The Miss France competition, symbol of beauty and elegance, could be shaken by much more sordid confidences from Sylvie Tellier in her autobiography…
Sylvie Tellier has no longer been, for a year, the big boss of the competition miss France. The one who succeeded Geneviève de Fontenay, not without trouble at the time, was general director of the Miss France company for almost 15 years and is now freed from her obligations. In particular its obligations of confidentiality and withholding. In her autobiography “Couronne et Préjugés”, published this Wednesday, May 29 (Fayard), the one who was the face of the famous competition reveals little-known and sometimes controversial aspects of it.
Herself Miss France in 2002, Sylvie Tellier addresses, among other things, the risks of notoriety brought by the competition, particularly when this is based largely on physical appearance. Referring in particular to the violent criticism she received after posting a photo in a swimsuit, she warns: “When we expose ourselves on social networks, we take the risk of these kinds of comments”, while adding to be ” armored”. “I don’t really care, but it’s true that when I read that, I say to myself, how do you expect our children not to feel harassed, bad in this malicious world,” she emphasizes.
Sylvie Tellier does not fail to recall the difficult beginnings of her career within Miss France, marked by tense exchanges with figures in the organization. She says she was poorly received by Xavier, the son of Geneviève de Fontenay, who contemptuously told her to take care of the petits fours, despite her superior qualifications. His book also evokes the tensions between the participants, citing conflicts between famous misses, such as Sonia Rolland and Élodie Gossuin.
But on the sidelines of this autobiography, Sylvie Tellier also makes much more disturbing revelations. In an interview with Yves Jaeglé, published in The Parisian, she is critical of practices that may have taken place in the big show, including interactions between jurors and candidates that she herself observed. Based on the reading of her autobiography, the journalist recalls that Sylvie Tellier was able to come across, “after the gala, on candidates in the toilet with men from the jury”… Which she confirms without blinking!
“I’m not giving names. It existed, we knew it. It’s human,” she explains, putting these “encounters” down to the attraction of power. “In this #MeToo period, we can still say it, the power of all these tall, handsome, powerful men, who have succeeded, is attractive. It can turn the heads of the Misses, like what was happening elsewhere,” she confides, contenting herself with talking about “great actors, great singers, great directors”.
Some recall that these revelations come in the context of promotion for a book, sold as a behind-the-scenes reveal of the largest beauty contest in France. A context where buzz obviously has a role to play. In fact, reading the book will barely say more about the bleak underbelly of a competition that is less and less in tune with the times.