Exploring the Life of Philippe Petit, the Famous Tightrope Walker Who Challenged Mortality

Today, we’re going to take a look at Philippe Petit, a former highwire artist and one of the first tightrope walkers to bring the art to worldwide fame.

While Philippe cannot be found table walking today, his eccentric personality was forever cemented in the popular 2015 film, The Walk, which showcased his incredible stunts in 3D. 

He was the middle of three children, and a very creative and rebellious child, devoting much of his time and energy to wild activities and outdoor pursuits. He later noted that much of this time spent running around was at the expense of his education.

Throughout his childhood, Petit was kicked out of five separate schools. Eventually, he would stumble upon what would later become his lifelong pursuit —  tightrope walking 

Just recently, a French tightrope walker, Nathan Paulin, broke the world record. He bravely crossed from the Mont Saint-Michel to the Eiffel Tower. 

However, he did not have access to the tools that professionals had, so he would instead stretch numerous notes between trees on the meadows of the Petit country estate. To get better, he would take them down one at a time, continuing to practice with less and less work until he had incredible confidence.

Rudolf would instruct Petit on how to set up his cables properly so that they were secure. Beyond his quick time with Rudolf, Petit was mostly self-taught. He later noted that learning to walk on the tightrope was not difficult, though for someone to be good at it, they must be passionate.

He wanted to tightrope walk on his own. And, within a single year, he could already perform some of the most difficult tightrope walking stunts, including writing a unicycle and doing somersaults. 

When he declined the offer from Omankowsky’s troupe, he learned that his options were going to be quite limited. He also did not want to join the circus, as he feared it would make him relinquish creative control over his tightrope walking act.

For many centuries, performers have worked on the streets of Paris, entertaining passersby with magic tricks, juggling, and, of course, tightrope walking. From his childhood, Petit already had a lot of these skills under his belt, giving him a decent head start in his unique career path.

Even though he was arrested hundreds of times for performing without the proper permits, he had solidified himself as one of the best-known street performers in Paris. Eventually, he decided to set his sights on something much larger, something that would hopefully give him worldwide fame.

In an interview with The New Yorker, which he took part in later on, he explained that he thought one day he would put a wire between those two towers and shock the people of the world. It was certainly a daredevil feat if there ever was one. 

In the early morning of June 26, 1971, he inconspicuously walked across the highwire cable that he had so secretly latched between the two towers of the medieval cathedral with the aid of a few assistant friends. From below, the crowds watched as he walked the wire, juggling and lying down along the way.

Upon his descent, Petit was arrested once more. After spending very little time in jail, he was quickly released. Unfortunately, his stunt was soon forgotten by the French media.

While sitting in a waiting room for his dentist at just 17 years old, he discovered what eventually would become one of his most famous stunts of all time.

He noted that he was sitting in the colorful waiting room of a French dentist looking at a newspaper when, suddenly, he froze. In front of him was a photo of the Twin Towers in New York City.

For Petit, this wasn’t a calling for the moment, but one to prepare for in the distant future. In many ways, flipping through this little newspaper in the dentist’s office had planted the new seeds of a death-defying dream.

With so much experience and knowledge under his belt, he felt that he was finally prepared to approach one of his most incredible performances of all time. 

The first time that he saw them, he noted almost losing hope in his dream. The minute that he stepped out of the subway terminal and climbed the steps to the street, he looked at the Twin Towers with fear. For a moment, he thought his dream was destroyed. 

Petit and his crew, including a German juggler, two French riggers, and an American photographer, had a dilemma. They needed to figure out how to smuggle more than a ton of high-wire walking equipment into the building before rigging a 200-foot cable from one tower to the other while staying under the radar.

With the help of Greenhouse, Petit and his crew were able to pose as contractors and smuggle their equipment up to an office for storage.

The team used a bow and arrow to shoot the fishing line from one tower to the next, adding multiple layers of heavy rope until they had a table that was supportive enough to hold Petit.

After a slight moment of worry, when they watched a piece of Petit’s’ costume fall over the side and drop 1,300 feet to the street below, they were finally ready to make history. 

He would cross back and forth over the next 45 minutes, taking a few breathers to lie down on the slime highwire. During his eight times crossing, several crowds gathered in the streets and buildings below, completely astonished at what they were seeing.

Luckily for Petit, his punishment was not very severe. The judge simply sentenced him to perform for children in Central Park.

The film received worldwide acclaim, as it produced the most accurate depiction of the events that took place that fine August morning. It was also shown in cinematic 3D.

However, by and large, his walk across the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan would be his most famous.

Petit currently has an upstate New York residence in the Catskills and is an artist-in-residence at Manhattan’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Today, he is 73 years old.

It is something nice he enjoys doing and is very passionate about it, even without the worldwide training that it has brought him.

He wants more people to refuse the rules that society gives them and exercise rebellion to enjoy the true challenges that life delivers. Whether literally or metaphorically, Petit lives his life on a tightrope.