POP INTERVIEWS: Jane Alexander, all the faces of a naked woman

He made some things, Jane Alexander, from its debut until today. From fashion to reality TV, through TV, cinema, theater, radio and dubbing. Yet there is still something she is missing. Here’s what he told me in our long chat “without promotional purposes”: the career, L’love, his son Damiano, who is now almost seventeen (“My only dream is that she is happy”), thehypocrisy that doesn’t belong to her and the linden smell she hopes to hear again soon.

The words of Jane Alexander

Jane, let’s start from this particular moment that we are experiencing. How are you?

I’m pretty well. Physically yes, without a doubt, mentally a little less. As much as we try to repeat that everything is fine, it is not quite so. It is a difficult and surreal time, many people are going through a period of great difficulty and even my job is going through a complicated phase. Since I like to be positive and proactive, I say that it is fine and that we must look forward with tenacity, but there is an underlying anxiety that does not leave me.

One aspect that transpires about you is restlessness, you like to change and you are constantly evolving. What is it that makes you never be the same?

Until recently I would have told you boredom, in reality I think it is a way to try to improve myself and learn more and more. Even making a mistake, mind you, after all I have made mistakes many times in my life, in the choice of color or hair cut (laughs, ed), in work, in private life. But that’s how I am: I like to throw myself into things, to experiment, precisely because I am convinced that there is also something to learn from what we don’t do well. I’m not the kind of person who spends their time saying, “Oh God, what have I been up to? Now what will happen? ». I always think: “Okay, that’s how it went, let’s roll up our sleeves and do something else.” I always try to be proactive, in every situation in life.

Let’s take a step back: Jane before success. What did you dream for your future?

I dreamed of writing a book, indeed … a hundred! (bursts out laughing, ed) But then, I didn’t. Often, in my Instagram posts, they tell me “You should write a book, you’re good”. Despite this, I don’t have the courage. Maybe it scares me so much precisely because it has always been my dream. Sometimes, when faced with something we really want, we avoid taking risks so as not to ruin it. Moreover, if it does not become real, it runs no risk. We humans are weird.

It is not strange to have this fear: as long as a dream remains in a drawer, it does not run the risk of becoming a failure.

Exactly. You keep it there, you think «I have my dream anyway», you think about it every now and then, but you never touch it. I’m in limbo: every now and then I think I can do it, then I pull back. Well, maybe this is one of the few things I haven’t thrown myself into, without thinking twice. Yet I have dreamed of writing a book since I was a little girl.

It is true, a book is missing from your career, but you have done many things: TV, cinema, theater, dubbing, conducting.

You know, in these months in which I have been locked in the house like everyone else, I have had the opportunity to think a lot. I told myself that, perhaps, if I had done only one thing, it would have been better; things, perhaps, today would have been different. It is probably the anxiety that speaks. Anyway, it doesn’t mean I won’t start writing. Just think that, when I left Big Brother, I bought a computer, which Damiano then appropriated, telling me “Mom, it’s been there for months and you’ve never used it.” I actually bought it to write, but I never did, he’s right. Any excuse becomes a good one to postpone. The human being is very good at this: as soon as there is something he loves and that, for this reason, he is afraid of losing, then he begins to invent excuses to postpone. Every now and then I say to myself: «Today I would love to write, but I don’t have coffee and I can’t do it without coffee» (laughs, ed.). These are the same excuses I use to not quit smoking. I would love to quit, but then I invent a new one. However, I also tell myself that, as long as there is the will to do, we are already a step ahead.

A little while ago you said a sentence that struck me: “If I had done only one thing, it would have been better.”

I refer to my life in general. Do you know what the truth is? In this period I have thought a lot, even too much. I hope it will happen as when I left Big Brother: most of the things I thought were not true, but the result of that situation, of that forced coexistence, I speak also and above all of coexistence with oneself. Thoughts change, they become obsessive and one-sided, in a condition of isolation. In recent months I have thought a lot about myself, I asked myself “Has my life gone as I wanted or not?”. Then I realize that it is a useless thought, the past cannot be changed and blaming it is of little use. You have to look ahead and say to yourself “‘Sti shit about how it went so far, I want to do the best for me from now on”. These thoughts only hurt those who do them and cause further blocks, they are not constructive and, in fact, they lead nowhere, only to complain.

So let’s look forward: what do you dream about today?

I dream of returning to life before the Coronavirus, I dream of walking around without a mask, I dream that my son has a carefree life, that he can live these teenage years in complete serenity. My biggest dream is that he is happy. As for me, I am a big believer in happiness at all costs: if something makes you happy, you have to do it without thinking twice. If it doesn’t harm anyone, if it doesn’t affect the freedom of others, you have to go through with it. And anyway, in addition to my book, I dream of returning to acting on the stage soon.

