Nicolas Demorand launches new podcast, shedding light on the twists and turns of bipolarity

After 6 months in hospital at Sainte-Anne, the France Inter journalist breaks his silence to open up about his worsening bipolarity. Through a podcast broadcast in mid-June, he aims to help those who, like him, are ill-informed about this often misunderstood mental illness.

Nicolas Demorand launches a new project on his bipolarity. The journalist makes his return to the Radio France app on June 15 with the launch of a new podcast on mental health entitled Si Besoin. This very personal first issue will be available to listen to on France Inter's digital platform. In it, the journalist confides in us about his worsening bipolarity, after 6 months of hospitalization at the Sainte-Anne hospital, sick leave and 8 long months of silence since his departure from the morning show. He talks frankly about his battle with the disease.

"I didn't know bipolarity could get worse over the years." This sentence alone sums up Nicolas Demorand's shock at the evolution of his illness. This new podcast, far from being a simple return to the airwaves, is a dual undertaking: confessing his vulnerability and fulfilling a mission to inform. With disarming sincerity, he recounts the "extreme forms" of bipolarity that affect him, his months in hospital and his struggle to better understand what he thought he had under control. Beyond his personal story, he aims to defuse prejudice and inform the public - and especially those who are going through the same thing.

In a moving interview, given a few days before the broadcast, Demorand reveals that he went through extreme states, silent crises and relapses that led him to Sainte-Anne, where he spent a long time. In the podcast,  which will be online in a few days' time, he takes a closer look at bipolarity, its evolution, and its impact on daily life. "I thought I knew everything there was to know about this illness, having lived through it all, the crises, the highs, the lows, the worried stability of a mood that can turn on a dime. But I didn't know that bipolarity can worsen over the years, and that I was going to go through extreme forms of it."

It's an approach that goes far beyond the celebrity columns: it's part of a desire to raise awareness and share his battle to help those who, like him, lack clear information about bipolarity.

Who is Nicolas Demorand?

Journalist and broadcaster, Nicolas Demorand was born on May 5, 1971 in Vancouver, Canada. The son of a diplomat, he spent his childhood in the United States, Canada, Japan, Morocco and Belgium.

He studied in Tokyo, Brussels, Rabat and Paris. He graduated from the École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud and holds an agrégation in modern literature. Before entering the media, he was a teacher in a vocational high school and a freelancer for Les Inrockuptibles magazine.

His radio career began in 1997 at France Culture, where he took part in the Matins de France Culture program until 2006. He then joined France Inter for Le Sept/Dix until 2010, before moving briefly to Europe 1 for Europe 1 Soir. In 2011, he became co-director of the daily newspaper Libération until 2014. He returned to France Inter in 2014 during the evening shows before co-hosting the morning show La Grande Matinale since 2017, first with Léa Salamé and then with Benjamin Duhamel. On television, he also worked on i>Télé, France 5, Canal+ and France 3 between 2008 and 2017. In 2008, he was awarded the Prix Philippe-Caloni for best political interviewer.

On a personal level, Nicolas Demorand is the father of two children, born in 2007 and 2009 to France Culture journalist Louise Tourret. He is the brother of gastronomic critic Sébastien Demorand, who committed suicide in 2020.

Nicolas Demorand was diagnosed with bipolar type 2 after a decade of going through medical ups and downs. In March 2025, he published Intérieur nuit (Interior Night) by Les Arènes, a book about his chronic mood disorder.