Audience: Why did you agree to do autographs on the Memmo site? You don’t need money…
Manon Tanti: Julien was there and convinced me. And I think it’s nice that fans can have autographed, personal videos. I didn’t put too high a price (€50 for the dedication, editor’s note). I don’t do this for the money.
For the past few weeks, you have devoted yourself to real estate, with Dubai Vista Estate. What is your part ?
I am a business provider and I am training to become a salesperson. For three years that we have been living in Dubai, I have bought several properties and I have had disappointments, apartments acquired on plans which have been delayed, lies about the finishes… I became interested in the subject and I understood the market.
Are you going to do this full time?
Not right away, because my three months of filming in the year and my product placements take me several hours a day. But later, why not?
Bloggers say influencers will be expelled from Dubai for damaging its image…
I don’t know where these rumors are coming from! Some influencers may be blacklisted, but for us it’s not! I have a visa, a company, and half of the French people who bought in my residence did so thanks to us. I don’t see why we would bother! If we came here, it’s for security, after having suffered burglaries and robberies in Marseille. The last straw is when guys pointed Julien with a firearm to take his watch! Dubai is very safe. And we’re anonymous: I didn’t want my children to be treated differently, pampered or jealous…
“My childhood was complicated!”
What mother are you to Tiago and Angelina?
Julien being the dad friend, who finds it hard to say no, I have to be more severe…
Would you like a third?
We talked about it last summer. Julien wanted to enlarge the family, but that is no longer relevant. Even with nannies, having two children is a lot of work!
Did you also have a golden childhood?
It was complicated until I was 10 years old. My mother had health problems and I took care of my little brother and sister. I had too many responsibilities for my age. So my grandmother took me with her from when I was 10 to when I was 18. She didn’t have a lot of means and had to go without so that I had the same clothes as the people in my class. I was in a fairly bourgeois school, in Vésinet (78). I stopped school at 16 and worked as a switchboard operator at Speed Rabbit Pizza, before becoming a hostess in salons.
Did you dream of doing TV?
When I was 18, I wanted to be an actress. I paid for a film school in Paris and, the last year, I did an internship in Los Angeles. On site, I worked in the world of the night, then the production of Secret Story contacted me. At the last minute, it didn’t happen, but right after, NRJ12 called me for The Island of Truths.
Do you have a good memory of it?
It was brutal. I came to blows with 9 or 10 candidates. I experienced a hardship.
Did you think you’d find love on TV?
I did not see myself with a TV guy! They are not always serious. Then, I did Les Apprentis aventuriers with Julien. I found him endearing, but I would never have imagined that he would be the father of my children, with his chattering and Marseille side! Later, I forgave him his infidelities, before really leaving… He came back crying, telling me he wanted children with me. I think God heard it: a month later, I was pregnant! When I told him, he said he wasn’t ready and went for a walk with Kevin. I was panicked. An hour later, he came back, saying to me: “I did my calculations, by the time you give birth, I’m 30: we keep it! I’m the happiest”.
“We earn very large sums”
Is it hard, the rumors about your relationship?
I don’t see too many anymore. He’s flawless and we’re still together anyway! But buzzes are tiring. Before, I didn’t care: as long as people talked about me, it was fine. Now, I’m a mom, and when I see comments about my children, people tell me they’re ugly or that my daughter can’t speak, it touches me!
Would you like to have your show with Julien, like Carla and Kevin?
No. Our life is not interesting. We are not the JLC Family, with this assumed bling-bling, these confusions… If a camera followed us, we would see Julien at the sport, me peeling zucchini. We wouldn’t fart the audience scores!
Milla Jasmine told us she earns up to €100,000 per month. You too ?
We earn very large sums. What I sometimes get in a month, my parents didn’t get in a year. I try not to spend on anything. I prefer to invest: we took out life insurance for our children and we have dedicated accounts for their studies.
You recently said you wanted to stop the injections. Did you hold?
I was planning to quit, but tomorrow I have an appointment for Botox on my forehead! (Laughs.) I stopped filters, like hyaluronic acid which distorts the face. Six months ago, my dark circles were missed and I lost my confidence because of this carnage. I try to catch up little by little.
Key dates
1. May 4, 1989
Born in Paris. His childhood was difficult, between his mother’s illness and the separation of his parents. From the age of 10, she went to live with her grandmother.
2. 2013
First reality show, with The Island of Truths 3. Will follow Moundir and the apprentice adventurers and Les Marseillais.
3. 2016
She meets Julien Tanti, whom she married in 2019. The couple have two children: Tiago, who will be 4 years old, and Angelina, 1 year and a half.
4. 2022
His new challenge: real estate. “And in retirement, I would see myself living with my feet in the water, in Thailand or in Tulum (Mexico, editor’s note), and having a small restaurant”.
See also: Review of tweets: Julien Tanti asks Manon Marsault in marriage!
Interview by Maëlle Brun