Varda Étienne focuses on children whose parents are suffering from mental illness in the new documentary series At the heart of a reality too long ignored: The unseen children. Her own children testify to it, but so do personalities, strangers and specialists. A touching series that was hard to capture, but proven therapeutic for her as well as the participants.
Giving a voice to these often -forgotten children is the request of host Varda Étienne, herself a mother of three and suffering from bipolarity as well as a borderline personality disorder.
They were the first collateral victims of their parent’s mental health disorder. […] And we forgot to ask them: how do you live that? How are you?he explains in the first minutes of this series, which is divided into four 20 -minute stages.
I want us to stop saying we love our children in Quebec, he added, in an interview with Radio-Canada. Maybe it should show more, and not just say.
Varda Étienne wants to see the creation of rest homes for children so that they can be listened to and supported by specialists when their parent is in crisis.
Testimonials from Dominique Anglade and François Bellefeuille
In her docuseries broadcast on ICI Tou.tv Extra, children express themselves that the parent is suffering from a health problem, as in artist Mara Tremblay, who is bipolar and lives with a borderline personality disorders like Varda Etienne.
Adults with a mentally ill father or mother also confessed to their childhood So we hear Dominique Anglade, the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, recounting the day when, when she was 11 years old, she clung to him. mother who wants to jump in the family car and say I can’t stand it anymoreor the times his mother contemplated suicide collectively.
As for comedian François Bellefeuille, he explained with emotion how his father’s schizophrenia robbed him, in his own words. It was like I was the parent and he was the childsaid we had long silenced his father’s pain to protect him.
I hope we can find solutions to explain this to children, because not knowing hurts me so much.
Varda Étienne said she was honored to have collected all these trusts.
” People are very generous with sharing intimate and painful details, because it has to bring back memories that aren’t always obvious. “
However, some public figures refused to discuss it on camera. Some asked me for a moment of reflection and then said no, he said. They were not ready, because we were still inside what shall we say?.
take out The unseen children lasted about ten years, as the idea aroused little interest in the long run. Varda Étienne was a bit discouraged then Celebrity Brothers came into his life in 2021. Being on this show opened a lot of doors for me. After that, people became more accommodating and open when I wanted to meet them for projects.
Hard but liberating words
At first, Varda Étienne was uncomfortable having her own children testify about their experiences, especially since she didn’t want to put them in an uncomfortable situation. Eventually, they bravely immerse themselves in the past in front of the camera, not hesitating to go back to difficult times, such as when their mother chased, in the midst of crisis, one of her sons with a knife.
The shooting went well, the host explained. I was frightened by their testimonies and shocked when I heard them.
In the series, Varda Étienne herself recounts, while in tears, how, in full psychosis, she was taken to an ambulance, attached to a stretcher, under the eyes of her daughter who still had a pacifier in her mouth. I can never forgive myself he says.
Finally, turn around The unseen children is therapeutic for him. I have been living in guilt for 29 years [l’âge de son aîné]but I made peace with myself by listening to the testimonies of my childrenhe says.
” I’m not perfect, but parents without mental illness aren’t perfect either. “
Does the documentary series also liberate for the other participants? Yes, they all told me the same thing. One of them told me he had never talked about it.
Very humbly, this series is the best I’ve done in my career. I could die tomorrow.
However, working on this project was difficult for Varda Étienne, who had to deal with hypersensitivity in addition to her bipolarity and her borderline personality disorder. After a few sequences, I crashed into my car, very hard to hear some testimoniess, underline leave a week off in the day after filming to melt this intense emotion.
What comes out of Invisible childrenthe power of love binds these children to their parents unlike others despite pain and hardship in daily life. Not once, I wanted my mother, never, Dominique Anglade said in the series. My mother is incredible, I wouldn’t trade her for someone else.
Love is stronger than anything, adds Varda Étienne. For my children, first and foremost, I am a mother.
In the midst of a reality that has long been ignored: unseen children can be watched on the Véro.tv section of ICI.Tou.tv Extra.
Source: Radio-Canada
