"The white sandals": who is Malika Bellaribi, the artist who inspired the TV movie? : Current Woman The MAG

The only female juror of The Voice 2021 has left her red chair to play comedy for television. In the telefilm "The white sandals", on France 2, Amel Bent plays the main role, that – hardly softened – of a woman become lyric singer, at the price of many sacrifices, and with the dramatic course, chaotic and strewn with pitfalls. This woman, now 59 years old, was born into a family of nine children in a slum in the Paris region. She was only three years old when her parents divorced. They then offer him a pair of white sandals. Proud to carry them, her gaze downcast, she does not see the truck backing up on her at that moment. In a fraction of a second, the little girl is seriously injured, suffering from numerous fractures. So much so that her parents are warned that she won't walk again. By dint of rehabilitation and an already established tenacity, little Malika manages to walk again, at 10 years old.

The passion for singing came to her by chance, during her long convalescence which she spent with the sisters. A discovery of lyrical art and sacred song, of a world totally foreign to his, of two different cultures, two universes. Malika's mother, herself a victim of violence as a child, does not spare her daughter. Neither beatings nor verbal violence. At 17, for the holidays, she was sent to Algeria. At least that's what she thinks. Her mother actually wants her to be forcibly married off. "I had to threaten to kill myself so that my mother would let me return to France after nine months", explains Malika Bellaribi in an interview with Parisian. A few years later, her older sister committed suicide, leaving her in deep pain.

Having become an accountant, she finally manages to realize her dream, thanks in particular to her husband, who encourages her to devote herself to singing. Malika joined the Normal School of Music in Paris. His career takes off. She goes on recitals and tours in France and abroad. And reconnects with his mother, now very proud. "When I look at the generations of my family, I tell myself that this accident at 3 years old was lucky", sums up the one who has been giving singing lessons in working-class neighborhoods.

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