Interview with Kim Basinger
On the sofa on the 12th floor of the "Four Seasons" in Beverly Hills, she sits enthroned like a fragile statue: slim, pale, beautiful and despite the icy air conditioning in the airy dress. The handshake - a gentle caress. Only when Kim Basinger laughs in the course of the conversation, loud and almost a bit dirty, while knocking on the elegantly draped thighs with pleasure, the porcelain doll becomes a human. And you can suddenly imagine her whirling around in jeans and rubber boots at home between her dogs, rabbits and cattle - and it looks as convincing as the cocktail reception in a designer dress.
Interview with Kim Basinger
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: "The best beauty recipe is humor and belief," you once said. Still convinced of it?
Kim Basinger: Absolutely. You just need something that accompanies you through life and gives you a hold - for me that's my belief in God. And if we do not learn to laugh about life, it breaks us down. Bad feelings literally eat their faces. The more we laugh, the sooner we let her out again. And that makes you nice!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Nevertheless, you advertise now for Lancaster and their skincare line for women over 50 years of age. So good mood is not enough for beautiful?
Kim Basinger: Let's put it this way: one works from the inside, the other from the outside. Sunscreen, for example, was always a must for me because of a sun allergy. And since sun lets the skin age very much, that helps a lot. Otherwise, I tried everything possible. With creams, it's like fashion: You have to first find what suits you. And of course, if you make your face for a product, that's much more. The fact that I work with Lancaster now has something to do with their attitude towards getting older fits in well with mine.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: What is it?
Kim Basinger: Do not take it so important! Age never really mattered to me. For example, I can barely remember how I felt when I was 30 or 40. There were just things that were more exciting. Life is incredibly short! We should rather live in the Now, enjoy the moment, as we constantly worry about what tomorrow is, how we look, what could possibly happen. If you do that, you miss the whole idea. That would be a pity.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Here in Beverly Hills, aging seems to be quite a big issue. Or maybe rather: the fight against it.
Kim Basinger: Not only here. All over! Cosmetic surgery has become a real plague. People run like madmen to Botox parties, more and more doctors are retrained to plastic surgeons. Unfortunately, these are usually not the best. And that's why so many operations go in the pants. You know, I do not fundamentally reject such a thing. If someone decides after careful consideration, because he believes that he feels better afterwards, then he has my full support. I just think there's a similar problem to eating in America: in moderation, it's wonderful, dangerous in excess. And some people, especially people from my industry, just can not stop it. At some point, they look worse than before the interventions.
"In my family, good looks were terribly important"
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Would not a plastic surgery be out of the question for you?
Kim Basinger: So far, there was no good reason for that. Maybe someday. Maybe someday I feel like I have to do it to continue working as an actress. The pressure already exists. But then I would only have it done to a doctor who is honest with me and refuses to operate on me if he thinks the result could fail.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Teenagers are even more stressed out by beauty ideals than adults. You have an eleven-year-old daughter yourself. Do you sometimes talk to her about such topics?
Kim Basinger: Constantly. Because this pressure to meet certain standards is simply present everywhere. And the young girls get him especially because they live in this fast, technical media world and they are told everywhere that they must necessarily be thin, beautiful and tanned. A terribly one-dimensional ideal, I think, is given too much importance.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: How do you treat it as a mother?
Kim Basinger: Basically, I let my daughter try everything first and then decide for herself what she thinks of it. But there are limits too. For example, she was suddenly convinced she had acne and needed to take some medicine.She has beautiful skin! But she had read somewhere that Jessica Simpson used this product. That's why she wanted it too. So I called our dermatologist and he advised me against it. I then forbade her. She sulked, but she accepted it.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Can you still remember how you felt when you were as old as your daughter? You already participated in beauty contests at the age of 16, and your mother was a model. Looking good in such a family was certainly a big topic?
Kim Basinger: It was terribly important. My father was also very attractive. Above all, he adored beautiful women. Especially in the old Hollywood movies, he looked at himself constantly. If you have such parents and you keep telling yourself how beautiful you are, then it's hard for a young girl to build self-esteem on anything other than looks. In other areas you feel worthless. I wrote a song about it years ago. His name is "birthmark" and is about women for whom their looks are like their best friend. And when the beauty passes one day, they no longer know what to cling to.
Kim Basinger is the face of the new skin care range "Differently" by Lancaster.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: What was your solution for yourself?
Kim Basinger: You have to understand that beauty means so much more than good looks. And just like getting older you just can not take them so seriously. In addition to my own doubts, it helped me to learn to do things easily and only later to think about the courage that I needed.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: It's fitting that you've named "Harold and Maude" as your favorite movie. The title heroine Maude is also a very fearless woman who does what she wants to do.
Kim Basinger: Oh yes, this eccentric old lady is a great role model for me. In her life there are no rules, no rules. She knows what she's doing, is going her way, no one can stop her. And since she does not hurt anyone, just being herself, she also finds a young guy like Harold attractive. Although she could be his grandmother.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Ruth Gordon, who played the role of Maude, won an Academy Award in 1969 as a 70-year-old. At that time, that was still an exception. This year even three Oscar winners were older than 50. Are mature women the stars of tomorrow?
Kim Basinger: I think the three women this year were more of an exception. But my daughter's generation makes me optimistic: these youths are so much more open-minded and educated than we were. They are simply interested in anyone who radiates something special, no matter what age, no matter what sex.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Is aging easier for men?
Kim Basinger: Safe in my industry. Men are also offered with over 50 many good roles. But I think privately they are getting older as we get older. This is probably because they usually have to master this phase alone. We, however, exchange ideas with our friends and mothers, get tips and consolation. And then suddenly the journey is not that bad anymore.
From model to Oscar winner
She was the sex symbol of the 80s - not least because of her role as an experimental film partner of Mickey Rourke in "9 1? 2 Weeks" (1986). Prior to that, Kim Basinger had worked mainly as a model, winning her first beauty contest as a teenager. As a serious actress, however, most of them only after their Oscar for "L. A. Confidential" (1997) true. She has since starred in such films as "The Door of Temptation" (2004) or "The Sentinel" (2006) and often portrayed complex female figures with a slight tendency to melancholy. After divorcing her second husband, actor Alec Baldwin, the vegetarian and highly committed animal rights activist now lives with her daughter Ireland and a whole herd of pets in Los Angeles, California.
