If he walks television sets for his presidential campaign – he is on TF1 then LCI this March 10, 2022 against Valérie Pécresse -, the Reconquest candidate Eric Zemmour has been a regular at this exercise for years. Indeed, he has already been either a guest or a columnist on the small screen or on the radio in his past life as an editorialist and essayist. This is how he was received in It’s up to you on France 5 in 2014 to defend his controversial book Le French suicide. Responding to questions from the team, he did not digest a remark from the presenter at the time, which is still the same today, Anne-Elisabeth Lemoine.
Back in 2014, October 6 precisely. That evening, Anne-Elisabeth Lemoine is Anne-Sophie Lapix’s joker, taking control of the show. For her first as mistress of ceremonies, she receives Eric Zemmour, already known for his very divisive positions. On set, he says: “I think there is a majority of French people who have this nostalgia for ‘it was better before’” The presenter contradicts him: “When you’re a woman, you don’t want to meet before. And the ‘before’ that you describe is not at all envious of today’s women. Are you married Eric Zemmour or not? (…) What does your wife have the right to do? She is socially dominated by you? Because apparently, social domination in women has a strong erotic power. We are very happy for Madame Zemmour, but what does that mean exactly?“
An interpretation of his ideas and his book that made Eric Zemmour jump. He retorts: “Dear Madam, first the personalization to which you lend yourself is stupid. I wouldn’t allow myself to say ‘is your husband dominated by a woman who is absolutely feminist etc.’ So, I don’t allow you to talk like that about my wife.” A video that can be seen on the site of the Figaro.
In 1982, Eric Zemmour married the lawyer Mylene Chichportich, the couple had three children: Hugo, 24, Thibault, 22 and Clarisse, 17. Very protective of his private life and if he briefly and anecdotally mentioned his offspring during his interviews, he had to resolve to clarify his marital situation at the beginning of the year 2022, after intense rumors with his campaign adviser. On BFMTV, he had thus explained about Sarah Knafo: “She is my collaborator, my companion. There would have been no campaign without Sarah Knafo. But we’ll stop there, if you allow me. (…) I solve the problems that arise in my private life as time goes by.“