“Medicine, my first passion”

You publish Free. Make our mouths water…

In this book, I talk about my childhood in Czechoslovakia, the significant events in my life and the strong ties that unite me with my loved ones.

What does it reveal to us about you?

The resilience I developed when my father hurt me with his violence and failed to love me. As a little girl, I always kept, deep inside me, the hope of being lovable. It saved me.

The movie you could watch a hundred times?

Our best years by Sydney Pollack, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. He moved me to tears and his song, Memoriesis beautiful.

The person you feel most grateful for?

My maternal grandparents and my mother, Zlatica, gave me a lot of love. When I started modeling, my mother always looked out for me. Along with my sister, she is one of my greatest confidants.

The Proust madeleine of your childhood?

My grandparents’ farm. They raised rabbits and geese there, which my grandmother used to make feather quilts.

The object that crosses generations in your family?

A goose feather brush for buttering pastries before baking. In rural Slovakia, everyone has one in their kitchen.

A hidden talent?

I love tinkering! It’s my MacGyver side. Before becoming a model, I started studying medicine in Prague and I dreamed of becoming an ophthalmologist, a very meticulous job.

A quality that you want to pass on to your daughter?

Kindness. “Be kind to yourself and to others,” my grandmother used to tell me.

What cause are you mobilizing for?
I have been a Red Cross ambassador for twenty-five years and I have my volunteer instructor certificate. This commitment is in line with my first passion for medicine.

A spiritual place where you like to take refuge?

Wherever I am in the world, I visit churches and cathedrals. Their interior atmosphere does me good. I am sensitive to the mysteries of this world.

We offer you immortality. Will you sign?

Yes, it would allow me to stay longer with my daughter Nina, whom I had at 46. And then, I could realize all my dreams. I love life so much!