Olivier de Kersauson has decided to confide. It's in a book called Before the memory fades that he discusses his private life, in complete transparency. Sailor and writer, aged 80, he chose to make revelations about his navigations, his encounters but also his love stories. He notably returned to his story with Florence Arthaud, thus setting the record straight. The movie Flopublished in 2023, is inspired by the life of the sailor. For Olivier de Kersauson, this is a “lie, a sordid invention and an imposture. Nothing is true,” he initially said.
Olivier de Kersauson does not hold back when discussing this feature film. According to him, director Géraldine Danon would not have filmed a feature film that really does justice to the sailor. “ He is odious in his dishonesty,” he declared before continuing:
“The team came to see me to talk to me about the film. I didn’t attack them, so as not to give them publicity.”
The opportunity for Olivier de Kersauson to confirm:
“I did have a love story with Florence, but it has nothing to do with what is being told.”
Olivier de Kersauson: “They don’t know her at all”
Olivier de Kersauson took advantage of this interview to settle his scores. According to him, a very bad portrait of Florence Arthaud was portrayed and he wanted to reestablish the truth. “Florence was excessive, but above all she was courageous, intelligent, generous”, he said. If she could have a bad temper at times, he especially evokes a woman who was always very present for others. “She forgave everything and everyone. A secular saint, a barefoot countess”, continued Olivier de Kersauson.
Olivier de Kersauson evokes the opposite of what was shown in the feature film. “The people who made the film claim to know her, but they don’t know her at all,” he declared before continuing:
“You should not confuse close friends with bad company”. Present to defend his friend, the navigator does not hesitate to openly attack the production of the film.
“Vanity and lies prosper like never before, today, in politics and in society”, he later said. This is clear.
Olivier de Kersauson and Florence Arthaud: a very discreet story
It was in 2015 that Florence Arthaud died. That year, she agreed to participate in a new TF1 show, called Dropped. However, two helicopters collided in mid-flight, before crashing. The sailor died at the age of 57, leaving behind inconsolable loved ones. Among them, there was Olivier de Kersauson. Kaya Lokay, who was one of the friends, spoke in the columns of Galaevoking the love story between the two navigators. “”It was an open secret. A passionate story that no one ever talked about, because Olivier was married at the time,” she began.
Their meeting dates back to 1978, before the departure of the first Route du rhum. “She is 21, he is 34. They stayed together for a few days, talking. He's a handsome guy, charming, cultured, very funny, he speaks to her in Alexandrian. She falls in love “, she later revealed. According to information from Kaya Lokay, at the end of the race, Olivier de Kersauson introduced his wife to Florence Arthaud. “He never told her he was married. They continued to see each other for years, then she got tired of waiting for him to divorce and they moved away,” she said before continuing: “But she always spoke to me about him as the great love of her life”. A story she never forgot.
