Radio | Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau found her own path

At just 36 years old, Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau will be the youngest animator in the programming by the fall by the fall. His new program General admission will occupy the time box on Saturday afternoon, left vacant by the legendary René Homier-Roy who announced his retirement at the end of the last season.

“Yes, these are big shoes to put on. But I intend to try to put them on, in my own way, with my little colorful sneakers “, illustrates the host of the new cultural program of Radio-Canada, with a mixture of humility and balance.

Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau has always had a beef front. The first time she presented herself to the big boss by first, she had dared to play cards on the table by sharing her ambition to be one day behind the microphone. It was 10 years ago. She had just been hired in search. The sacred fire that animates it has never fogled since.

“I love my job. I believe in the power of the radio. And I believe in culture here, which I know how to threaten. Being able to help highlight it is something that makes me very proud, ”explains the one who took her first steps on television this summer to Sweet sweet at TVA, as a columnist. It is also found at the controls of the summer program Happy birthdayon here first, in which she returns with her guests on works and events that have marked the cultural environment.

The daughter of, the sister of

The apple did not fall far from the tree. His mother, Manon Lépine, was a long host in CKAC. His father, Marc Blondeau, was a high placed in the middle of the media, working in particular at TVA and at Rogers. We feel the emotion rising when Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau talks about him, today diminished by Parkinson’s disease.

“I am very close to my parents. My father listens to everything I do. After my shows, he often calls me to give me advice, “she says, leaving her bag a notebook on which she wrote all kinds of notes taken from her last conversation with her father.

Bad tongues will say that the ascent of Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau in the Radio-Canadian galaxy is not unrelated to her family baggage. No one dared to tell him directly, of course. But she knows that these are things that whispered behind her back, especially in her beginnings on Radio-Canada.

However, these backbone obviously did not reach more than it was to be sought, among others for Catherine Perrin and Alain Gravel before being promoted columnist, then animator.

It is also constantly brought back to her famous sister, the actress Magalie Lépine-Blondeau. Difficult to ignore it, it must be said. Their physical resemblance is stunning. The similarity of their voices, their intonations, their expressions too … is sometimes to be mistaken.

“I can’t find it heavy to be talked about. The only thing that bothers me is when people try to compare us, put us in rivalry. But that is not her fault. In fact, there has never been any rivalry. On the contrary, I have a huge admiration for my sister, whom I consider one of the best actresses of her generation, “said Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau, a smile on his lips, speaking of the one who is seven years older.

Change of route

She too has already targeted an artistic career. Not as an actress, but as a lyrical singer. Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau studied classical song at Cégep, then at university, before branching towards political science.

“I don’t have the failed artist’s syndrome at all. I love my current life. On the other hand, on the other hand, that when I go to see a concert, I have a little while I wonder what I looked like my life if I had continued. But it goes quickly. I don’t think I was made for this life. I did not have the discipline for that, “says this finished fan of Céline Dion who sings today only in the shower and karaoke” once in time “.

Discipline, it took her, however during the five years when she assured the cultural chronicle in the program A whole morninghosted by Patrick Masbourian. Few people occupy this role so long, who requires going to bed late to go see shows, then wake up at dawn the next day to criticize it on the radio.

From 2019 to 2024, Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau estimates that she was sleeping about five hours per night. A work rate impossible to bear for the new mother that she is. During her maternity leave, it was with the big heart that she made the decision not to return to A whole morning.

“It would be too much to ask my partner. To do this job just by giving half my time, it is not my approach. Me, I really like to give myself body and soul in what I do, ”sums up the happy mom of a one -year -old boy.

“I feel a decline”

In the air, Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau has never hidden the fact that she is in a relationship with another woman. It has always claimed its membership in the LGBTQ+community, which is also involved with various organizations which campaign for the acceptance of sexual diversity.

She never felt her sexual orientation put barriers to her. But Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau observes today with dismay that a wind from the South blows in Quebec and threatens certain achievements. It is troubled by this recent study in Gray-Montreal which shows that the level of discomfort of adolescents regarding homosexuality has doubled in seven years.

“When I came out, I was told that life was going to be difficult. Finally, my twenty went very well. I lived in an environment of total freedom. But there, I feel a decline. It concerns me especially for my son and for his safety. Five years ago, when I imagined with a child, I told myself that he was going to grow up in a world where it would be totally accepted to have two mothers. Now, I can see that it is not so won as it finally, ”she saddens.