A blended family with six children. We don't play it. “I’m the one in the middle,” smiles Lucile Lecellier, 26, a specialist educator for foster children. Her big sister Clarisse, 31, gave her a taste for competitions: “She took part in departmental elections. » The eldest had won the title of Demoiselle du Pays Granville. A whole world of soil, rose beds, a France of Misses.
Of stubbornness and fragility. On the phone, there is this frank laugh from Lucile Lecellier. And not just laughter. She speaks the truth. Rare confidence: in 2021, when she presents herself for the first time, she is relieved to only finish first runner-up: “If I had won, I would have done the job, but I wasn't ready. Face-to-face with Youssra, all evening, I didn’t believe in myself.” Youssra Askry, Miss Normandy 2021 in front of Lucile, and then fourth runner-up to Miss France.
A duel, like a test and an initiation: “I was so unsure of myself. To be Miss, you have to want it and it took me a long time. I was convinced it would be Youssra, and that she was ready. She wanted to go to Miss France. I was a little afraid of her. When only the two of us were left on stage, I was overcome by absurd thoughts if I won: I had the Christmas decorations to do, and what was I going to say to my boss. I didn’t want to hear my name.”
A confession secretly shared by many other Misses. The first time is sometimes a shock. Victory can shake or even panic. The blonde with the perfect beauty queen profile is still overtaken by her destiny. And with a sign: “I thought I was too old to represent myself. Well, old… she laughed. I had competed at 24 and there was no second chance, but then the age rule was abolished. I let three years pass, finished my studies, started working. I knew there was this desire within me. I didn't want to live with regrets. »
Very composed, the young woman had prepared herself for defeat: what if on the second attempt, she still did not pass the regional? “I understood that it was possible. But the desire was stronger.” Desire persists, as psychoanalysts say.
Lucid, whole, the Normandy of the South Channel swallows up obstacles. This absolute fan of Star Academy and Koh-Lanta, who would love to join the yellows or the reds, can adopt survival mode. Miss France, isn't that about survival in the final stretch? “Quite honestly, every day I tell myself it’s a marathon. This way of chaining repetitions, redoing a painting, and always being perfect, that's the word, in control let's say, at any time. I didn't give up anything. My feet hurt, there's fatigue, stress, but good stress, and I'm just excited for the big night to arrive. If you want to be Miss France, you cannot give up or show a moment of fatigue. This must not be seen, it’s the contract.”
And this time, she's totally ready to hear her name called around midnight. This fan of songs from the 1980s could intone: “All it takes is a sign”…
