My Amazing Ex: "I Stopped Living and He Lived for Both of Us"

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The French are having more and more sexual partners over the course of their lives, according to the latest major study on sexuality by Inserm . Relationships and love stories are multiplying, being born, and sometimes ending. But breaking up doesn't automatically mean that the other person is discarded from our existence. Because they loved us, amazed us, or helped us grow, some exes ultimately turn out to carry a benevolent power. Today, Anne (1), 39, a press officer at a publishing house in Paris, tells how François (1) was patient and tolerant even as she came to terms with the death of her mother.

“In 2011, I was 25 years old. I met François (1) at a party organized by friends. I really liked him even though he was much older than me. He was 42 years old, had just separated from his partner with whom he had two children, then aged 6 and 10. I was in the middle of studying literature and he had already published several books. We had a lot in common even though we had never met.