Doctors, operations, anxiety Alice Detollenaere and Camille Lacourt talk about their fight against breast cancer

The sun floods the town hall square, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, at the beginning of September. Camille Lacourt and her companion Alice Detollenaere walk their son Marius, 4 months, there. The little boy, who chirps in his stroller, has just shed a rain of tears a few moments earlier, assures us the couple. The former professional swimmer decides to go "take him for a ride", while his companion takes a seat on the terrace of a café. Camille Lacourt and Alice Detollenaere savor a tranquility - finally - found.

In her autobiography Guérie par ton amour (1), to be published on October 12, the former Miss Bourgogne recounts frankly her childhood marked by the absence of her biological father, her adolescence peppered with anxiety attacks, or her beginnings of model. Without forgetting to pin, at the turn of a chapter, the Miss France competition. Elected Miss Burgundy in 2010, Alice Detollenaere particularly deplores the harassment she suffered from a choreographer. But the subject of his book is quite different.

The 34-year-old author describes her fight against breast cancer, between contradictory diagnoses, taboo difficult to break, mastectomy, and unfailing support from her companion Camille Lacourt, who signs the preface and the comments distilled in the work. The five-time world champion joins us on the terrace, where he conscientiously prepares Marius' bottle. His partner proclaims it loud and clear: the ex-competitor played a “primary” role in his fight against the disease.

Her breast cancer, the thirties first mentioned it on social networks, before telling it on her Notaboobs blog, then in a book, which appeared during Pink October. Alice Detollenaere also officiates as ambassador for the third campaign “Everything is not pink”, launched this month by the Gustave Roussy Institute (2). Now cured of the disease, she intends to lend a hand to those who are, or will be victims. At the end of the day, "a story of women, love and cancer". As well as a real statement to his companion Camille Lacourt.

Sweet words

Miss Figaro. - Alice, your text is punctuated with comments written by Camille. How did you decide to write this book together?Alice Detollenaere. - Originally, I was the only author. One day, I wrote a passage from the book on my computer, then I left the room. Camille wrote me a little note in the middle of a sentence: "I love you." When I sent my manuscript to the publisher, I left this comment there. My editor said to me, "Wouldn't he like to slip in some other little words in there?" Camille, who never speaks, began to write longer sentences. I told myself that I was going to let him.

In your book, Alice, you really bare yourself. You mention in particular the anxiety attacks of adolescence, the absences of your biological father, your past bulimia, or the ups and downs of your love affair with Camille. Have you ever felt apprehensive about sharing intimate memories with the general public? AD - A lot (Laughs). At the same time, I couldn't remove anything. I needed to talk about my biological father, because his behavior reflects certain things in relation to Camille. Growing up with an absent father also makes it difficult to trust other men. I wanted to demonstrate that you shouldn't be afraid to open up again, because there are good people, like Camille. Every intimate aspect that I revealed, I did for others. My breast surgery, or even my failed botulinum toxin injection, was also to tell women: we are all the same. Society puts a certain pressure on us. But we have nothing to hide.

When and how did you find out that you had breast cancer? What was your first reaction?AD - I learned it at the end of 2019, when I got out of work. I was contacted by a doctor's office where I had an appointment for a biopsy. I didn't expect it at all, because the doctor who performed it told me that he was 99% sure that I wouldn't have anything. In the book, I talk about my father's cancer, from which he died. I paint a picture of someone's decrepitude. I told myself that it would be the same for me, and that Camille would have to cut my hair, for example.

The spiral of lies

At the beginning of your book, you mention the taboo that you have built around your cancer. Why did you initially choose to silence the disease? AD - To preserve others. It was partly so as not to upset my mother, and because I didn't have the courage to talk about it. Not only was she going through a period of mourning, that of my father, but I would have liked to have all the information in my possession before telling her that I had the disease. Each time, I waited for the next deadline, the new analyses, the new MRIs. Then I thought, "I'm going to wait for the operation." We enter the spiral of lies, because we don't think it will last that long.

When and how did you break this taboo?AD - I published an Instagram post (January 8, 2020, editor's note) in which I explained my situation. It freed me. Through the words, I could tell my story the way I wanted, and make sure that story was well balanced. I chose a photo in which I am hand in hand with Camille. It was a positive message. Above all, I didn't want to fall into melodrama. I wanted to make it clear that the worst was over, and that we were fine.

In video, "I have no breasts, but I am alive": the story of Paulette Leaphart cancer survivor

"You have a little cancer"

In your book, you mention the contradictory diagnoses, the lack of empathy on the part of certain members of the medical profession. But also the foresight and compassion of a surgeon who changed everything. How did this obstacle course unfold? AD - I tend to trust my interlocutors. I didn't think that people who work in medicine, for whom kindness and compassion should be essential, could be so bad. As for the first doctor I went to, I went to see him several times, and each time I felt bad. At one point, we realized the obvious: he was not friendly and took us for walking wallets. Fortunately, there are very different people, like the surgeon I met later, Camille Lacourt. - That doctor made a bad first impression on us. He mumbled things like, "You've got a little cancer." Nothing was serious, he had no empathy, there was no follow-up. The sentence that made us spin is: "We are going to operate, are you happy?"

