TORONTO — Quebec celebrity Joël Legendre has asked fans for forgiveness after he admitted he lied about getting caught masturbating in a Montreal area park last fall.
Legendre, 48, also said he is taking a break from his professional activities.
“I lied earlier this week to protect my family and to save what was left of my dignity,” he explained in a message posted on Facebook.
“I am humiliated and destroyed.”
It surfaced recently that Legendre pleaded guilty last October and paid a $300 fine (and $138 in costs) for exposing himself in Marie-Victorin Park in Longueuil on Sept. 4.
An undercover officer in the park — a popular cruising area for men looking for sexual encounters — reportedly witnessed Legendre rubbing his genitals over his pants. Legendre then pulled his penis out and started masturbating.
According to Le Journal de Montreal, Legendre at first denied any knowledge of the incident, then said the story was a fabrication, then admitted to it but said he had only urinated between two trees while out for a jog.
Get breaking National news
But, in his Facebook statement, Legendre said he decided to come clean “for the sake of transparency for my family, my employers, my colleagues” and his fans.
“Since I have shared many times my great joy with the public, I now have to deal with this distressing situation,” he said.
“I take great life lessons from this incident. I am truly sorry and I hope with all my heart that you will forgive me.”
It appears he has plenty of support. His Facebook apology has more than 30,000 “likes” and the vast majority of comments are forgiving. “You are a human above all,” reads one. Another asks: “Who are we to judge you?”
A popular TV and stage actor, Legendre has also dubbed the voices of actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Neil Patrick Harris in Quebec versions of Hollywood films. He has been hosting a daily radio show on Montreal’s Rouge FM since 2011.
Legendre has hosted the annual Operation Enfant Soleil Telethon for almost 20 years. A notice online says “as of now he will not be part” of this year’s telethon, which takes place in June.
Legendre and his husband welcomed twins last July carried by a surrogate mother through in vitro fertilization.
Comments