'Stephan Plaza's Secret Side: I fear for my life if he finds out what I'm telling you'

In February 2019, Stephan Plaza was quoted in the press about his introverted percentage:

"I'm 80% of who I am as I'm seen on screen. The remaining 20% are my weaknesses...".

In June of the same year, he beat popular doctor Michel Symes for the first time in TV Magazine's ranking of the French people's favorite TV presenters.

This M6 TV star, who hosts a host of real estate programs including the original and iconic "Finding an Apartment or House" (first broadcast in 2006), comes across as responsive, humorous and awkward. Always willing to help others. All in all, very nice. But is Stephan Plaza the way he talks when the cameras are off? Four and a half years later, a very different portrait is being painted.

The Beginning Table'. 'crack down on September 21 with the publication of a Mediapart investigation in which three ex-partners of a 53-year-old man accuse him of domestic violence.

The facts, now before the court after the opening of a preliminary investigation and complaints filed by two of them, are completely at odds with the public image he has carefully crafted for nearly two decades. According to his lawyer, Melaine Plume, this investigation contains only "allegations of three women who joined together to harm him in any way possible." She explained to Mediapart that the case relates to her client's "personal life".

'Liberacion' (with whom neither Melaine Plume nor Stéphane Plaza wanted to continue talking) plunged into the professional world''leading.

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We interviewed employees, both current and former, at all levels and in all sectors employed by the Plaza during the month. He is an employee of M6, whose programs are produced by Réservoir Prod, which operates under the umbrella of the powerful Mediawan media group. He also appears as an actor in live broadcasts on the channel, in theatrical productions and records chronicles for RTL, where he also participates in the program "Gross Tet" - a friend of Laurent Rücki. Not to mention his giant real estate agency network (over 600 in France), founded in 2014 and in which M6 became a major shareholder at the beginning of 2022.

Whether a meeting is here or there, whether they are powerful or more vulnerable, on stage or behind the scenes, whether they are male or female, no one''was willing to speak out without a promise of anonymity.

After a long conversation, one of our sources refused to continue talking, as if paralyzed by fear: "If he finds out I talked to you, I fear for my life. He is capable of hurting me." That fear is consistent with what one of the women accusing Plaza of domestic violence told the court, according to information we received from us. She says in her statement that her partner returned one evening after visiting a fortune teller who had insinuated that she was seeing other men. "I'm warning you, I will kill you if you cheat on me," threatened Plaza, according to her statement. She adds, also in her statement, "He told me that if I left him, he would kill himself, he would jump off the balcony and I would carry it''all her life'." Two other women present in the case recount similar experiences, from psychological pressure to blackmail to suicide.

Thanks to the testimonies collected by Libération, as well as the documents included in the case and screenshots of WhatsApp chats between Stéphane Plaza and some of those involved, a portrait is drawn of a man gripped by a sense of all-encompassing power.

"He lacks a super-self. Because he's not conscious of his behavior, he's constantly losing his temper," friendly psychologizes one of the temporary employees. Stephan Plaza is most often described as "eccentric," "extravagant," or even "completely crazy," making "a lot of noise" and "big theatrical gestures." A personality eager to prove himself'. 'Everywhere, in all circumstances. He speaks loudly, laughs loudly, sometimes talks on speakerphone, even when dealing with an interlocutor. "He's very confident and feels untouchable," sums up one colleague.

He has such a need to show his presence that the TV star isn't shy about getting those who meet him to take selfies with him, whether it's strangers on the street or influencers in the industry like the artiste agent he tells every time he sees her: "Does she want her selfies? Does she want her selfies?" despite repeated "no's" from the person concerned.

He shouts to passersby, temps on movie sets, "Take pictures!

Take pictures!" One of the witnesses''resulting in the deterioration of a person's working conditions, which may lead to the infringement of their rights and dignity or impairment of their physical or mental health or threaten their career advancement'.

According to our interviewees, Stefan Plaza often threatens those who work for him to fire them or force them to quit.

Sometimes directly, sometimes behind his back. "People don't know the hell behind the scenes. Everyone who works for him will be punished at some point. At the slightest displeasure, like a delay, whether it's a photographer, makeup artist or director, you can be removed from a shoot for a day or more," one observer tells us. "I've seen him treat his assistant like dirt. He would say to her: 'Allow me to solve this problem or you're fired.' At that, the problem was''completely insignificant,' another source tells us.

So, one day a small hand involved in compiling archives of his programs was asked to hurry up as follows: "If you don't find them within ten minutes, I'll fire you. "

Another happened to an employee of the M6 group, a little stunned, who was told, "If you don't come to my theater, I will tell Nicola de Tavernost [president of the M6 group] to fire you". A third example is a real estate agent from the Mountain Department who presented a property during the shooting that Plaza did not like. "He pounced on it, he didn't want to see it again on the set," recounts a client looking for a roof over his head, who says he was "embarrassed by this''reactions'.

A different place, a different story. Same abusive behavior.

Independent publisher Jungle has published a comic book in honor of Stephan Plaza. "He was happy to be a character in a comic book, it was always satisfying," says one of the participants in this collaboration with the group M6. After the publication of the third volume in 2020, Jungle wanted to stop everything. Plaza got angry and ordered the project team not to give up. "They were persistent," recalls a publishing employee at first diplomatically, then corrects himself: "They were very insistent." The problem is that the comic is no longer for sale, so much so that the third volume was distributed only in the agencies of the Plaza immobilier group. Jungle does not relent. And so Plaza, once again, sends threats to the two culprits -''who had nothing to do with it - and tells the world he wants to fire them.

It should be noted that none of those concerned thought it was a joke.

At best, they noted a false light-hearted tone that didn't make them laugh at all. At worst, they felt really threatened. None of them were fired, though.

Once Mediapart published it, an internal investigation was ordered by the HR department (Réservoir Prod also conducted its own, with the help of an outside consulting firm), as required by the labor code in such cases.

This required interviewing everyone in contact with him. Many wanted to respond candidly, mentioning behavioral problems they had observed, but seeing that Plaza had fully''supported by the leadership, they were inclined to recant their testimony. And it is by-