A disease that affects 100,000 people in France, including around 75,000 women… Monday December 9, 2024, in an interview given to Télé 7 jours, Guillaume de Tonquédec spoke about the
multiple sclerosis which his mother suffers from. Ambassador of the Brain Institute to help raise funds, the one who plays the emblematic Renaud Lepic in the series Don't do this, don't do that said: “We often ask actors to get involved in causes. I chose almost exclusively this one, because it is close to my heart”.
In complete transparency, the 58-year-old actor explained: “The illness is destructive for the person who lives with it, my mother, but also for those around her: my father, of course, who became her caregiver, despite himself, then the family. Since the announcement of this filth of illness, we are totally shocked…“.
Guillaume de Tonquédec: “We didn’t understand what was happening”
In May 2022, for the site Quelle Docteur, he explained at length how this pathology manifested itself in his mother.
“Mom had excellent eyesight, even better than average.
One day she suddenly lost her sight and almost went blind within a few hours. For us, the family, it was quite worrying and shocking because we didn't understand what was happening. But to the doctors, it was clear that she suffered from multiple sclerosis. Then, little by little, she regained her sight.”he remembered.
After this first visible push, motor signs then appeared. “Mom had difficulty walking. So she used a cane, then a walker and then a manual wheelchair. Today, she uses an electric wheelchair, which allows her to stand up, because
she can no longer get up and has no strength in her arms to be able to roll your own chair”he confided before specifying that his mother now had a medical bed.
Guillaume de Tonquédec: “This announcement was terrible”
Because of multiple sclerosis, the entire geography of her parents' house changed. “We had to widen the doors, adapt the room and the toilets”he had listed. Asked about his reaction upon learning of his mother's illness, he indicated: “For us, namely my father and my three brothers and sisters, this announcement was terrible. It upset the balance of the family and generated questionsmisunderstandings, tensions, worries and anxiety. In our family, the unspoken is quite powerful. At first, our parents didn't want to tell us to protect us. But is it better to take care of your children so as not to worry them or to tell them everything? It's a real debate.”.
This illness also pushed Guillaume de Tonquédec and his brothers and sisters to ask questions about the life of their father, aged over 80, “who is admirably devoted to the protection and support of our mother”. “We are lucky to have him. Without our father, I don’t know what we would have done. Mom would have had to go to an institute to be treated”he assured before adding:
“In reality, Mom's pathology broke the chain of the unsaid. It also gave us time to say 'I love you'. A lot of people don't say it to each other enough.”.
