This interview with Tiziano Ferro is published in issue 20 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until May 14, 2024
Of black evenings. Where there is no time, there is no space and no one will ever listen. «Vanity it was there when I became successful, when I came out, when I got married. AND Vanity it’s there even now, when things don’t go exactly as you imagined. In those moments you need friends. Friends who know how to listen to you.”
We meet Tiziano Ferro in Italy, in Rome. He is passing through here, for some new projects, while the wind of the past never stops chasing him: a recent interview by Mara Maionchi on the program Beasts by Francesca Fagnani has reopened old wounds in a moment, the current one, which coincides with the awareness of a new life after the breakup with her husband and after the end of a certain way of understanding one’s career.
Leather jacket, shirt and trousers, Prada. Clock, Omega.
Do you forgive me. Given the moment with Maionchi and the chaos generated by Fagnani’s interview, I should start with the ritual question: what kind of beast do you feel?
«One who doesn’t bite. Every now and then I’d like to attack, but she’s not my nature. Sometimes, not biting, not attacking was a form of self-harm: instead of taking care of myself, I retreated just out of politeness or kindness. The truth, I have discovered over the years, is that I need people, friends who know how to listen. And that’s perhaps why I’m here talking to you and with Vanity: This newspaper has been one of the best friends I’ve had because it doesn’t just know how to listen to stories, it knows how to tell them. The words you choose are everything.”
I take inspiration from his words. You speak of a beast that does not bite and does not hurt. Who hurt her? And who listened to it?
«I must admit that I don’t expect much from people and therefore I celebrate every single time I find someone who listens to me. In Los Angeles, for example, a city that everyone rightly considers alienating, I found an entire elective family of people who became friends. I found many of these at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The fact is that no one there asks you, as happens in everyday life, how much you earn and what work you do. Knowledge starts from the damage you have done, from the fragilities. And everything becomes more authentic, without filters. But there are also special friends like Elisabetta Canalis and Bianca Balti, women who stop playing their characters to become mothers again. Bianca is cheerful, playful, she takes everything head on. Elisabetta gives me hope, she is creative, spiritual. The feeling of friendship is absolutist: friends are always there no matter what. And that’s that. And you understand how important they are when things don’t go as you expected, like for example with the divorce from my husband Victor.”
He spoke openly about his divorce. What was it like running it privately?
«Victor has made my love life more beautiful and complex. Ours was a beautiful love but, honestly, also painful. One thing I understood: I could not and should not abandon myself to the idea of divorce as failure, a tempting trap that deludes you into remaining stuck in that comfort zone that is pain. I thank the complexity and three-dimensionality of the relationship with him which allowed me to move forward.”
Is going ahead? Is he meeting new people? How does someone like you meet new partners? Do you use dating apps?
«Look, with two small children the last thing you want is to start a new relationship. At this moment I don’t have the slightest intention of entering into that meeting mechanism. If it happens, it will be like the rest of my life, where things happened by chance, like by chance I found myself living in Los Angeles. However, I really like one thing: my two children have given me the gift of immunity from Fomo, the fear of not being present at parties, celebrations, events, the lives of others. And no, I don’t use apps: I repeat, I prefer everything to happen by chance.”
