meeting with BJ Scott, emblematic coach of The Voice Belgium (video)
When you arrived in Belgium, what was the first place that marked you?
I crossed the country from Ostend to Brussels, because I arrived by ferry from Dover. I went to the Grand’Place in Brussels and picked up my teeth! (laughs) This beauty was incredible, I had never seen anything like that in my life! Soon after, I was sleeping, wandering these streets, I was homeless, and I learned to convey myself with this beauty, I was talking to the statues in the morning, they kept me company ! (to smile)
But even in the street, did you find our country welcoming?
It wasn’t the first time I was on the street, I was on an adventure. I found the people adorable, from the outset.
Who was the first person to reach out to you then?
Oh darn ! She was a super nice woman from Luxembourg, Romane, who included a lesbian establishment, Impasse de la Fidélité, in Brussels. She let me sleep on the couch and I worked a little in the restaurant, I played the day in the street and the evening there. One day, she came to find me with a bowl of soup and told me that she couldn’t bear to see me like this. I had to learn a lot of things when I got here, not to trust people.
You commit a lot to the most vulnerable. Is this a way for you to give back this hand that was extended to you?
I started doing charity work as soon as I could. I cannot have a privileged position without giving it back, without helping the other. You don’t care how people get where they are, you just have to help them and at that moment, hope that they are on the right path and that they won’t fall back. And if they fall five times, five times you help them up.
You prefer ?
Yes, are you kidding? I am a princess myself. It’s certain. I don’t roll on gold but I earn my living, I’m good, I live my passion, I have a roof! I eat well… and it shows! (laughs) I have a great privilege, I should have died but I’m still here, it’s great! And you have to be in an environment that allows you to do that. If I had been in a country other than Belgium, which is a little more hostile, I don’t know if I would have lived very long.
Today, what do you have that is most Belgian in you?
It’s a little bit of know-how and definitely tolerance. This lack of nationalism in Belgium is also magnificent. It’s charming that you don’t constantly wave your flag like in the United States, it makes Belgium unique!
[…]
>> BJ Scott confides: his full interview is to be discovered on the website of your magazine MAX.