Growing Up: A Childhood of Travel and Contrasts

“I’ve lived with my mother since I was 2 years old. My father left her overnight, so, during my childhood, we only saw him one weekend out of every two. She was a psychologist at the hospital, and he worked in film. When I was 3 years old, she took me traveling to India. We went there several times for a few months during the holidays. And then, we lived there for a year and a half when I was 6-7 years old. We also stayed in Africa because my uncle lived in Swaziland [renamed Eswatini since 2018] and now lives in Senegal. He works in humanitarian aid.”

“When we traveled with my mother, it wasn’t Club Med! I can understand that you don’t want to plunge into the reality of a population with limited means… But we had limited means at the beginning, so we did it that way. Besides that, we lived in a rented apartment in Paris, in a partially squatted building in the 18th arrondissement, where there was a prostitution ring. Below us, they were all taking drugs. Sometimes, I was looked after by a neighbor on the first floor who had three children, including one my age. There was always a slightly seedy atmosphere. One day, we were offered public housing, but my mother refused; she didn’t think we needed it.”

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