Vou may not know them, yet the daily life of Julien Bert and Hilona Gos is followed every day by millions of people on social networks. These two reality TV stars met in September 2019 on the “dating” show The Princes of Love, broadcast on the W9 channel. Hilona Gos falls in love with Julien Bert, already well known from reality TV shows, and viewers witness the birth of their romance. The couple moved in quickly and adopted several dogs, all filmed daily for their millions of subscribers.
Horseback riding, pastries, evenings with friends, trips… Hilona Gos and Julien Bert flood their social networks with shared moments. With his communicative smile and his love for animals, the young man has everything the ideal son-in-law does. Two years after their breakup, Hilona Gos still evokes today a “fusional and passionate” relationship.
READ ALSOFrom “Loft Story” to “Marseillais”, 20 years that have changed televisionAfter a rather discreet separation away from the cameras, the ex-couple is reunited again during the show Objective rest of the world in 2021 and is torn in front of the other candidates in the villa in Marrakech where the filming is taking place. During the broadcast, it’s a mess: Hilona Gos is considered “hysterical”, “crazy”, “unbearable” by viewers, tired of her multiple “nerves” and even compassionate for Julien Bert, determined to win her back , before yet another rupture. Then, on February 27, 2023, Hilona posted a shocking video on her YouTube channel, entitled “My truth with Julien”.
“I want everyone to see who he really is”
Sitting, her dog on her lap, Hilona faces the camera, looking defeated. In this video which gathered nearly 3 million views in just one day, the young woman explains that she would never have imagined testifying publicly but that she does not know “what else to do”, despite a follow-up psychological weekly.
In a voice that she wants assured, the reality TV star says that Julien Bert insulted, threatened and even assaulted her several times during their relationship. “It was no longer the same person, it was someone I did not know”, “he strangled me and lifted me up at that [geste indicateur] of the ground […], I just remember not being able to breathe anymore, ”says Hilona Gos, in tears. This episode, which will not be the first of his story, would have taken place in the presence of a friend of the couple when everyone was preparing to go on a ski vacation. According to the influencer, it was Julien Bert’s alcohol consumption and drunkenness that would have pushed him to attack her: “It lasted a few seconds, the time he regained his senses, because Julien, this is not a violent person with women in real life…”, insists Hilona Gos. Ashamed, the young woman admits to having begged Julien Bert to take her back and ended up forgiving him what she believes to be a fit of rage caused by alcohol.
By tweaking her fingers, Hilona Gos imitates her ex-companion regularly calling her a “tramp” and returns to several other acts of violence and insults, one of which would have triggered the miscarriage of the influencer. “I felt it was not a healthy environment […] but I chose to keep it,” says Hilona Gos, who says she lost her baby because of “the stress” caused by Julien Bert’s seizures.
Aware that her ex-companion would have “just incredible sympathy capital”, Hilona Gos describes her back and forth and forgiveness until she fell pregnant again. On vacation in Saint-Tropez with friends of Julien Bert, the latter would have insisted on driving despite his drunkenness, without listening to Hilona Gos’ pleas: “Julien, you’re stupid or what, you’re not going to take the risk of killing us, all this to show everyone in Saint-Tropez that you have money, ”protests Hilona Gos, before being again severely insulted, according to her words. The vehicle driven by Julien Bert narrowly escaped an accident after the latter swerved into the opposite lane. After another episode of violence that would have made him live Julien Bert, Hilona Gos recounts having decided to abort, aware, according to her, that they were not able to welcome this baby.
After a final episode of physical aggression in front of witnesses, Hilona Gos will decide to break up with Julien Bert. She will then participate in the show Objective rest of the world, as well as his ex-companion. “I wanted it to work out but I couldn’t forgive him, I looked like a hysteric. “I let myself be insulted by the whole of France because I did not want Julien to be angry [qui s’abattent sur lui] recalls, sobs in her voice, Hilona Gos.
Legal disputes
In a second video posted a few hours after this one, Hilona Gos returns to the allegations she had previously made and which relate to the debts that her ex-companion would have accumulated against her. Unpaid rents, huge expenses on the account of the cosmetics company Juliette Nonna, co-founded by the couple, Hilona Gos accuses Julien Bert of owing him a lot of money “We went to Mykonos. We had agreed that I would pay for the house, and he for the expenses on the spot. Eventually he paid the expenses there with our company. I was not aware”, testifies, frightened, Hilona before specifying that Julien Bert would have “spent 100,000 euros. He emptied the accounts of the company”.
This isn’t the first time reality TV star Julien Bert has come into conflict with the law. Sentenced to two years in prison, including six months suspended, for drug trafficking in 2019, the young man has always denied transporting drugs after being arrested in 2015 in Saint-Étienne.
In 2022, two complaints against X for rapes that occurred in 2018 mention the first name of Julien Bert, accused of having filmed the sexual assaults that occurred after two young women were allegedly drugged without their knowledge by another candidate of the reality show, according to their testimony. “I pay attention to women, especially the women around me, and I do not disrespect them” assured Julien Bert at the time, once again denying the accusations.
Support
Whether or not they are fans of reality TV, many French men and women, of all generations, have shown their support for Hilona Gos since the publication of the first video. On social networks, old excerpts from the show Objective rest of the world are thus unraveled and shared massively.
On TikTok, the testimonies of female victims who recognize themselves in Hilona’s situation are numerous, and many comment on the influencer’s publications to support her. “When Hilona said ‘I knelt down and begged him not to leave me’ after all that she had been through… So many of us recognized each other,” says Sissy.
The feminist collective “We all” analyzes the speech held by Hilona Gos to explain “how violence takes place in the couple” before challenging the productions of reality TV which invite “violent candidates on TV” and are “dangerous for the people who participate in the programs and for the young people who consume them”
Julien Bert, whose Instagram account has since been deactivated, spoke on the Snapchat social network, denying the facts. “It’s too weird what’s going on”, “these are very, very serious accusations”, says the influencer in front of his phone before insisting: “With a connection, my phone, I can accuse anyone anything and you’ll take his word for it. No complaint has so far been filed.