The only three-star woman in the United States, Dominique Crenn feminizes the Top Chef jury alongside Hélène Darroze and Stéphanie Le Quellec, winner of the M6 competition in 2011. Every Wednesday at 9:10 p.m.
What made you agree to join the jury of Top chef ?
Dominique Crenn: I came back to France a little because of my mother, who died last May. My autobiography (Memoirs of a rebel leader, ed. Le Cherche Midi) is also out. I told myself that I was very well known in the United States and around the world, perhaps less in France. Now, I love this country too, and I am especially curious about what young people have to bring us. I want to give them self-confidence.
You are so energetic and curious on set!
I calmed down a little. (She laughs.) You know, when, like me, you almost lost your life twice, to a serious car accident in 2009 and to cancer in 2019, you have nothing to lose. I am positive. I want to give everything to others and to young people. Nobody made me, I made myself. And I want them to understand that they’re going to make it themselves. I sow a seed.
Would you define yourself as the most American of French chefs, or the opposite?
Me, I’m just Dominique Crenn. (She smiles.) I’m a chef, I live in California. I have an affinity with the Brittany of my adoptive parents (she was adopted at the age of 18 months, editor’s note). I offer myself as an artist. I cook with my emotions.
You recently opened a restaurant in Paris (Golden Poppy, Paris 9th). A way to get back to basics?
I felt the need to know more about my story, to understand why I had left so young, at 24, to the United States. I was lucky enough to have loving adoptive parents, but I didn’t know how I came into this world. I researched my biological mother, who abandoned me at 6 months old. She was homeless. She had two children before. So. Knowing where you come from and never forgetting it is important.
Did you lose this openness to the world with success?
Oh no ! My dad always told me: “Dominique, if one day you have a platform, you use it for those who don’t have one.” I was once asked what mark I would like to leave after my death. I answered: having helped others to evolve. The three stars are nothing if you are not a good person.
You are self-taught. You joined the chef Jeremiah Tower in the United States, when you were just starting out. Is it still possible to do something like this today?
At home, absolutely. I don’t care about the CV. I talk to people. I ask them what makes them happy, if they like art. I want beautiful humans in my kitchens. One day, a young person came to a meeting, he was not on my list. He admitted to me that he had spent two years on the street because of drugs and that cooking had saved him. He spent three years with me.
With your former partner, you have twin girls, Charlotte and Olivia, 9 years old. What do you want to convey to them?
Above all, I tell them to gain confidence in themselves, to respect themselves first. I want them to feel unique.
Your fiancée, the American actress Maria Bello, seen in the series EMERGENCIES, did she come to France during the filming of Top chef ?
Yes, Maria loves France. She would even like to make films here. She speaks French.