The host of Let yourself be guided on France 2 was at one time approached and even approached by Emmanuel Macron to join the government.
He is back on France Télévision, alongside Lorànt Deutsch, on France 2, this Tuesday evening. Stéphane Bern co-presents a new issue of Let yourself be guidedthe show which immerses the viewer in historical places, complemented by 3D reconstructions. It is “The golden age of pirates and privateers” which is in the spotlight of this new issue. And Stéphane Bern’s face returns to the screen as the files for the “Bern Mission”, also called “Heritage Mission”, begin to accumulate after the launch of the applications.
Since 2018, Emmanuel Macron has in fact entrusted Stéphane Bern with the task of identifying and selecting monuments in danger each year and finding funding to ensure their restoration and safeguarding. The selected applications will benefit from funds, in particular coming from the Heritage Loto, organized in September. This role, which is close to Stéphane Bern’s heart, has already made it possible to support 627 sites, including 72 emblematic projects. Enough to obtain satisfaction from Macron himself, who has already praised the work of the mission several times.
What if Stéphane Bern got into politics and took on a more important role in the future? While yet another government must be formed at this very moment, the idea, although absurd just a few years ago, could well become sensible. But Stéphane Berna himself cut short any speculation. And that was already a few months ago.
The name of Stéphane Bern had in fact circulated during the reshuffle of January 2024, during the establishment of the Attal government. Rumor had it that the famous host of Let yourself be guided was approached directly by the Elysée to become Minister of Culture. It is ultimately Rachida Dati who will inherit the position of Rima Abdul-Malak at the time.
But Stéphane Bern will confirm that he was indeed contacted by Emmanuel Macron a few days later and will claim to have categorically refused to join the government. “I was offered a position, I can’t tell you which one, but one day Emmanuel Macron said to me: ‘Wouldn’t you like a position in heritage?'”, said the star of France Télévisions during from a press point, reported Pure Media. “I said: ‘Above all,’ My job is to make television.”
“I disappointed a lot of people, but I had no intention” of becoming a minister, insisted Stéphane Bern at the time, with a very straightforward explanation. “And when I tell you never, it’s really never. I have a job that I love […]. I don’t want to lock myself in an office, run a public establishment or be in a ministry. I am much more useful, it seems to me, where I am.”
“I have the freedom to do things for others, which I could not do if I accepted a position,” remarked the host, ironically: “I would have resigned after five minutes, I ‘would have said everything I thought’. Of which act.