«He appears, he appears everywhere (…) But what did he do, real and memorable, to justify all these appearances and appearances?», asked Santi Urso on TVSetteyear 1997. Samantha de Grenet he was among the first examples of a famous person regardless. And he still is, like only a handful of beautiful ones that were all the rage in our 90s. He had actually done a lot of things. In fashion, first of all: the only Italian with Carla Bruni to model for Versace when he was the King Midas of the top models (she: «I started when I was 15. I said to myself: when I do Versace, I’ll stop. It went more or less like this, except that then TV arrived.”
What do you remember about the first fashion show for him?
«That at eight in the morning I saw the most beautiful women in the world arrive. There were Linda Evangelista, Karen Mulder, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Carla Bruni and then there was me. I could not believe it. I said to myself: they must be wrong. Same with Coca Cola’s campaign. I wondered: why did they call me? I don’t know”.
Great-great-grandfather vice admiral, hero of the siege of Gaeta and senator of the kingdom; grandmother princess of Fondi; what kind of child had she been?
«I have always been uninterested in noble ancestry. I only noticed them when my grandmother took me to the Polo Club in Rome and I had to remain composed and speak only if asked. At home, luckily, my parents made us live a normal life. Dad managed the San Pellegrino factories, mum took care of us three children.”
And what did she dream of becoming?
«In the beginning, the waitress on skates, like in the Drive Ins of American films. So, the sexy gas station attendant. Finally, the kindergarten teacher. At 15, I was noticed at the Polo club and ended up in Riccardo Gay’s modeling agency.”
First marriage at twenty, to a young man from Rome’s elite, Pierfrancesco Micara. With the veil, the train, 800 guests, two pages, 14 bridesmaids, 14 garçons d’honneur.
«Madness. We were the first to get married in the castle of Bracciano, even before Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. All the Rome that mattered was there. Bettino Craxi was there, Tullio de Piscopo played the drums, Peppino di Capri sang… I would have liked a simple wedding, but my husband’s family wanted to…».
You separated after eight months.
«I would have separated on my honeymoon. We were two guys who fell in love for the first time, I got pregnant and we were very happy, but while I was preparing the wedding, I lost the baby. I should have stopped and thought about it better, but it was such a pain that I felt finished, certain that only he could understand. On my honeymoon, however, I realize that I see red, he sees blue: I wanted to go to the seaside, he to the mountains; I wanted to stay in a place for young people, he in one for old people. I took it upon myself to leave.”
How did he find the courage?
«For a very long time, my ex-husband didn’t forgive me, but I didn’t kill anyone, I just became aware that I had slipped into a life that wasn’t mine. I moved to Milan and started to be totally independent. I took out all the principles I learned from my parents and had to learn not to let them get in my way. I have never gotten drunk, never taken drugs, I have always been precise, professional. I have never slept with a man out of interest. I was, in hindsight, even excessively rigid.”
How many men has he rejected?
«It was first and foremost a question of being respected. Anyone would come backstage while we models were getting dressed, but I would make crazy scenes and make everyone go away. And then there was a group of rich people who offered you the moon, but I ignored them.”
How much did famous love affairs influence your popularity?
«In reality, Leonardo Pieraccioni arrived when I was already doing the youth programs of Italia 1, Jammin, 8mm, Candida Camera Show… I already had the covers and the paparazzi arrived even if I went to the beach alone. It was a great love, which lasted more than three years, we lived together. I loved him so much that I refused cinema proposals out of fear that someone would say I was with him out of interest. In hindsight, I was a fool. And I refused football programs when I was with Pippo Inzaghi: never mind that anyone thought I was being helped.”
While you were together, Pieraccioni wrote the book «Trent’anni, alta, mora». His identikit. What was that Samantha like?
«Young, very light. Crazy in Love. But I was with a crazy nice man who, like all great comedians, had a melancholy side that he didn’t show to everyone.”
Why does it end?
«It was the wrong time. I wanted a child and I was also ready to leave everything, which is what I did afterwards, mistakenly thinking that returning to TV would be easy.”
And with Inzaghi?
