien Lacroix and who denounced degrading behavior, does not wish to comment.
“A lot of energy”
Two other women who testified anonymously in 2020 stress that they were not contacted by the artist, which, according to them, shows “that he was not aware of his actions”. “I think he still doesn’t realize what he’s done to a lot, a lot of women [… ] If you want to do some soul searching […], it should come to your mind the girl you kissed on the corner of a street when she told you that she was going to join her boyfriend […] Since I did not testify with my face uncovered, I do not exist in her to do list. “
Another, who alleges to have been kissed without her consent in a bar, affirms: “Me, his return, that does not bother me, but he would have to put himself a little more in our shoes, it takes a lot of energy. denouncing someone, we don’t do that out of mirth, it’s really a traumatic process, that’s why I decided to remain anonymous. “
A third woman, who denounced him while preserving his identity for a non-consenting sexual relationship that was allegedly forced on him as a teenager, moved on. “Personally, I don’t feel like commenting, I have nothing to say, I have turned the page. If there is something to take away from my opinion, it is that I do not really understand the reason for giving him a platform to go and win back his fans. To make him feel better? “
Lauriane Palardy has nothing against Julien Lacroix’s desire to resume his professional life, but she would have liked him to consider the impact that his return will have. “It would have been the least of things to tell us that he was planning to offer an interview in the media, to ask us if we were comfortable, maybe we would have said no, but I think it is. that, too, the dialogue ”, mentions the woman who had denounced a fellatio that he would have forced her to do to him during her adolescence.
The ex-wife Geneviève Morin recalls that with eight other women, she “spoke of violence” in 2020. “What can I say about her alcohol problems and her approach? I don’t want to tarnish his path […] there is just beauty when you try to get help because you need it. Me, I make peace with the fact that I may never hear what I wanted to hear, and that’s okay. “