Xavier de Moulins takes out his new novel “Redo love”, at Flammarion editions, which he wrote following a meeting that “exploded in the face”. The 53 -year -old journalist confided in his age, his share of femininity, his childhood or his passion for horses that “saves” him …
Xavier de Moulins is a jack-up. In addition to being in charge of several programs on M6 and regularly indulging in his passion for horse riding, the journalist publishes his new novel, Redo lovein which he explores the point of view of a woman whose ex-husband killed his second wife. For the occasion, the flagship host of M6 spoke of this new book whose history is becoming its origin in its “more private sphere“And confided in his hyperactivity, the passage of time, his share of femininity …
Le Journal des Femmes: What made you want to write this novel on such a heavy subject?
Xavier de Moulins: It was a reality that exploded me a little in the face. I unfortunately treat too often feminicides in my newspaper, but one day, he invited himself in my more private sphere since a childhood friend, whom I found a little by chance in the street, went to the Nanterre prison bringing business to his ex-husband. He had killed his new wife with whom he had a baby. The strength of my childhood friend upset me. I was obviously completely seized by this information and at first, it confused me. Then, we saw each other and the case was tried and years later, I had the idea of writing a book.
But you did not tell his story since it is a fiction …
This is the starting point of my book, but not the point of arrival. I said to myself: “Can literature do something so beautiful as beautiful?”. And I wanted to tell the story of a woman who goes gradually, after losing foot at the announcement of the news, going back to herself and being able to finally redo love to life and regain her identity. I called this friend and I issued the idea of the book. It was important to have your consent for me, even if I was not going to talk about your particular business.
Did she read the book?
Yes, I sent her before publication, I absolutely wanted to integrate it into all of this since she was at the origin of this writing movement. She was completely unarmed and told me that I had made a beautiful book, a anthem with the rage of living and resilience. She got there twice.
You choose to write through the former partner of the author of the feminicide, this is a very rare point of view …
I wanted to pay tribute to all these victims that we do not think. We are talking about the victim and the executioner, but the relatives of the executioner, everyone does not care, while for them, life will no longer be the same. How do we get the head of the water in this case?
In this novel, you slip into the shoes of a woman. Is it a complicated exercise for you?
I had experienced in a book that I had written in 2017, The High Lightswhich is a book on infertility. Slipping into the shoes of a woman is one of the experiences that I like to try in the literature. And tending to be a woman during a novel was not more complicated to me than that. I observe women a lot all day, at home I have three daughters and a woman (the journalist Anaïs button, editor’s note). They take up room for twelve (laughs)! So I am at a good school, I live surrounded by women. And then, I feel very feminine in my sensitivity, in my way of observing … writing helps me to express my part of feminine and it allows me to change sex!
“What fascinates me in women is …”
In another of your novels, The night of the thoroughbredsit is about intra -family violence. Is it a desire to highlight heavy subjects in your novels?
This is what interests me, I work a lot on family ties and intimacy, construction, loss. What fascinates me in women is this capacity of rebound, even when everything is hard. It’s crazy!
You are a journalist, you write books and you go horse riding. How do you manage to combine everything?
I think it is a lot thanks to horses and this relationship with living and nature. If I only presented the newspaper, I would directly inject myself with the poison in the body because the time is really dark. Having an activity with horses shows that if the time is dark, the world remains beautiful. You no longer have the same vision of things. To do everything, you just have to love what you do. I work all the time, but finally, I never work! It is not a constraint, I like what I do and I have a crazy chance! And I don’t stop on Saturday and Sunday because I don’t need that.
But do you know how to lift your foot from time to time?
For me, the moment when I recharge my way is when I go early in the morning to the stables to go up my race horse in Chantilly and when I am on horseback. There I am connected to the present. It is a meditation. I may have announced the worst horrors, when I find myself on horseback and I have this contact with everything that an animal gives, I find myself as a new man. It saves me.
Does your passion for horse riding come from childhood?
Yes, I have this passion for my ten years. It was a love at first sight! This helped me to treat my hyperactivity as a complicated child to live and all the concerns I could have at school. For 15 years, the school and I did not get along. Horse riding and a second teacher changed my life. She offered me books and completely opened me to the world by culture …
“I like to be my age”
With horse riding, the risk of injury comes. Do you scare you?
No, because it is inherent in this activity. Last year, I spent at least four MRIs, I often injured myself, but I try not to think about it because otherwise, we don’t do anything. I go up speed horses, so we are on the tracks, but it’s like everything, there is always a risk.
So you are not afraid of the passing time either?
I love the passing time! I like to be my age and I am happy to have experienced what I have experienced, to cross the eras and connect with the world today. I have young journalists at the editorial staff that we form and I was also the youngest of the team, today it was a little reversed (laughs). So I try to make what I have been given. I am quite aligned with the course of life …
How do you see yourself in a few years?
My big project is to stay alive (laughs). I am half kidding saying this, but I hope to continue working where I work, to make novels, to express myself, and to be a smuggler, always with this immense freedom which is precious.