You recently took part in the show Love recipes and it was an exciting experience.

Theater is like Mal D’Africa: get on stage, play your part and then understand that you will miss it for the rest of your life. I felt like a rookie, like I was doing it for the first time. At first I was terrified, then I realized that the emotion you feel is enormous. Can’t wait to start over.

Speaking of acting, in Italy many actors complain about being confined to one role and always chosen for the same type of character.

I’m not complaining at all! That’s just fine with me, always make me be a bitch! (laughs, ed)

You took the words out of my mouth, you often play the bitch …

And I’m the happiest person in the world. If that’s okay with me, why do anything else? I don’t crave to be the good protagonist, I don’t yearn to be the woman next door, being a bitch is fine with me.

There is a role that your career cannot ignore: Lucrezia di Elisa di Rivombrosa. A cumbersome role. The fact of being «That of Elisa di Rivombrosa“?

Honestly no. After all, it was the pass to have other important roles. You know what I think? Although I did Big Brother Vip, I rarely hear people say “That’s the girl from the Gf”, but “She’s the one who made Elisa”. So it’s okay with me, being recognized as an actress and not for a reality show is essential for me. Then Lucrezia was an extraordinary, multifaceted and funny character.

You mentioned the Big Brother Vip, which you starred in two years ago.

It was an experience that, I must admit, didn’t help me in any way. Maybe one does it to get some feedback, but in my case there have been none. I’ve always admitted I did it for the money. Let’s put the hypocrisy aside and let’s be honest: if you do a reality show, you do it for that reason. They pay you, even very well, it’s a job, so you accept. If you go away from home and stay away from everyone for two months, you do it to make money. It’s a job like any other. Indeed, it is a better paid job than many others. Big Brother gives you extreme, incredible visibility, but it’s absolutely useless. It is useless on social media, it is not needed on television, it is not needed to be an actress. I found myself with great notoriety, but it only served to strengthen myself and understand that I don’t have to answer to haters. It is not useful at a business level, indeed, I could tell you that it is almost harmful.

Probably, to take advantage of it, you have to ride the popularity that a reality show gives and become icons trash.

That’s right, but that’s definitely not what I want. I could have played my cards differently, given what happened, I could have rode the wave, many do, but I pulled back and no longer appeared in certain contexts. I continued to do on social media what I did before Big Brother, so many people – who arrived after the reality show – were scandalized because they saw that I often publish photos in which I am semi-naked. But nothing has changed for me: I continued on my way, with the difference that, before the reality show, I had fewer followers. But it is useless to give explanations, I do mine, whoever wants to understand understands, I don’t give a damn.

Does beauty just help?

As you will have understood, I do not like hypocrisy, so I tell you that beauty always helps you, in any circumstance, environment and work. It opens doors to you, but talent, generosity and sensitivity are needed to keep the doors open.

I open a delicate parenthesis: a few weeks ago a dear friend of yours passed away, Susanna Vianello, daughter of Wilma Goich and Edoardo Vianello.

I have an enormous difficulty in realizing what happened. Having not been able to greet her or attend her funeral, today it seems to me that I cannot fully understand what happened. I know it happened, I’ll explain it, I’ll tell myself and repeat it to myself, but it seems like something suspended in the air, there hasn’t been a closing of the circle, a greeting, something that made this thought become real. I miss him so much, even if we haven’t spoken to each other for a while.

Let’s turn the page. What is the first thing you would do if you get up tomorrow and find out that the Coronavirus emergency is over?

I would go to visit my mother, who lives in Amelia, in Umbria. I hear her three times a day, but haven’t seen her for over two months, so the first thought would be to hug her tightly. Then I would go to the beach with my friends, I want to enjoy the summer, laugh, joke, live a normal life.

We conclude like this: our magazine is called Digital Global Times and, for us, the term POP represents something beautiful, exciting, captivating. What is POP for you at this moment in your life?

Something came to mind, I don’t know if it makes sense, but it is the first thought I had and I want to tell you about it: I sincerely hope not to have missed the flowering of the lime tree, it is the moment of the year that I am waiting for the most; those very few days when the lime tree blooms, Rome is filled with a wonderful, intoxicating perfume. I walk down the street and feel reborn. Here, for me it would pop out and find out that I made it in time. But there is another thing that is very pop …

I listen to you.

Staying with your partner after a long time closed in the house and not running away. Forced coexistence can lead to having nerves uncovered and experiencing difficult moments, to being nervous and intractable. So I think it’s extremely pop to resist quarantine.