Reporter and director, Yann Arthus-Bertrand has seen all the wonders of the world. President of the GoodPlanet Foundation, the 77-year-old adventurer intended to become a film actor at the age of 17, but his vocation will ultimately be to travel the planet, particularly by air, by becoming a hot air balloon pilot and aerial photographer. . We owe him in particular The earth from the sky (ed. de la Martinière), an album sold millions of copies. In the mid-1970s, the environmental activist lived in Kenya, to photograph a family of lions in the Massai Mara national park, with his wife, mother of his only son Tom, who had agreed to leave everything to follow him. The couple is now separated. Anne, a psychotherapist, has Parkinson’s. A painful fight against illness, that he mentioned on the set of It starts today, Wednesday December 20, 2023. “She gave me a lot, I owe her a lot. I have to be here now…”he explained with great frankness to Faustine Bollaert.
For Yann Arthus Bertrand, it is not “a real separation”
Together for 50 years, Yann Arthus Bertrand and his wife Anne maintain a wonderful bond, despite the trials of life and the debilitating progression of Parkinson’s disease. Greatly passionate about his globetrotting activity, the photographer recognizes it: he devoted his life to his profession, perhaps neglecting his family a little. His wife, who wanted to “live your life a little elsewhere”, left him because he didn’t take enough care of her. “From a psychological point of view, I was not there at the right time. I apologize to him…”, he also expressed, while specifying that he remained very close to the mother of his son (“We call each other and see each other all the time”). “She’s my wife for my whole life, so we separated, but it is not a real separation. After a while, we couldn’t stand each other anymore.” he added with palpable emotion on the set of It starts today. If he may have had regrets for not having been present enough, the author and filmmaker will now “much more” towards his wife who, fortunately, is doing well.