“We didn’t tell anyone,” the dancer reveals why he hid his illness for so many years

For years, Chris Marques has been an essential face of the French audiovisual landscape, notably thanks to his role as a demanding juror in the show Dancing with the Stars on TF1. However, behind his impeccable performances and his boundless energy, the famous choreographer and dancer hid a dark secret: an illness that he hid for a long time. Today, it’s against Frédéric Lopez on France 2 in a Sunday in the countryside that he finally decided to break the silence and reveal why he kept this suffering to himself for so many years.

Indeed, if we know Chris Marques for his rigor and his charisma, few people imagined that he had to deal with health problems. In this moving interview, he explains why he chose not to talk about this illness earlier, and why he finally decided to lift the veil on this personal ordeal. If today he has an exemplary career, he is several times world salsa champion alongside his wife, Jaclyn Spencer, it is not without pain that the jury of Dancing with the Stars managed to make his place in the middle.

A still little-known disease: fibromyalgia

Faced with Frédéric Lopez, the dancer and choreographer confides in the illness with which he has had to deal for so many years: he suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic condition which causes widespread pain throughout the body and intense fatigue. “There is also this other version called chronic fatigue syndrome”he explains while the two other guests from A Sunday in the Country are also present. He continues: “At the beginning, it’s a very long period of crisis that lasts – for me it lasted three weeks in a row – and where you have pain everywhere, you have a fever which rises to 40-41°C, t I’m almost having convulsions. And that lasts for months. The months become a year. We’re reaching the end of the first year, I only have a useful hour or two left per day.”.

A most complicated period to live through on a daily basis, but which he nevertheless managed to overcome despite everything. If this disease is often misunderstood, it unfortunately affects the quality of life of people who suffer from it and yet Chris Marques continued to perform: “During this period, we were world champions, European champions, English champions” he said in front of Nawal Madani and Anne Sila also present on the show. But nevertheless, the dancer chose not to reveal his illness to the general public, a choice that he justifies for several reasons.

These reasons that pushed Chris Marques to hide his illness

It is above all to avoid arousing pity or being reduced to this illness that the choreographer and jury of Dancing with the stars chose to keep quiet about his condition. He says: “ The first is that we didn’t tell anyone. Our best friends didn’t know it. We did not want to leave the choice of our careers and our lives to others or the community. When people start to see you as sick, they decide for you.» But then how did he manage to accumulate everything, he explains: “Let’s control everything we can control as much as possible and ignore everything else“. Indeed, if he could ensure that he was at the top in terms of costumes, choreography or even musical mixes, for the rest he could only train two hours a day.

Despite a journey strewn with pitfalls, Chris Marques has no regrets today:“If my wife abandoned everything, if I slept in the street, it was not to let an illness decide what would happen. As long as I can walk, I’ll move forward» he proclaims loudly and clearly before concluding: “If you asked me to go back, would I change anything? What a shame. All the same.»

The people? A whole world! Passionate about the media, networks, series, films, and investigative investigations of all kinds, it was naturally that Jessica turned to writing and that she takes…