They say that mobile phones, YouTube and TikTok have turned us into creatures unable to concentrate. That, based on watching fast-motion series or listening to
podcasts
while we run, we have canceled the possibility of sitting on the sofa and paying attention to something without despairing. It is not entirely true: a format as classic, static and measured as the interview, that is, two people sitting and talking for a long time, continues to have an irresistible power of seduction for the viewer. Especially, of course, if at least one of those people sitting face to face is a celebrity.
The possibility of Britney Spears granting an interview has been discussed in
serious
media
such
as
The New York Times
.
The artist, who recently broke her silence in a court appearance to ask for an end to the guardianship that since 2008 has made her life and finances controlled by her father, is one of those great enigmas in show business.
He is someone we have been observing for decades, but hardly know.
An interview with her would be a planetary event.
The same happened with the interviews that we recall below, talks turned into events that hypnotized millions of viewers, changed the perception we have of their protagonists and, in some cases, had political implications or ended up in court.
Henry of England and Meghan Markle in conversation with Oprah Winfrey
The headline:
"There were concerns and conversations about how dark her skin could be"
The Interview:
After abandoning their official role in the British royal family and the United Kingdom to settle in the United States, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were the most sought after testimony in international social chronicle. The one who took the cat into the water in March 2021 was Oprah Winfrey, the architect of hundreds of historical interviews, such as the one in which Tom Cruise jumped on the sofa to show his love for Katie Holmes or a more recent one in the that Lance Armstrong confessed to having doped. The meeting, condensed for two hours of interview, contained enough headlines to raise unprecedented dust. The damage it may have caused to the British Crown has yet to be assessed.
Before a scandalized Oprah, Meghan Markle said that in her husband's family there was speculation about the darkness of the skin of her son Archie, who then had not yet been born. They also complained that the little boy had not received the title of prince, with the access to security that this entailed, implying that this had not happened, again, due to a matter of racism. They denounced the abandonment of the institution, which did not give Meghan protocol classes, did not defend her against the attack of the tabloids and allowed hoaxes to be spread about her, as she had made her sister-in-law Catalina cry, when according to Meghan clarified, it had been the other way around.
The duchess went on to say that she had had suicidal thoughts and that she had asked for help, without getting it. Henry of England declared to feel compassion for his father and brother, "trapped" still in a golden cage. The planet's reaction was visceral and polarized: one of full support for the dukes or strong skepticism of their complaints. Not only did anonymous tweeters, journalists and commentators speak of the interview, but Queen Elizabeth's reaction took the form of a statement. “The whole family is saddened to learn how difficult the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues that have been discussed, especially in the racial aspect, are worrying. Although some memories of what happened may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be treated privately ”.
Diana from Wales during her interview with Martin Bashir for the BBC.PA/BBC SCREEN GRAB / PA / Cordon Press
Diana of Wales in conversation with Martin Bashir
The headline:
"In my marriage there were three of us"
The interview:
It was called "the interview of the century" and, although several of those are produced every decade, this one has compelling reasons to hold the title. In November 1995, 23 million viewers saw Princess Diana open up with journalist Martin Bashir about her already broken marriage (although they were not yet divorced) with Charles of England, perhaps the most mediatic separation in the world at the time. Diana did not avoid taboo subjects such as depression or the bulimia she suffered, and denounced that her ex-husband's environment had tried to define her as unstable and it had even been suggested that she should enter an institution.
What raised the most dust was the confirmation of an open secret: Diana said that she knew that her husband loved someone else when they were married –Camilla Parker Bowles–, and affirmed that she had also been unfaithful to him with James Hewitt. If 1992, the year of the separation of the princes of Wales, had been an
annus horribilis
for the Queen of England
,
words fell short to define the blisters that the princess's statements raised.
However, in recent times the interview has made the news not because of the statements of its protagonist but because of the dark circumstances that led to its recording. In early 2021 a judge ruled that the interviewer, Martin Bashir, used deceptive methods to get the princess to trust him. Bashir falsified bank reports that suggested Diana was being watched in order to get close to her brother, Charles Spencer, and thus arrange a date with her. Such practices violated BBC regulations, although an internal investigation by the network in 1996 had ruled out any wrongdoing. Bashir, who had left the chain shortly before the judge's sentence, admitted to showing the fraudulent reports to Diana but denied that the interview had harmed her, assuring that she never felt that way.The children of the princess did not feel the same.
Michael Jackson during a concert in 1986 Photo: Getty
Michael Jackson in conversation with Martin Bashir
The headline:
"I have slept in my bed with many children"
The interview:
According to several biographies of Michael Jackson, precisely as a result of the interview that Diana of Wales gave to Martin Bashir, the artist had enough confidence to open the doors of his home and his life to the journalist in an unprecedented portrait of the nicknamed king of pop. Since he had helped Lady Di to bring her image to the public, he considered that he could do the same for her figure, then in low hours. In February 2003, the result of eight months of recording in which Bashir lived with Jackson was broadcast in the United Kingdom (shortly after, in the United States).
