That’s all Ginette | The Press

The great Ginette Reno will be 77 on April 28 and for her birthday, she not only treats herself to a 42^e album, It’s all mebut also launched his first autobiography, simply titled Ginette.

I was really looking forward to meeting her, but a bad flu, my first in three years, meant that we talked on the phone instead. Ginette Reno is fresh from two operations, one on her heart and the other on her gallbladder, and needs to be fit for her promotion and performance on the show The voice this Sunday. “I would have liked to see your face, but I wouldn’t deserve that,” she told me, thanking me for saving her from the virus. “I have extraordinary days and others, I falter. Do not forget that I am no longer on the guarantee, me there! »

It is because time flies and no one is eternal that we have not stopped asking her for a biography, she who is considered the greatest voice in Quebec (yes, yes, before Céline). In addition to being one of the personalities most inextricably linked to Quebec’s DNA, enough to become the Montreal Canadiens’ lucky charm when she sings the national anthem during the playoffs. Without forgetting her outspokenness and her humor that have made her tell us about her life and behind the scenes of showbiz for the past 60 years. There have been a few unauthorized biographies in the past, but we were waiting for THE bio.

I won’t hide from you that I was hoping to read a million juicy gossip and know all of Ginette’s emotions along her legendary artistic journey, but this autobiography without photos (written in collaboration with the artist Lambert) is rather a UFO in very personal tone, even “personal growth”. A collage of disparate memories, intimate reflections, excerpts from songs and prayers, traversed by great suffering. It was important for her to tell that she is not “just a song”, according to the title of one of her greatest hits.

Might as well burst the abscess right away, because it has caused a lot of ink to flow: why will this autobiography only be on sale in Jean Coutu pharmacies and on its website, thus depriving itself of the network of bookstores? and libraries? “If they want my books, they’ll ask me for them,” she settles that in a response. I have been very burned in my life by the authorized returns. It’s very expensive, it’s difficult. It doesn’t bother me anymore. »

Good, okay. Either way, Ginette can sing for the Hells Angels or bypass the whole book chain, people will still love her. I include myself in it, after bawling in my living room listening to him sing A bit higher, on the Plains of Abraham with Céline, since I was too young to have heard her on Mount Royal in 1975.

The wounds of a family

Ginette Reno does not hide the fact that she lived in excess, and that she spent years wanting to heal herself from very deep ailments. She’s a long-time subscriber to therapies. “I did psychologists, psychoanalysts, sexologists, psychiatrists, five years in a monastery, she lists. I’ve always wanted to understand, that’s my leitmotif, but I’ve understood now that there are a lot of things I’ll never understand. »

What Ginette Reno says, basically, is that she always tried to fill her gaps which have their source in her poor and dysfunctional family, where there was a lot of violence. Bipolar and destructive mother, alcoholic father, brothers and sisters as bad as her. Ginette tried to compensate with food and toxic love relationships where she found the same patterns, but also by hard work and, of course, the love of the public, which has been the most solid thing in its existence. Of all her addictions, which one did she think was the most important? ” Humans. The food too. I destroyed myself with food. »

Those who read gossip magazines back in the day will remember that Ginette Reno’s diets were often talked about, even though her weight made absolutely no difference in the public’s affection. “It was more me who called myself all the names”, remembers the one who was only continuing the insults that her own mother threw at her.

Forgiving him and not repeating his parents’ mistakes has been the task of a lifetime. “She is the woman I loved the most in the world. I hope she forgave me too. I was not what she wanted. I realized that I had a lot of things like my mother, and you have to work hard on that. Because what we practice, we become. Someone who plays guitar four hours a day is likely to play it. My mother was bipolar type 1, I am bipolar type 2. At least I have the second! »

Long before we talk about grossophobia, the singer has tried everything, even poisoning herself with amphetamines, to lose weight. She talks about it a lot in her book. “Today, we are more aware. We realize that if we give bad inputs to our computer, it will give us bad outputs. It’s the same with your body. »

Let’s say help, she was never afraid to seek it, but perhaps she finds no greater support than in her unwavering faith in God – let’s not forget that she makes rosaries – more than in the great family of artists, which she also considers dysfunctional. Even today, she is part of OA (Overeaters Anonymous), DAA (Emotional Dependent Anonymous), EADA (Child-Adults from Dysfunctional Families Anonymous), etc.

“I wrote that?” I’m supposed to be anonymous! she throws at me. Did I write that I dated Pierre Elliott Trudeau?

“No, Mrs. Reno. Unfortunately…

“I’m going to have to write a second book…

“But you say that your first boyfriend was Pierre Labelle of Les Baronets.

– Yes ! I gave my virginity to him. At the Sorel Marine Club!

‘But you say almost nothing about René Angélil, who was once your manager.

– No. But I don’t see why I would have started to say business… He had the sacred fire, a mad lover of showbiz. »

It’s never boring, interviewing Ginette Reno. But, even if she entrusts moving things in her autobiography, I believe in spite of everything that she deserves a professional biographer, who would search the archives, take out the photos, collect the testimonies. Especially for younger people like me who haven’t followed her since her debut, because as far as I’m concerned, I still have ten thousand questions to ask her. It’s a bit what is missing in this book, which was difficult to write, while the realization of her new album in parallel was only happiness according to her. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone. This book has helped me a lot in my grief. Many things are not in it, but I can write another one or two, if God gives me life. »

I would even say three or four, if you ask me.

The Scrapbook It’s all me is on sale.

Ginette Reno will give a major interview to Paul Arcand on Sunday April 16 at 7:30 p.m. on TVA.

Ginette

with the collaboration of Lambert

Cantaloupe Editions

319 pages