Have you hesitated to tell your family story?
This book reports testimonials from GPA. I couldn’t talk about it without talking about my experience. I would have loved it, but it wouldn’t have been fair. I know that exposing my family makes them feel vulnerable. It is a sacrifice that I have agreed to make. We talked a lot about it all together and nothing was done without the agreement of my daughters, I tell them everything.
Don’t you fear the reactions of anti-GPAs?
You know, despite some very vocal debaters on television, society is ultimately benevolent. At school, in the street, traders … from the moment people see balanced little girls, they show themselves to be benevolent. Our daily life is joyfully banal!
How did you tell your daughters their story?
I don’t know at what age they really understood it, but I’ve been telling them about it since birth. When they only had a few minutes, I explained to them that they arrived in a family with two dads, and that Michelle, who had allowed them to be born, had welcomed the little seed of the daddy so that she could grow. in her womb. Little by little, we adjusted our words according to their age, and today, it’s their story, they talk about it very easily.
What kind of dad are you?
Me, I’m more of a permissive dad, while François sets the rules. However, I would have imagined the opposite … I am older than him and above all,
he’s cooler than me in life. But ultimately, I’m more the one who consoles and he the one who sets the frames. This week, for example, I’m on vacation alone with the girls, and it’s a bit of a mess!
What does Michelle, the surrogate, mean to your family?
In the United States, when a surrogate mother chooses you, we meet her children, her husband… We spend a lot of time together and strong bonds are forged. They cannot come apart after the birth of the child, on the contrary, they become stronger. So every year after Christmas, we rent a house and we all get together to spend a few days there. Michelle is truly our friend, and she is proud to have helped us start a family. I would say that she ultimately has more of an emotional bond with us than with the girls.
What values do you want to pass on to your daughters?
I try to apply a caring education, but not lax. I am committed to developing their artistic side, which I did not have. Not to see everything in a standardized way. They did their kindergarten in a Montessori school where, even if there are rules, we also listen a lot to the child and his creativity. The little one has also developed a sense of drawing, calligraphy … Nothing in my life makes me more proud than my daughters!
In her book *, “What is she
to my family ”, Grasset editions, Marc-Olivier brings his testimony and that
dozens of other couples on surrogacy.