This Monday, December 16, 2024, TF1 will broadcast the TV film By your side (our opinion) which tells the story of Anthony, a man having to face his complex relationship with his father when the latter learns that he is seriously ill. Carried by Jarry and Didier Bourdon, this poignant story is inspired by that of Jarry, alias Anthony Lambert, his real name. The comedian and actor indeed had a complicated relationship with his father and accompanied him until his last moments of life. Jarry confided in Tele-Leisure about this shocking moment in his life.
By your side : “Before he died, he asked me to live“, confides Jarry
“My father asked me to accompany him because we were less close. My other brothers were very close to my father, and he told me that it was going to cost them too much. It's not that there was no love between us, it's that there were no chemistry between us, we saw each other but there was no demonstration of affection at all, we didn't speak to each other“, explained to us Jarry. And added: “I also think he asked me because he knew we were going to get closer through the illness.“
Jarry also spoke about his last exchanges with his father: “Before he died, he asked me to live by telling me 'I want you to enjoy life, I want you to deny yourself nothing and not be afraid of anything'. I waited for so many years for recognition from this family, from this father, that he gave birth to me on the day of his death“, he said, before specifying “I'm so happy to have lived this moment with him until the end.“
By your side : “That opened the door and I said I was gay a few years later“, explains Jarry
“When you accompany someone in their last moments, we say things to each other that are existential and necessary. We talk about the fear of dying, what comes next, the pain, the people we leave behind. My father told me essential things about himself, the regrets he had in his lifeJarry told us. And you say that you must live up to the life of this man, to what he passed on to you. I couldn't tell him not to be afraid if I myself was afraid of being who I am. It helped me not lie to myself.“
This discussion with his father also allowed Jarry to understand things about himself. “That opened the door and I came out as gay a few years later. It was first of all the acceptance for me to say that I would not be who I thought I would become, that I was going to be a little different and that in fact I had been since I was little because I didn't aspire to the same things as the people around me. Working the land didn't appeal to me, I dreamed of being on stage and I read Paul Eluard in my room, I danced. When I talked to my friends, no one told me he did that“, told us the man who would then become an actor and take his mother's last name as his stage name.
