Skip to main content

7 Days - 7 Women: Veronica De Laurentiis

Update May 14, 2016

Veronica De Laurentiis recently launched her new web series called "Dillo a Veronica" (Tell it to Veronica) and honestly, I am hooked. The series has a very simple premise- Veronica meets with one woman for about 20 minutes to talk about her struggles in life and how she overcame them. Veronica should know because she overcame years of abuse and her empathy for the pain of others helps her when interviewing these women. The conversations are friendly and casual but gripping.

You do need some knowledge of the Italian language because the interviews are done in Italian and there are not yet subtitles. Personally, I love watching them in Italian because it's like a 20-minute language lesson on conversational Italian, especially with the different accents. The show is entering its fourth week, and new episodes are posted every Friday. There are three episodes currently available. You can watch them on the show's YouTube page or on Facebook. I highly recommend it.

Today, we start our week-long series, 7 Days - 7 Women, in which we will profile seven strong, talented women working as filmmakers, writers or visual artists.

"The universe will realign itself once you decide to follow your dreams."  Powerful words from someone who speaks from experience. 

In America, she blazed into our living rooms as a guest on her daughter's Food Network show, "Everyday Italian ", hosted by celebrity chef, Giada De Laurentiis. But in no way is Veronica De Laurentiis your everyday mom.

She's gorgeous, glamorous and always wears a big smile, a smile that masks a lifetime of pain. "I grew up as a little girl who was scared. My mom was a perfectionist and my dad told everyone what to do," recalls De Laurentiis. Just as she is no everyday mom, she did not grow up with your usual parents. Her mother was Italian screen goddess, Silvana Mangano and her father was the prolific movie producer, Dino De Laurentiis. On one hand, life was beautiful as she had the best of everything. On the other hand, she felt like she lived to make everyone else happy, putting her own needs aside.
A few years ago, I had the unique privilege of speaking with Veronica De Laurentiis. She told me about her childhood, a tragic event that changed the course of her life and her decision to write a book and release the ghosts of her past. We are revisiting that interview now in recognition of her latest book release, the new edition of "Rivoglio la mia vita" (Reclaiming My Life).

Silvana Mangano in a scene from "Riso Amaro"
Let's start from the beginning with your childhood. What was it like growing up with two cinema icons for parents?
My family had everything but one thing we did not show was emotion. We didn't talk about emotions. My mother was this incredible sex symbol, but she always seemed sad and depressed, and I tried to help her. I grew up thinking that I could not take care of myself. I always had to please others and do what I was told. Then when I was 18-years-old, I was raped by an older man that I was on a date with. I never told anyone and it led me to make choices that changed the course of my life. So, I had to pull up my sleeves and start from scratch. I was offered to play a part in a film that my father was producing called, "Waterloo." I found myself under the lights in front of the camera and my fear disappeared. I felt like this is what I was meant to do. But my mother didn't want me to become an actress and I was scared to go against her will, so I abandoned my dream.

After all these years, you've recently started to act again. What made you go back?
When I decided to go back to acting, I was 40-years-old and everyone told me I was crazy, including my father. I went back to acting the minute I started doing something about my passion. I stopped being depressed and I felt good about myself. I reached out for the dreams that I had. I went back to acting school and started acting again. Once you are on the right track, things start happening. I was just in a play in Italy that was beyond my wildest dreams. It was about different religions and people in the world, and how the differences divide us. There were no lines. We expressed ourselves through our eyes.  here were paintings, loud music and film projectors. I was contacted about the part by Alda Fendi who started a foundation to spread culture throughout Italy. It ran for a week in Rome. It was amazing.

You wrote this book in which you shared the painful experiences of your life. Tell me about the journey of that book and how it led you to meet other women that went through similar ordeals.
Celebrity Chef, Giada De Laurentiis (Image-Scene Magazine)
I published this book two years ago called, "Reclaiming My Life".  It's the story of how I was able to overcome a difficult time and take back the life I always wanted. When I was promoting my book in Italy, I spoke with others about my experience and I discovered that so many women were violated and kept it a secret like I did.  Women came forth and told me their stories, and it helped me to heal myself. So, I decided to start a support group at my house. We share cookies, tea and coffee and talk about life experiences. Now, one of my purposes in life is to help women. I started a foundation to help women and children who have been abused. I've opened centers in Italy where people can go to get help and rebuild their lives.  The centers are located in the smaller towns where there is no other help. 

