A Mask of Flu Conceals a Mental Health Crisis
Bertrand Chameroy has broken his silence on his 2024 hospitalization for depression, revealing that his earlier claim of a “severe flu” was merely a cover for a profound mental health collapse. The 37-year-old television personality, speaking with Rebecca Fitoussi on the Public Sénat program Un monde, un regard, framed his decision to seek inpatient psychiatric care as an essential act of self-preservation.
Breaking the Silence on Internal Collapse
For years, Chameroy projected a high-energy image as a staple of C à vous. Behind the camera, he had long dismissed his persistent low mood as “melancholy,” a convenient label to dodge the stigma of clinical depression.
“The word depression no longer scares me,” Chameroy told Fitoussi. He described a state of total internal collapse, the result of years of suppressed distress that eventually left him unable to function. When he finally stepped away from his media roles, he found that his employers responded with “total understanding.”
Dispelling Myths of the Psychiatric Ward
Chameroy entered the hospital burdened by media-fed stereotypes, expecting to find the facility filled with people in extreme states of distress. He found something else entirely: a cross-section of society.
“They are people like you and me, of all socioprofessional categories, who, at one point, break down,” he said. He now views that period of inpatient care as “the greatest gift” he could have given himself, a necessary intervention for his own survival.
Vigilance Over Recovery
Back at work, Chameroy rejects the notion that his mental health is a “settled” issue. He treats his recovery not as a finished task, but as a discipline requiring constant maintenance.
“I am better equipped, but also much more vigilant,” Chameroy shared. “I don’t tell myself: ‘That’s it, it’s good, it’s settled, it’s all behind me.’ If it were that simple…”
Shifting the Media Narrative
Chameroy first hinted at these struggles during his temporary departure from the public eye, later expanding on the topic in the PSYCHIK podcast.
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