Breast removal

You learned later that Alice should consider breast removal. How did she make the decision to undergo this operation?CL - It was a deliverance for Alice. She had wanted to go alone to the hospital for an appointment, because often, I was recognized, and she did not want this privilege. When she got out, she left me a voice message to tell me: "That's it, I'm going to have my breast removed." When I listened to it, I instantly called her back, because I thought she was in shock. But it was a relief for her to finally get this verdict.

How was your convalescence, after the removal and immediate reconstruction of your breast? AD - After the operation, I was radiant thanks to the anesthetic. I felt no pain. Then, when we left the hospital, there was nothing more to do, apart from taking painkillers and resuming our lives. I found that brutal. At first, I felt a heaviness, as if I had an anvil hanging over my chest, because my brain was rejecting that breast. I felt like I was hunched over all the time. I had trouble breathing. My brain has since made room for this lack of sensation. It was also important that I didn't see disgust in Camille's eyes, and I didn't see any at any time.CL - For my part, as I was fine, I always tried to anticipate what could happen. This breast, I started loving it instantly. I didn't see it as a bruised breast. On the contrary, for me he was a symbol of healing, of combat, of the strength she had had to go to have surgery, of the good humor she showed when we were with Jazz (the daughter of Camille Lacourt and Valérie Bègue, born in 2012, editor's note)...Camille, you say in the preface: "It's not easy to be the companion, it's not possible to complain... It's normal , we have health, but we also suffer, silently and invisibly.” What kept you going?CL - The deep desire to help Alice, and my friends, in the first place: they were there to listen to me and I discharged my worries a lot on them, because I didn't want to show Alice that kind of weakness. I don't feel like complaining, because for us the situation didn't last long. But people who accompany their loved ones during long illnesses must be pillars, and not show their flaws.

Listen: the editorial staff podcast

Metamorphoses

Alice, how did your relationship to the body change after the operation? AD - All women, whether thin or fat, have in common that they are hard on their bodies. We have to reach maturity and say stop: either I love myself as I am, or I change. But for some - and I have plenty of friends like that - happiness is defined by the weight on the scale. Having breast cancer put me in perspective a lot. Having a man who loves me, even though I didn't love my breast – now I “love” it in quotes, but he loved it before me – was very beneficial. I said to myself that we had to stop complexing. Now my body is my best friend, and I think I've managed to reach that form of maturity.

If you had a message to pass on to victims and future victims of breast cancer, what would you tell them? affected by breast cancer. But we are lucky, because in proportion to the number of people affected, cancer is the most curable - which does not mean that it is always curable. I would tell them to have confidence, in any case in the public institution, because in France, we can be treated by competent doctors, all for free.

"I knew very quickly that I loved Camille"

You also mention your meeting. When did you realize that you were meant to be together? CL - We had been dating for two or three weeks, and I left for Tahiti, for a long-planned trip. I had the chance to stay in extraordinary hotels, and each time, I said to myself: "There is something missing, I would like to be with Alice." After two or three days, I realized that I had fallen in love with her. When I came back, I asked her out. As we do in CM2 when we are in love. And she accepted. AD - I knew very quickly that I loved him, but I told myself that he was not the right person for me. I thought about it for months. The benevolence he showed when I had my eye problem (after an injection of botulinum toxin, it had swollen, editor's note) and when I told him the truth played a big role.

"I was not a good person"

Alice, you also confide in the beginnings of your relationship with Camille. The portrait that you draw of him is sometimes sharp... Why did you take the side of this disarming honesty?

AD - Camille is no longer the same person. It took me a while to figure out who he was. For years, wherever he went, people recognized him, wanted to rub shoulders with him in an interested way. Inevitably, his personality was built in a bizarre way: celebrities do not have the necessary perspective, and their relationship to others is completely biased. For my part, when I am not with him, I am treated like everyone else. Whereas when I am, I am treated in a different way. Either they approach me with interest or they hate me. I knew there was someone good under Camille's shell, but I had to scratch beneath the surface. When I met Jazz and saw the father he was, I understood who he really was. I brought that up in the book because I was like, 'This is amazing, I never thought, when our relationship first started, it would come to this. I knew that I had met a beautiful person, but I did not know that she would be so beautiful.CL - I knew who I was when I met her, and I knew who I wanted to become. I think she tells it well. I was not a good person, but it was part of my life. I needed, at that time, to hide, to be superficial. It wasn't a phase I was going to stay in, but Alice got me out of it faster than I thought. It's not because I am known that the story had to be embellished. Precisely, she is beautiful because at the beginning, no one gave our relationship a single chance.

(1) Healed by your love, by Alice Detollenaere and Camille Lacourt, to be published on October 12, 2021, published by Leduc, 192 p., €18

(2) The third edition of the “All is not pink” campaign, initiated by the Gustave Roussy Institute, aims to fight against triple negative breast cancer. This involves a high risk of relapses. It is responsible for 12,000 deaths per year. The institute intends to identify new effective therapeutic strategies for women with this cancer. A collection of funds intended for businesses and individuals is available on the institute's website.