Since your parents did not support your dreams to be in front of the camera, what did you tell your daughter Giada when she wanted to follow her passion for cooking on The Food Network? 
I've always told all of my daughters to follow their dreams and I especially told my daughters to be independent.

Strength and independence are the themes of Veronica De Laurentiis' life these days, and she draws upon her strength to help others in their struggles to reach their goals and to find their own voice. She is tenacious in following her dreams, wasting not one precious second. She recently opened another help center for women in Formia, Italy, and affectionately named it, the “Silvana Mangano Center”, in honor of her mother. She has taken on various acting roles over the years and is currently preparing for a brand new project.

For more information about Veronica De Laurentiis. visit her online at: www.veronicadelaurentiis.com. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Federico Fellini: A Look into the Life and Career of an Icon

A Fellini family portrait  “The term became a common word to describe something on the surface you can say is bizarre or strange, but actually is really like a painter working on a film,” said Martin Scorsese when asked to define “Felliniesque,” an adjective inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The oldest of three children, Federico Fellini was born in the seaside town of Rimini in 1920. His father was a traveling salesman, so his mother was left to do the bulk of raising the children. One can argue that Fellini was born for his destiny. “You could tell that even as a child, he was different and unique. He was very intelligent, well above average. He was always the one to organize things, direct the others, make up games. He could control the other kids with just a look, said Fellini’s sister, Maddalena, in an interview with journalist Gideon Bachmann.  Not only was Fellini directing the children, but he was also putting on shows and charging ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ornella Muti: Five decades of Acting and Still Going Strong

Ornella Muti was born Francesca Romana Rivelli in Rome in 1955 to a Neapolitan father and an Estonian mother. She began her career as a model during her teenage years and made her film debut in 1970 with “La Moglie più bella” (The Most Beautiful Wife).  Her follow-up role was in the 1971 film, “Sole nella pelle” (Sun on the Skin), in which she played the daughter of wealthy parents who runs off with a hippie they don’t approve of. The film offers a telling journey through Italian society in the seventies, with its political climate, breathtaking seaside, and the styles and cars of that time.  Much of the film is set amid the sunny Italian seaside and captures the innocence and beauty of first love.   Muti made her American film debut in 1980 with "Flash Gordon." She played the role of Princess Aura. She’s appeared in two other American films, including “Oscar,” directed by John Landis and starring Don Ameche, Chazz Palminteri, and Sylvester Stallone. In 1992, she w...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Sweetness and Genius of Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration.  Nicknamed a  “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as  the actress who moved him most,  Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times.  Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...
Post a Comment
Read more

Model/Actress Anna Falchi

Anna Falchi was born Anna Kristiina Palomaki, on April 22, 1972, in Tampere, Finland. Her mother, Kaarina Palomaki Sisko, is Finnish, while her father, Benito "Tito" Falchi, is from Romagna, Italy. Growing up in Italy, Anna was a tomboy, and had a fervent imagination. She is known mostly for her prolific career in modelling. However, she tried her hand at acting and landed a role in one of my favorite Italian comedies, Nessun messaggio in segreteria . I consider it my one of my favorites because it brought together so many amazing, talented filmmakers during a time when they were all just starting out. Those filmmakers, Pierfrancesco Favino, Valerio Mastandrea, Luca Miniero and Paolo Genovese are now huge names in contemporary Italian cinema, so it's great to look back and see their work in a low-profile film completely different from the bigger-budget stardom they now know.   Watch the trailer . Anna Falchi started her career as a...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Life and Work of Monica Bellucci

Monica Bellucci as Malèna Born in Umbria in 1964, Monica Bellucci is one of the most recognizable faces of international cinema. But she didn't always have her sights set on the spotlight. She went to college to study law and modeled to pay her tuition. Her success in the fashion world coupled with the offers that were pouring in to appear on the big screen eventually took over, changing her fate. Bellucci made her on-screen debut in the 1990 television movie, " Vita coi figli." Just two years later, she scored her first American role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula."   In addition to her native language, she speaks fluent English and French, which has made for a smooth transition from Italian to international cinema. Stateside, she has acted in blockbusters such as "The Matrix-Reloaded,"     " The Passion of the Christ" and " The Sorcerer's Apprentice." She has also appeared in several French films, a...
Post a Comment
Read more