«A crazy infatuation. I rejected him for a long time and, when he got tired of courting me, I realized that I missed our phone calls. I got it back. But, as I feared, it was the young champion who didn’t want a serious relationship. I had to leave him, so as not to end up with a basket of snails on my head.”
Alessandro Benetton?
«It was my first, true, great love. Requited, but troubled: we broke up, got back together, broke up… he came from a certain type of family where my work wasn’t welcomed and he was convinced that I wasn’t made for the family. I left him because I was tired of living with ups and downs. In retrospect, he must have realized that he was wrong, because in his autobiography he put me among the three women most important to him.”
Francesco Totti?
«I spoke about it recently on TV with Monica Setta and all hell broke loose: saying that “we dated” doesn’t mean I slept with her. I went there for dinner, on a boat with friends. She courted me, but I was leaving my relationship with Filippo and I didn’t want other footballers.”
She married and separated with her husband Luca Barbato, an engineer, and then remarried him.
«We got married in 2005 and split up in 2008. Our son Brando was little, we did everything we could to not make him burdened by a very difficult separation. When the divorce papers arrived five years later, it was a phase of reflection: someone dear to me had died; a boyfriend had asked me to marry him but I didn’t feel like it. So, I wrote a letter to Luca telling him how I felt. We started seeing each other again. In 2015, we remarried in church, with Brando carrying the wedding rings and crying.”
On social media, he posts home-made skits with Elenoire Casalegno. Does he live with her or with her husband?
«The ones with Elenoire are gags done for fun. The scenes in bed together are a tribute to Sandra and Raimondo, with whom, among other things, I made Cascina Vianello. They work because people want lightness. It would be great to make a sitcom out of it. The two of us are like sisters, friends for thirty years. In important things, we think the same way and we are two who have not received gifts at work and we have both made calendars that we would never do again.”
Why wouldn’t she redo the calendars?
«That of Francesco Escalar for Maxim I would do it again because I couldn’t even see a tit. The second, with Dario Plozzer for For Men, no. When I had to show my breasts, I started thinking about my father, my father’s friends, my brother’s friends…”.
What does a moment look like when you recognize a true friend?
«When you don’t want to show fragility, a friend manages to be close to you not in her own way, but in your way. When I had breast cancer, Elenoire, like my husband, was able to be there without making me feel like she was worried.”
When faced with the disease, how afraid were you?
«I had already made the film that I was dying and Brando graduated and I wasn’t there, he got married and I wasn’t there…».
What has the disease taught you?
«To be less strict with myself. I was hypercritical of myself, I did a good job and I told myself that I hadn’t been good enough, never that I fully enjoyed it.”
He has done reality shows, he is a guest on many programs. A broadcast from him?
«I’ve had incredible years. I did Seven for one in first place evening on Raiuno with Gigi Sabani, The
flying carpet with Luciano Rispoli… The director of Italia 1 Roberto Giovalli gave me one program after another. But when he left, I paid because I was considered his lover. Adding insult to injury.”
Is it true that one day you had breakfast in bed with Gianni Agnelli and Luca di Montezemolo?
«I was 21 years old, I was engaged to Giovanni Malagò. Oh well, girlfriend is a big word. He had left early. The Lawyer and Luca, who I knew, arrive and I find them in the room with the breakfast tray. An absurd situation.”
Other absurd situations?
«I met Lionel Richie at a Roberto Cavalli party. He was so cool. He leaves me his number. I go to New York with my friends, I call him, he says to me: I’m in the recording studio, come. Anyone would pay to go there. I do not. I replied that we had to go for a sale. So, he invites us to Lenny Kravitz’s party. Nothing. We were tired from shopping and stayed in the hotel. But, once, I kissed James Bond.”
Which Bond did he kiss?
«Sean Connery. I met him with Afef in a tavern shop in Rome. But it was just a quick kiss. Instead, with Batman it was a beautiful kiss.”
Batman?
«Michael Keaton. He was in Milan at a party. He made a little provolone. I said to myself: when will he come back to me? We gave each other a wonderful kiss and I ran away. He invited me to Malibu, but I didn’t go.”
Other mind-blowing encounters?
“I have a lot to tell, but then I would have to change country.”
