"I Collapsed on the Floor": Lorie Announces the Death of Her Best Friend, Who Inspired Her Hit Song

Singer Lorie Pester revealed the death of Mialy Ramanantsoa, her best friend since adolescence, who passed away from breast cancer in autumn 2023. It was this childhood friend who inspired her famous hit Je serai (ta meilleure amie), released in 2001. In the documentary Lorie: Behind the Positive Attitude, aired this Tuesday on W9, the 44-year-old artist tearfully reflected on this loss and the circumstances in which she learned the terrible news.

« I collapsed on the floor »: Lorie recounts the day she learned of her friend’s death

In this documentary dedicated to her career and personal life, Lorie spoke about Mialy’s passing, whom she affectionately nicknamed Mimi. Suffering from a particularly aggressive breast cancer, her friend had undergone chemotherapy before her health deteriorated sharply in October 2023.

The singer recounted calling Mialy’s husband on a Friday evening to check on her. He had told her that his wife had slept well and seemed to be improving. But three days later, on Monday morning, he called back to announce that the end was imminent.

« I just can’t believe it, really. I said, ‘No, this can’t be.’ I collapsed on the floor. It took me a few minutes to truly realize it. I’ve always trusted life, but now, I resent it terribly, » Lorie confided, unable to hold back her tears.

The singer also explained that she was convinced her friend would eventually overcome the illness. Her own mother had survived breast cancer, as had Mialy’s mother. These previous recoveries had strengthened her hope.

« A fighter as she was, always positive, to me, it was normal that she would heal. It couldn’t be otherwise, » she explained.

Mialy, the childhood friend who inspired « Je serai (ta meilleure amie) »

Lorie and Mialy met in 1996, at middle school, when they were 13 years old. Their friendship endured over the years, long before Laure Pester, who became Lorie, achieved success.

In 2001, the singer recorded Je serai (ta meilleure amie), a song directly inspired by their relationship. The track became one of her biggest hits and helped make Lorie one of the leading stars of French pop in the early 2000s.

Mialy also appeared in the music video for the song, filmed in Mexico. She could notably be seen alongside Lorie in a white car. Despite her friend’s fame, she chose to maintain a discreet life away from the spotlight.

In 2019, however, she made an appearance on the show La Chanson secrète on TF1, to surprise the singer. The two women remained very close until Mialy’s passing.

Tearful in the studio, Lorie had to re-record the song a few weeks after the death

The W9 documentary also shows footage of Mialy filmed a few months before her death, while Lorie was preparing her musical comeback. Her friend was already undergoing chemotherapy but continued to support her during important moments in her career.

A few weeks after the death, Lorie had to return to the studio to re-record Je serai (ta meilleure amie). Faced with the lyrics of this song now associated with Mialy’s passing, she was unable to contain her emotion.

« My best friend died three weeks ago. So it’s hard, » she explained during the recording.

This new version of her hit was thus recorded just after the singer had lost the one who inspired the song twenty-two years earlier.

Breast cancer had already affected Lorie’s mother

In Lorie: Behind the Positive Attitude, the artist also spoke about another family ordeal: breast cancer diagnosed in her mother in 2003, while she was experiencing immense success.

At that time, Lorie was performing many concerts while anxiously following her mother’s treatments. Her mother had undergone a mastectomy followed by breast reconstruction. Despite her anxiety, the singer continued to perform on stage and smile before her audience.

« It’s as if I put on a shell, » she explained reflecting on that period. Her mother ultimately recovered, unlike Mialy, whose death deeply affected the artist.

Aired this Tuesday on W9, the documentary also covers Lorie’s beginnings, her past relationship with Billy Crawford, her battle with endometriosis, and her return to the stage. The singer, who has reunited with her audience through her Lorie Party tour, reveals a part of her private life she had until now rarely shared publicly.