Judith Elmaleh was invited to RTL on September 22 to present her novel Une Reine. Together with her brother, Gad Elmaleh, she told a great family secret about her origins.
Sure RTLthis Thursday, September 22 Judith Elmaleh has decided to present his first novel entitled A queento the editions Robert Laffont. Like his brother, Gad Elmaleh, who was often inspired by your family life and those close to her to write her shows, Judith Elmaleh has based on his grandmother’s trip to write this novel. Many revelations were made on the set of RTL including painful family secrets. Also, Judith and Gad Elmaleh We were on the set together to talk about it, with that infallible touch of humor that we know from Gad to make the pill go down more easily for sure.
This director’s first novel tells the story of her grandmother who was forcibly married to her uncle at age 14. “We had lived in a crazy family anyway,” humorist Gad Elmaleh had expressed at the beginning of his explanation. “I mean, my grandfather, he married a woman, that she told her niece, ‘come and marry my husband’“, the 51-year-old comedian had confided. “And for me, that woman who was the first woman was my great-grandmother. Not at all! It was just my grandmother’s aunt“, he added during his explanation. “If there is any doubt, write to us…”, he had joked with Gad Elmaleh by implying that the situation was visibly complicated.
Judith Elmaleh: “She did not understand that the party was her wedding”
For her part, Judith Elmaleh, 53, confided in the circumstances from the union of his grandmother, then 14 years old, to his grandfather. “We put a beautiful dress on her, they brought her to a party. She loved this party. And at the end of this party, she said to her mom, ‘I’d like to go home, I’m a little tired.'”the director had explained before adding: “And she told him: ‘No, you won’t be able to come back and you’re going to stay’. She stayed there all her life. She was married, she had not understood that this party around her was her wedding“.
Still completely lost, the teenager had become pregnant, just a few months after this famous party, reports Gala. “At that age, at that time in Morocco, we do not know his body, nor the body of a mannor what happened in the secrets of his room”, Judith Elmaleh continued. She points out that her grandmother was her second wife since her husband already had a first wife who was none other than her own aunt. The latter being much older than her husband, 10 years older than her, I could not have more children.
A grandmother close to her grandchildren
In her clues, Judith had explained how her grandmother was at the center of who she and her brother, Gad Elmaleh, were, highlighting the freedom they had had. “My grandmother said something to me when I got married, the first time. Be careful, if you are not happy you leave“, she had explained. “And this phrase stuck in my head, not that I wanted to obey her, but she gave me the authorization, she gave me this freedom to be able to do it. This freedom that she didn’t have“, she added. With great emotion, the writer confided: “And I thank this lady very much, this queen for me. Becauseshe gave us a lot of freedom. She was never free, but she gave us strength and freedom.”.
Speaking about her grandmother’s impact on her brother as well, Judith Elmaleh explained that her grandmother had the same impact on Gad Elmaleh. The comedian explained that his grandmother was “a feminist ahead of her time”. Gand Elmaleh said that when he came home from school, he once discussed with his grandmother when he would marry, he would marry a woman like his grandmother who “I would make meatballs, couscous,…”. It was then that his grandmother replied: “Are you looking for a wife or are you looking for an employee?“. “It was a slap in the face, he put me back in his place, as if, don’t talk about women like that. It is a lesson actually, that she gave us”, concluded the artist with emotion.