Robert Frost, one of the greatest American poets, loved by JFK, wrote: “In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: it goes on.” Sounds like the perfect mantra for Michelle Hunziker. She always went on: a difficult childhood, an alcoholic father, the dramatic experience in the sect, the end of two marriages, but inexorably she continued to advance. She is not for everyone. Now after having concluded the 18th consecutive edition as presenter, together with Gerry Scotti, of Strip the news, the showgirl stops to take stock of a year in many ways very difficult. «In the autumn Mediaset confirmed the program with my great joy Michelle Impossible. And then Strip I don’t give up. If Antonio Ricci wants us, Gerry and I are always ready. Happiness lies between one obstacle and another. And in the end I always manage to grasp it, even if I can’t say this is an easy time. It’s complicated, it will take time, but looking for a moment where you smile is very important ».
In these twenty years she has managed to make many people smile. How has the audience changed?
I have been working on television for more than 25 years and many things have changed. Women with commitment have won many battles. When I started, to be able to make people smile, to be taken seriously as an artist, I struggled a lot. It has never been a cause for discouragement. But it sure was very, very tough.
The daring descents and ascents, sang Lucio Battisti. What were they for you?
There was still a lot of misogyny, emancipation was just a word. Today we can say that television is now in the hands of women in Italy.
How does it feel to face the daily process on social media?
Everything is part of a great game, which can also become serious when offenses and insults start. I am not saying that I too have not suffered from it, but I do not give it all this importance. When I get home I take two deep breaths and re-establish priorities. And when the world seems to rush me I know it will all be over in two days. The haters will find someone else to slaughter. As long as they don’t spoil your image with a damn fake news, which is taken up by everyone, I think you have to ignore them, not respond, not delete, let them slaughter each other. If you are a public figure we are dancing and dancing. We take the good stuff and the dark side of popularity as well.
After the end of your marriage with Tomaso Trussardi you found yourself at the center of morbid attention, how did you react?
Even when there was the break with Eros they went down hard. There were no social networks, but there were newspapers and if they wanted to put you in the middle they did it. Now everything is more immediate, the mud dissolves quickly. They are like hot flashes: they burn and disappear. The important thing is to be able to ignore the provocations.
Did they hurt you?
Yes, they are fierce, mean, especially if they target your family. Like when they threatened my daughter Aurora with death, cruelly offending her.
How did he react?
I think that if the offense had come to me from a woman like Rita Levi Montalcini I would have shut myself up at home and questioned. But if the meanness comes from a frustrated person, then who cares.
Have we gotten worse after the pandemic?
Yes, people are nervous, psychologically tested, nasty. With the «Double Defense» Foundation, together with the lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, we have never received so many requests for help as during Covid. 60 percent more violence than normal.
Even against men?
The Foundation is bipartisan: anyone can contact us. 80 percent of the complaints come from women, but acid attacks against boys and fathers who are unable to see their children are also on the rise, because mothers practice “parental alienation”.
Have the balance in the couple changed?
A drama is underway in male culture: “Where am I positioned, what am I doing?” they ask themselves. The process towards a revolution is always painful, transformations are frightening. In order to achieve a goal, certain balances are lost. The women themselves have hardened. Their mates feel destabilized in the role. As a man, I want to feel protected, protected, loved.
Did your men protect, protect, love you?
(The famous two breaths start). Yes, although I don’t want to go into this topic. I wouldn’t be separated if I was happy. With Eros a love was taken away from us at the moment in which we were most in love. It was a different thing, a drama.
And with Tomaso Trussardi?
Separations are enormous psychological stresses, I would move on. The pain is too cool. The end of a love is like mourning.
Let’s move on to a man who has never let her down, Gerry Scotti.
It’s a beautiful friendship, it’s like a brother. We value each other deeply and I think this shows. He is a resolute man, as I consider myself a resolute woman. We approach our work with gratitude. We have fun and we love each other.
What does it mean to be a resolved woman?
Be independent. My mantra is: you have to get out of the way of always pleasing others, of being the good girl. Instead you have to pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that what you have you have earned by yourself, making you a great bunch. I thank my tenacity and at 45 I choose what to do and with whom, and what I no longer want to do.
For instance?
Give precious time to those who do not even realize it, who do not understand. You have to skim and in the end if you have five people to count on you are very rich. And I have them.
The media have already thrown themselves on his alleged new love with the surgeon Giovanni Angiolini. She is in love?
Also being silent about my emotional state, about what I am living in this moment of passage and pain, but also of great freedom gained, is a luxury that I am allowing myself. I’ve never done it, yet now I feel the need to be silent and understand what I really want.
What is your priority?
My daughters. They are the first thought and also the last, there is nothing else more important. Then comes the work, the realization, the fun of creating new challenges. Always with joy in the heart. As long as we are all healthy we can fix anything. When I am in a very difficult moment I say to myself: «The end of this hellish day will come».
Has she always managed to get through the hellish days?
There was a time when I was impatient. I had to find a way to make myself loved, to feel loved. Today I realized that we are single individuals. And if you are comfortable with yourself, you will be comfortable with others.
Who did you inherit this Zen attitude from?
The seed of spirituality comes from dad. A fragile and sensitive man who got lost in the demon of alcohol. Everything I experienced as a child created “la pellaccia” for me. If you survive the hardships as a child, when you grow up you will make it. It is like a blessing, a viaticum.
It can be said that she made it.
I think I was lucky, but I was trained for suffering. Then there is a time to suffer and a time to get up.
After this experience, what mother did she become?
When I had Aurora I was 19. I was inexperienced, but I came from a country where discipline comes first. The rules were my salvation. She is a structured, calm, good girl, she knows how to get by. Also for all the “no” I said to her.
And with Sole and Celeste?
Motherhood at 35 and 38 is completely different. You relax, you know that certain things you can let go of. I grant more. Maybe it was better when I clung to the rules.
What will you do this summer?
I will enjoy the girls. As a good Swiss I have already planned everything.