On December 25, TF1 dedicated its evening to the series Joséphine, guardian angel and to its actress Mimie Mathy especially with a documentary Mimie Mathy life size. At 66, we rediscover, in particular, the beginnings of Bouvard theater of the one who became a superstar of the small screen. How to succeed professionally and emotionally in life with a difference? By doing better than everyone else. The actress looks back on what she learned and felt through a personal story marked by an obstinacy to which the public agreed…
GALA: It’s surprising that the documentary dedicated to you talks so much about your size. So there is never any possibility of trivialization?
MIMIE MATHY: No, but I don’t take it badly. I would have liked to have Adriana Karembeu’s legs but she is not necessarily happier than me. My height, 1.32 m, will always remain a subject. There will always be puns about it.
GALA: To find a lover, however, it didn’t happen like the others…
MM: As a teenager, it wasn’t easy. It’s an age that is not made to cope with the difference. Whereas for me, I dreamed of having fun at the cinema. Afterwards, it didn’t get any easier. I put myself in sentimental situations that were dead ends. The married man, for example. Finally I avoided the pitfall of harassment. Although I remember this producer who once said to me: “I would like an adventure with someone like you.” I’m not the beautiful Barbie doll you want to woo every four morning, but I can be a fantasy for some. Anyway, in my forties, I was single and at the point of giving up. As I am optimistic and positive, it didn’t make me so unhappy. I considered that I had professional success and that you can’t have everything… And it wasn’t necessarily a question of size when I saw the number of my friends who didn’t have guys when…
GALA: …In 2003, you met your future husband Benoist!
MM: Yes, I was performing in a one-woman show, co-written with Muriel Robin, I was in the 160th performance. when I brought him on stage. He was clumsy and there was like an electric current between us. He didn’t fit my type of man, he was dressed like the ace of spades, but something easy and simple came through. Three weeks later he called me “sweetheart.” Even today we call each other “darling” or “my love”. We hold hands, we kiss. When we call each other by our first names “Benoist” and “Mimie”, it’s because things get heated…
GALA: He was a chef, you in showbiz, you operate in two different worlds… Was it complicated to combine your two worlds?
MM: Actually no. I quickly introduced Benoist to all my friends for a sort of passing exam and it passed flawlessly. On the other hand, my mother-in-law, before knowing me, upon announcing our relationship, warned her son against the world of showbiz and its excesses. Fortunately, I live normally, without a bodyguard, without drugs, without burnout. I navigate between my job and my family.
GALA: Those close to you have said that you like tall men: 1.86 m, for Benoist, was that a minimum?
MM: But no not at all. I had a lover who was 1.60m tall! I had more of a type: a blond man with blue eyes; what Benoist is not! But that doesn’t mean anything in absolute terms. I didn’t choose anything: I had a crush and I usually say that my double is my other half (Laughter).
GALA: How do we manage to reach, like you, nineteen years of love…
MM: I am convinced that we should not share everything. It is important to give others some freedom. There are whole days when my husband disappears into his vineyards (He grows and markets his wine biodynamically, Minoist, a contraction of Mimie and Benoist, editor’s note) and it’s good. It’s his passion. Then trust is essential, but also humor and dialogue. Letting problems fester and being angry is what you should avoid. When something goes wrong, I burst the abscess, life is too short to let situations fester. And then, there needs to be complementarity… A couple is a principle of communicating vessels. When I met Benoist, I was used to facing low blows, fighting alone. It calmed me down, gave me a form of serenity. And to him, I brought… a little makeover (Laughter) and above all fantasy in an existence as a father of four children. He traveled, he was able to become a winemaker. He began to live to the rhythm of my friendships, And I of his. From now on, he is the one who takes charge of the cooking during dinners at home. Before I did everything. With him, I learned to delegate.
“Being a perfectionist? Maybe that’s the secret to success.”
GALA: Do you tend to be a perfectionist?
MM: Very. Perhaps this is the secret to success. When I watch the show star Academy , I wonder how many of these young people will make it. To exist in show business, you have to work, whatever your size or the color of your skin. Some had the nerve to tell me: “Yes, you succeeded because you were smaller. » I constantly question myself. I have seen many people reach peaks and come back down. I came up with the concept for the series. A nanny like no other in 1994. I provoked my luck. With Josephine, I have three generations of people looking at me… it’s a responsibility. Brad Pitt even cited Josephine at the last Cannes Film Festival, saying that it was the French series he knew. He comes in guest star when he wants… (Laughter)
GALA: Your character of Joséphine tells of a life that does not exist, embellished…
MM: Yes and no. The character’s finger snap is a gadget power. It is not a process that solves problems. This is achieved through observation of situations and psychology. Josephine is a mix of Mary Poppins and a social worker. I regularly have lunch with my producers to find social topics that are relevant to current events. Currently, I would like to deal with incest but it’s complicated to make it entertainment with a happy conclusion, it’s true.
GALA: The French like to look at you and do you like yourself physically?
MM: I know I’m lucky to have a pretty nice face. Beautiful blue eyes perhaps. I also try to be as pretty as possible. I dress carefully and do what I can with the body I have. At the beginning, when I went to the swimming pool with my grandchildren (she has eight by marriage with Benoist, editor’s note), they said to me: “Grandma, your legs are small. » I replied to them: “That’s how it is, but it doesn’t matter. »
GALA: You are courageous because you have undergone operations…
MM: Like many other people, in my life, given my constitution, I had three operations over a period of twenty years which made it possible to widen my spinal canal by installing arthrodeses to maintain my spine because otherwise I My back was blocked. The last one was two years ago. Okay, that’s okay… I’ll deal with it.
GALA: You have not campaigned in associations of small people…
MM: No, because I consider myself normal. In life, you have to understand that there are people of all shapes and sizes. If I were in a wheelchair, I would campaign for easier access, but now, what am I going to complain about? Not being able to reach the yogurts in the supermarket? I live like everyone else and my husband and I don’t have a dollhouse.
This article could be found in Gala N°1593, available on newsstands on December 21. The new issue of Gala comes out this Thursday, December 28, 2023. Enjoy reading.
Photo credits: Marechal Aurore/ABACA