“When I saw him, I thought he was dead”: Jean-Luc Reichmann’s mother on the host’s terrible accident

1984. A dark year for Jean-Luc Reichmann. Indeed, that year, the flagship presenter of TF1 lunchtimes was therefore the victim of a terrible motorcycle accident which forced him to remain hospitalized for more than a year and to undergo numerous surgical operations. Thus, one afternoon, the biker had gone to meet friends in the city of Toulouse. On his way, “a person of a certain age suffered from a heart attack” says the host in the documentary Jean-Luc Reichmann: an extraordinary destiny, broadcast this Saturday July 2 around 11:15 p.m. on TF1.

And so, before explaining the drama: I drive at 90 km/h. This person is mowing me in my queue. Frontal impact of 200 km/h. The tank of the bike goes into my stomach, the spleen explodes, the front cover rises, completely severs my arm. I no longer have a left arm. I pass over the car and I hear only one thing, a guy who says ‘he’s dead’“.

Jean-Luc Reichmann experienced a very serious accident, close to taking his life. Nevertheless, he got away with it, and in this documentary, together with his relatives, they describe the horror.

Jean-Luc Reichmann ejected on 40 meters

In this moving sequence of the documentary, numerous testimonies from Jean-Luc Reichmann’s relatives therefore evoke the seriousness of this accident. ” I remember being at the scene of the accident soon after. Jean-Luc was no longer there, he had already been taken to the hospital. The shock caused Jean-Luc to be ejected 40 meters further. I keep in mind this image where I looked at Jean-Luc’s shoes which remained at the foot of this motorcycle which was completely destroyed. Only the rear wheel remained. The fact that I was told that Jean-Luc was still alive was a miracle remembered Marc, a childhood friend of Jean-Luc Reichmann. He therefore explains that the accident cut the car in two.

Hospitalization of Jean-Luc Reichmann for a long period was necessary. “When I arrived at the hospital. He was in his bed, he didn’t move. his face was unrecognizable. I looked away. I couldn’t watch it” Mark continued. “I showed up at the hospital. [ Il s’est ] fainted. I fell in the apples. It was monstrous. He was all black. It was a hematoma. When I saw him, I thought he was dead.” explained Bruno, his big brother.

Months in the hospital, in a coma

” He remained in a coma and in the hospital for months. I left in the morning, arrived at 7:30-8:00 a.m. and stayed with him all day. [Elle] won’t come home[t] only in the evening at home. I said to myself “he has to get out of this. But it was very very hardconfided Josette, his mother. When he was in his wheelchair, that’s the image I always have. It looked like a skeleton with all the bandages possible. He had legs that looked like rockets. It was not possible. I thought he wouldn’t walk again. But he never really complained. He endured everything. An iron will. » His mother, obviously worried about her son, Jean-Luc Reichmann, remembers the atrocity.

Jean-Luc Reichmann had lost so much weight that he no longer even looked alike. Fortunately, after months of rehabilitation, Jean-Luc Reichmann was therefore able to walk again, regain an almost normal life and taste the success that we all know today.