Catherine Laborde, who presented weather on TF1 in France for nearly 30 years, has died. Laborde passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 28 following a years-long battle with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), which she was diagnosed with in 2014. She was 73. Her sister, Françoise Laborde, confirmed the weather presenter’s’ passing in an emotional tribute.
“You left peacefully to your house on the Isle of Yeu that you loved so much,” Françoise wrote, adding that Laborde was surrounded by her loved ones in the days leading up to her passing. “Genevieve and I were with you last week, and we were still able to laugh between sisters while evoking our childhood memories, talking about Mom and Dad and also singing you the songs that you loved. You gave us this immense gift of offering us last moments of consciousness and lucidity.”
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“You left my darling very gently, silently, peacefully. We love you so much,” she continued before concluding the post with a quote from Charles Baudelaire’s poem “Spleen.”
Born on May 6, 1951, Laborde became a familiar face on French TV screens when she began presenting weather for the French network TF1 in 1988. She continued as TF1’s weather presenter for 28 years before announcing in 2017 that she was retiring. During her final bulletin on Jan. 1, 2017, Laborde told viewers, “I’m taking you with me. You’ll forget me, I won’t. I love you.”
Laborde revealed in her book Trembler the following year that in 2014, according to Le Parisien, she’d been diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, a type of neurodegenerative dementia that is “characterized by the buildup of proteins into masses known as Lewy bodies,” according to Mayo Clinic. Symptoms include visual hallucinations, movement disorders, and cognitive problems, among others.
In a statement following her passing, the TF1 group applauded Laborde’s “skill, benevolence,” and her “joy of living (which earned her the affection of all those who were living with her.” They added that they “share the pain and sorrow of her family and loved ones and pay tribute to the woman who supported the French people for more than 28 years.”
Outside of her career as a TF1 weather presenter, Laborde also had training in theater and experience as an actress. She appeared in films and series throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s such as La folie des bêtes, Biahore! Billegagnée, and Tangos, the Exile of Gardel, per her IMDb profile. She was also a writer who authored several books.
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