Gilbert Montagné was born prematurely, after five and a half months of pregnancy. The singer has very specific memories of this period which almost cost him his life.
A talented artist capable of making all generations dance, Gilbert Montagné is one of the emblematic faces of French song. However, fate almost decided otherwise… Born prematurely after only five and a half months of pregnancy, he weighed 950 grams and was between life and death during his first days. After a fierce fight, his life was finally saved, but not without aftereffects. Since then, Gilbert Montagné has taken his revenge and made a name for himself forever engraved in French culture. At the microphone of Europe 1, he remembers with surprising accuracy his first months of life.
“This is where I built myself.” : Gilbert Montagné looks back on his premature birth
The birth of Gilbert Montagné was not planned by his parents, but it was one winter evening in 1951 that the infant appeared in a Parisian building. Gilbert Montagné makes surprising revelations, on Europe 1, about his birth: “I was born on the kitchen table, December 28, there was a doctor on the rich side of the building who said ‘anyway, it’s going to go out like a little candle’ (due to his very premature birth, editor’s note), my parents already had three models, they weren’t expecting me”. Transferred to the Port-Royal neonatal unit, he immediately received the necessary care and managed to keep his life: “I lived in an incubator for three and a half months, it was wonderful because, on the one hand it was scary, I was all alone without sound, without image or anything, but that’s where I built myself.“he remembers at the microphone of Thomas Isle. It was during his first months that he lost his sight: the doctor made an irreversible medical error, giving too much oxygen to the infant, as he confided in 2017 in the columns of Paris Match.
“I was afraid of what they were going to do to me.” : the interpreter of Tropical Sunlights accurately recalls his first months of life
Very surprised by Gilbert Montagné’s revelations, the Europe 1 team questions the singer: “But you tell us about it as if you remember it“, says one of the hosts, remaining perplexed. The interpreter of the Tropical Sunlights retorts: “I don’t know how to explain this. Even infants, like me, they have consciousness, there are noises…“, he begins, before evoking a very specific memory dating from his first months: “I don’t like hearing a rolling suitcase coming from afar, because it was the cart the medicine was on, I was afraid of what they were going to do to mebut what did they really do anyway?.”. The anecdote left the chroniclers speechless.