Living with Michael Jackson
was controversial from conception and marked a turning point in the artist's public image, but not the one he expected.
And it didn't start badly: in a poignant opening, Michael talked about his childhood, which he spent in terror of his violent father, or his teenage romance with Tatum O'Neal.
But everything evolved into delirium.
The documentary interview showed the artist going shopping in a compulsive way, to say the least, denying that he had undergone cosmetic surgery or explaining to some children at his ranch “I am going to build here, next to this hill, a roller coaster".
The final stretch of the documentary is the most uncomfortable.
Michael appears answering Bashir's questions with a 12-year-old boy, Gavin Arvizo, both holding hands, defending that they had slept together in the same room and there was nothing wrong with that.
The Neverland ranch was searched by the Los Angeles police shortly after the documentary aired, and it all ended in a lawsuit by the Arvizo family against Jackson that culminated in the 2005 media trial, of which he was found not guilty.
In 2021, after the BBC's Diana of Wales interview became public, the Jackson family also accused Bashir of fraudulent practices and causing, with his manipulated documentary, permanent damage to the artist's spirit, passed away in 2009.
Michael Sheen (right), who plays David Frost, interviews Richard Nixon, played by Frank Langella, in <i> The Challenge.
Frost against Nixon. </i>
Richard Nixon in conversation with David Frost
The headline:
"If the president does it, it is not illegal"
The interview:
In 1977, three years after resigning over the Watergate case, former US President Richard Nixon agreed to give a series of interviews to British journalist David Frost. Nixon believed he could easily wash off his image by telling his version of events to a journalist known for his light and gentle style. None of that: throughout the 28 hours of conversation they had for a month, Frost managed to corner the politician until he ended up losing control and admitting something similar to guilt, in addition to outlining a kind of apology, regretful.
“I disappointed my friends, I disappointed the country. I degraded our system of government and the dreams of all those young people who wanted to be part of it, but who think that everything is too corrupt. I have to carry that burden for the rest of my life. My political career is over ”. The broadcast of the interviews throughout May 1977 brought together 45 million people, the highest audience figure for a political program. The meeting became one of the myths of the golden age of journalism, considered a vigilant engine capable of generating essential changes in a democracy (after all, Watergate had been uncovered by journalists from
The
Washington Post
). The circumstances surrounding the recording served as the script for the play
Frost / Nixon
, made in 2008 into an Oscar-nominated film.
The emeritus king, Juan Carlos de Borbón.
King Juan Carlos in conversation with Jesús Hermida
The headline:
"I am in good shape, with energy and with enthusiasm to move forward" [A year and a half later, the king abdicated]
The interview:
In January 2013, on the occasion of the 75th birthday of Juan Carlos de Borbón, today King Emeritus, Spanish television broadcast an interview with the journalist Jesús Hermida in prime time. It consisted of just 20 minutes of encounter between two heavyweights, symbols of an era that seemed to be coming to an end. Criticism from the media intensified. “If we weren't expecting an aggressive interview, we would at least have appreciated a relaxed conversation. But neither. Everything was measured, corseted, ”Ricardo de Querol wrote in EL PAÍS. It was also reproached that not a single one of the burning issues of that moment was mentioned, such as the Nóos case, the Botswana hunt or his relationship with Corinna Larsen. The monarch only "got wet" by making a call for unity in a context of the rise of Catalan independence.
A year later, Jesús Hermida would point out that the program did not raise it as an interview, but as a conversation between two people of the same generation.
And he defined as the "personal seal" of the former monarch "the congenital inability, almost a rigor mortis, to speak in public and especially for television."
Isabel Pantoja and her son Kiko Rivera, on the set of 'Survivors' in Madrid in July 2019 Diego Puerta / GTRES
Kiko Rivera in the Telecinco
Cantora
special
: the poisoned inheritance
The headline:
"My mother has stolen from me."
The interview:
Throughout several installments in November 2020, Telecinco issued a series of programs focused on the disagreements in the Pantoja family, especially focused on Kiko Rivera. The son of Isabel Pantoja and DJ was interviewed live by Jorge Javier Vázquez on several occasions. In such a media family in which the presence of several of its members is common in programs of the heart, reality or entertainment, it seemed difficult to drop a bomb that would surprise the seasoned viewer. But for once, the fat man rang. In Kiko's interviews, nothing was lacking: she accused her mother of being a materialist, of having raised her in hatred of the world, of living disconnected from reality, of forming a duo with her brother in war against others, and of not exercising Loving grandmother with her daughters.
But the complaints did not remain in neglect or disaffection, but concerned the economic. The DJ declared that he had been living on a mortgage since he was two years old because of his mother and argued that Pantoja had made him sign documents that he signed in good faith to take away his part of the family farm. The juiciest thing came when, disappointed and hurt, he confirmed that he suspected that his mother had not been fair in fulfilling the last wishes of his father, Paquirri.
