During an interview for the JDD, Bernard Pivot returned to his health problems.
Bernard Pivot returned to the front of the media scene on April 2, 2023 in the edition of the Journal du Dimanche. The one who made the rain and the good weather of literary successes opened up about his health issues. “I remained silent because the evil struck me in the head, the seat of the brain and of speech. Better then to remain silent while waiting for the memory to recharge and for the thought to flourish again.” The literary critic returned to the departure from television. “I stopped television to anticipate what would inexorably have happened: the weariness of the public. ‘Grandpa Pivot, he’s tired and he’s starting to break them…'”he blurts out.
Without language of wood, Bernard Pivot continues: “In addition, I wanted to take time to write a few books. At 84, I resigned from Goncourt to make way for a younger writer. Finally, to my great regret, I gave up my column for the JDD because that I was ill, disabled, and could no longer write as I did for your readers, for our readers, if you will, for more than a quarter of a century.” And one thing is certain, Bernard Pivot has not lost his frankness. “For sixty years, I received at home the novelties published by the editors. The week which followed the announcement of the abandonment of my column in the JDD, my name was removed from most of the lists of the services of press, including at my publisher. It’s normal, but it’s funny. Since then, I’ve been buying books. Like everyone else.”
Bernard Pivot’s touching secrets about his children
Indeed, in January 2022, the Journal du Dimanche indicated that Bernard Pivot “was very weak” but also that he had a health “which is deteriorating a little more every day”. In this interview, Bernard Pivot also evokes the missed moments with his children, he who has always privileged his career. “After dinner, I was not one of those fathers who read to their children. I was in a hurry to get back to my office to finish reading the book I had started reading in the afternoon. How many museums not visited with my daughters! How many unshared weekends! What a lot of wasted laughter.”