Stéphane Plaza: when clumsiness is a disease

Stéphane Plaza is one of the favorite personalities of the French, finishing 15^and in the latest classification established by the Sunday newspaper. The star host of M6, a famous real estate agent, is known to laugh and make people laugh, although he sometimes does it in spite of himself. This Monday, at the microphone of Europe 1 in the program “It feels good”, he admitted to suffering from a neurological disorder since his childhood: dyspraxia.

Difficulty tying shoelaces

Dyspraxia is a developmental coordination disorder (DCD). This is characterized by difficulties with coordination in daily life and learning at school and affects approximately 6% of children. Concretely, this means that patients who are affected have difficulty getting dressed, taking their meals, washing themselves and sometimes have difficulty writing or for activities requiring some motor coordination. These disorders are also sometimes linked to other neurodevelopmental disorders (of language, attention, learning, etc.), as well as to a high risk of anxiety, emotional and behavioral disorders.

For Stéphane Plaza, this is characterized in particular by great awkwardness, as he explained to Anne Roumanoff who hosts the programEuropean 1. “I am extremely clumsy. I break all my cell phones for examplehe assures, showing his cracked screen to the actress when he bought it only two days ago. (…) I have the impression that there are too many things in my head. I have dyspraxia, which means I can’t control my strength and can’t tie shoelaces.“This is not the first time that he has shared this disorder with the public. In 2020, he shared a photo montage on his Instagram account bringing together several personalities also suffering from dyspraxia, such as Jean Dujardin or Albert Einstein.

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A serious accident in 1998

But the host didn’t stop there. He also mentioned his serious domestic accident, experienced in 1998, from which he still has consequences today. Stéphane Plaza then fell two meters. “I broke my legs”, he summarized. The shock nearly caused him to lose the use of his legs and put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. “ I was told that I would have trouble walking. They called me the Comte de Peyrache recalls, in reference to the lame character of the film Angelica Marquise of Angels. After eight operations, I limp a little. But it doesn’t show when I’m hot.”

This accident had a strong effect on Stéphane Plaza, especially on his outlook on life. “I think you have to be epicurean, because everything can stop overnightdid he declare. That’s how I live it. So, when I get up, I’m in a pretty good mood and I think it could be the last day. So be careful, I am not pessimistic! But I want to bite into life and enjoy it. Its important to me.”