The issue of the inheritance of the bullfighter is one of the founding stones of the social chronicle of Spain, that is why the once faithful son and defender of his mother went over to the enemy side was shocking.
Kiko said that a few months earlier she had found in Cantora the belongings of her late father, Paquirri, that her mother had been saying for years that they had been stolen from her so as not to give them to Fran and Cayetano, the children of the bullfighter's previous marriage with Carmina Ordóñez.
The result?
A sweeping 3.7 million viewers and another golden episode in Spain's favorite soap opera.
Rocío Carrasco in the
Rocío
docuserie
: tell the truth to stay alive
The headline:
"That morning Rocío attacked me, but it was not she who paid me, it was her father"
The interview:
What seemed like a documentary series about one of the most interesting characters in the heart of Spain, Rocío Carrasco - who had not spoken publicly about any personal topic for many years - ended up becoming a true sociological phenomenon. Although the format was promoted as a documentary, the truth is that we were facing a very long interview, with the support of archive images, in which Rocío Carrasco, daughter of Rocío Jurado, recounted her life and especially her marriage and break-up with her first husband , Antonio David Flores. Her account of the alleged gender violence (her ex-partner has not been convicted) suffered during her marriage struck a chord with the public as she had not been able to get any awareness campaign for years. Even the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, spoke in support of Rocío,and terms such as "gas light" or "vicarious violence" became popular while calls to the telephone against gender violence increased exponentially.
In addition to recounting episodes unknown to the public such as her suicide attempt or detailing the aggression suffered by her daughter when she was a teenager, the debate that accompanied the interview endeavored to make a reading of gender in prime time and a criticism of the last years of the journalism of the heart in which there was no puppet with a head.
The social impact and the debate generated by Rocío's words is far from being extinguished.
Second installment has already been announced.
Miguel Bosé in conversation with Jordi Évole
The headline:
"I was consuming almost two grams a day"
The interview:
Jordi Évole went from being a funny character in El noisemaker to being one of the most recognizable journalists on television thanks to
Salvados
and his later incarnations, such as the current one in a program called
Lo de Évole
. In the last years of his career, he has interviewed some of the most sought-after characters of today, such as the commissioner Villarejo, the narco Marcial Dorado, the repentant ETA Iñaki Rekarte, he joined Albert Rivera and Pablo Iglesias in the 2016 campaign ... But perhaps the one that survives best in the collective memory is the interview with Miguel Bosé that was broadcast in April 2021.
The singer, actor and presenter, with a calculated aura of mystery from the beginning of his career, was willing to chat with him after the controversy over his separation from Nacho Palau and the problems with the custody of his children. A Miguel Bosé with a very punished voice declared himself a denial of the pandemic and proud of being one, and affirmed that the Covid-19 crisis responded to “a plan devised so that the truth is not known. "They will all fall one after the other: politicians, doctors, pharmacists ...", he threatened.
He also said that he had been a drug addict for years, although according to him, to detoxify, it was enough simply to "I woke up one good day and said it's over."
The interview, broadcast in two installments, raised much criticism for giving wings to conspiracy thinking.
Bosé was reproached for launching unchecked theories during prime time, no matter how much Évole objected to his arguments in an otherwise relaxed and friendly conversation.
Bobbi Kristina Brown and Whitney Houston during a performance in Central Park, New York, on September 1, 2009.Ben Hider / Getty Images
Whitney Houston in conversation with Diane Sawyer
The headline:
"I make too much money to smoke crack."
The interview:
We have heard a lot about Whitney Houston after her death. About his love affair with his former assistant and best friend Robyn Crawford, about his addictions or about his turbulent family relationships. But the key to the character is in how the industry forced a rebellious, contested and neighborhood woman (and, above all, enormously talented) to become America's girlfriend, a black superstar who, with her candor and innocence, enchanted her. The whites. This interview with Diane Sawyer, broadcast on December 4, 2002 in the United States, shocked the public because they could see almost for the first time that Whitney defiant and angry with the world, than in a real ping pong match with the presenter Diana Sawyer , I returned the questions either by avoiding them or by responding in a surprisingly frank way.
Some questions, seen today, are questionable. For example: "How much do you weigh now?" "I'm not going to tell you," Houston replied. Sawyer: "They say you spent $ 730,000 on drugs." Houston: “730,000? I would like ”. But the phrase that remained for posterity, which came as an answer to the question of whether he smoked
crack
, is: “
Crack
is cheap. I make too much money to smoke
crack
. Let's be clear, okay? We don't smoke
crack
. The
crack
is tatty. " The phrase
crack is whack
, originally from a Keith Haring mural, remained for posterity in the singer's collective imagination.
Years later, in 2009, already divorced from Bobby Brown and recovered, she gave another very popular interview for Oprah Winfrey where, finally, she admitted to having smoked crack, no matter how cheap it was.
In it, she also talked about the idea of going to live with her daughter Bobbi Kristina on "a tiny island, eating fruit on the beach, living a simple life."
Whitney passed away in 2012. Her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 2015.
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