From bootlegger to convict, to millionaire pornographer, to born-again Christian, to paraplegic gunshot-victim, Larry Flynt's life so far has been anything but ordinary. As the founder and publisher of Hustler Magazine Flynt broke new ground in porn publishing, offering filth and debauchery of a sort hitherto only imaginable. In his life Larry Flynt has always courted controversy, and along the way he's made himself the enemy of millions. But Larry Flynt always seems to come out on top.
This comprehensive portrait follows Flynt from his dirt-poor Appalachian childhood to his surprising role as a poster-boy for First Amendment rights. Rare footage documents the defining moments in his life, from the launch of Hustler in 1974 to his landmark Supreme Court victory over Moral Majority head Jerry Falwell. In a moving interview, Flynt recalls his long and painful recovery from the assassination attempt that nearly took his life, and the tragic death of his wife. From selling moonshine to his dad to the controversial film that cemented his place in folklore, this is the controversial saga of Larry Flynt.
Twenty seasons in, "Secrets d'histoire" can still surprise its audience. The Season 20 finale aired on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 9:10 p.m. on France 3, and Stéphane Bern closed the season with one of the most notorious women of antiquity: Messalina, the third wife of Emperor Claudius. If you watched it, you already know it was more than a parade of Roman scandal. It was a careful re-examination of a woman whose name has been shorthand for depravity for almost two thousand years. If you haven't caught up yet, this debrief shows why the episode, and the whole season, deserves a place in your watchlist.
A finale that puts history's verdict on trial
The question at the centre of the finale was simple: does Messalina deserve the brutal nickname history gave her? Roman writers handed down a woman driven by insatiable desire and a hunger for power. Bern's team took that portrait apart piece by piece. They asked who wrote the story, why they wrote it, and what they gained from it. This is the series at its best. It doesn't simply retell a legend. It looks into how the legend was made. Messalina's world gave the episode plenty of drama: Caligula, Nero, Agrippina and the freedman Narcissus all appear, each with their own agenda in the deadly politics of the Julio-Claudian court. Without spoiling anything for latecomers, the finale's real emotional pull comes from the gap between the caricature and the young woman caught up in a machine much bigger than she was.