Interview with Cristiano Malgioglio: «My coming out? My nephew was the first in the family to ask me about my men. Mina opened the doors to me with “The important thing is to finish”, then I wrote for Zanicchi, Carrà, a bit for everyone “
Behind the image of one of the most sparkling characters of the Italian show, there is the story of a Sicilian boy who grew up in a very private family. “No one has ever asked me for anything at home, compared to my more private sphere – he says Christian Malgioglio with that spoken which is now part of his signature -. As a boy, I must have been 15, I carpeted my room with pictures of the American stars I loved: James Dean, Montgomery Clift … my father just asked my mother why her son hangs all these photos and she replied: “You will see that it will pass to him” ». Today he has a picture of Channing Tatum on his nightstand, and that’s not a joke. “I love him,” is the comment. And that’s enough. Cristiano Malgioglio is like this: authentically likeable, with a quick mind at the service of a mine of stories. “I know I have a double image: when I am on stage I transform myself compared to who I am in everyday life, in which at most I go shopping at the supermarket … I only have a problem when I find myself in front of tomatoes” .
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Nail?
«I can’t help but stop and look at them, I love everything that is red. Even when I see an open watermelon I don’t know how to hold back, it is as if I were in front of a jewel, I go crazy. I called an analyst friend of mine and asked him: what should I do about this problem? He said to me: does it make you feel good? Very well, then he keeps looking at tomatoes ».
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His career began thanks to a lucky meeting: Fabrizio De Andrè.
“My parents didn’t want me to do this job, so they didn’t give me any money. So I went to work at the post office, sorting out the telegrams. However, I had chosen to move to Liguria, partly because my sister lived in Genoa and partly because Gino Paoli was there: I had chosen the post office of his municipality because my dream was to see him, after years of little boy I was rocked with the music of his songs. I went to night school and in the morning I went to work in the post office ».
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In those years he met De André.
“I used to disturb him all the time. One day he received me and I was able to make him hear my songs. At that point he had promised to introduce me to the head of Ricordi, in Milan, and knowing that I had no money even for the train, he had paid me the ticket in first class, a marvel. There, I met Dori Ghezzi: I made them meet and since that evening they have never left each other ».
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And for her? What does love represent?
“I’ve never talked about it in my family. My mother, when she saw me arriving with someone, said things like: I don’t like this friend of yours, I like this one. Nothing more. Just a nephew of mine recently asked me: do you have a man? I had never heard of such a thing and it had a certain effect on me. I replied that yes, I do. I have a good story with a guy who lives in Istanbul, even if the pandemic has destroyed the feeling a little. Gesturing in front of my cell phone every evening – because he only speaks Turkish and I don’t – made me feel rheumatism in his arms. Now we have started seeing each other again, I would like to take a house there ».
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Have you ever had the desire to get married?
“Never. Also because they are unfaithful by nature. I take cooked all the time, even if I were an 18 year old on the beach. But I’m not jealous, not even of the people I’ve worked with. “
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Mina, for example.
“You opened the doors to me with“ The important thing is to finish ”, which according to moralists meant something completely different from its meaning. We don’t hear from each other that often but I know she loves me. I love her laugh. Then Iva Zanicchi, Raffaella Carrà … I wrote a little for everyone. I don’t have a good relationship with Ornella Vanoni alone: once I was angry with her because she had changed a part of the lyrics of My friend, my love. Some time later she called me one night because she wanted to interpret a song that had already been assigned to Iva Zanicchi: she hung up the phone. I recently saw her at the cinema … she didn’t say hello to me, but it’s not a problem, I love her ».
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Was Raffaella Carra a friend?
“A few days before he died he phoned me and said:” Listen, you have to give me a gift: stay as you are, because when you arrive the TV changes color “. I didn’t understand. She died ten days: I could not believe it. We had worked together, she asked me to write her a love song, like the ones I did for Mina and she was born Strong, strong, strong. I had refused to work at You start making love, saying to Boncompagni: this song is terrible, it won’t go anywhere. Much missing. Now I dedicate a part of my show to her ».
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There are many women in his life.
“I love them. I had two sisters, unfortunately one is gone: it was a terrible pain, she was my most ardent fan. The other lives in Sicily but she is more closed. When she books a medical examination and they tell her: her name is Malgioglio like Cristiano, she calls me: “Then you are really famous”. But since my mother died in Sicily, I don’t go back willingly. She hurts me. I go to greet her and my grandchildren but I don’t stop ».
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He also loved many famous women.
“Lots of them. Jane Russell: When I offered to help her because she walked badly she insulted me. Then I conquered her by giving her my makeup mirror: on one side of her it magnifies the image of her. She was ecstatic, she took him away. I also tattooed Jennifer Lopez on my leg: I met her when she wasn’t famous, for her first film, Selena, and it gave me a very powerful feeling: for her I could have become straight. Then Cher, perhaps the most generous of her, I worshiped her: on one occasion, while she drank some water she choked and she started coughing. I said to myself: how, this too coughs like all of us? It seemed incredible to me. And again Ursula Andress, waiting for my pasta with sardines … But the dream was to meet Sophia Loren ».
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Came true?
“Yes, thanks to your sister who organized. Before seeing it I finished a bottle of coramina I was so agitated. When she opened the door of her house I fell into her arms ».
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Another great friend of yours was Maria Schneider, right?
“I was perhaps a little in love with it. She was calling me husband my. She belonged to the same religion as me, as I usually say. She realized I was gay, we met and never left again. She was fragile and sensitive, most of all she wanted to make people forget Last tango in Paris that had destroyed it. Brigitte Bardot helped her a lot, also financially and I am grateful to her ».
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Have you ever suffered from homophobia?
«No and I must say that I always dressed as I liked: heels, make-up … we were more modern then than today. Of course, in retrospect I had doors closed in my face, perhaps because I was gay, but at the time I had not associated it. “
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Music is his talent, cinema his passion. What about television?
“TV made me Malgioglio, the character, this sort of smurf who amuses and amuses himself. I have many friends in this environment too, but I don’t hang out with them, except on rare occasions. Now thanks to Coletta I will have my own program on Rai3, I can’t wait. My childhood dream was to become David Letterman. I had relatives in New York and drove them crazy to get tickets to his show. When they did, I immediately left: Cher had to be on the show, great. Instead I found Yoko Ono and I attended one of the worst performances ever heard: it was a continuous scream, I was shocked ».
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How did his forelock come about instead?
«By chance, and to say that if so many foreign artists recognize me it is for the tuft. I’ve always done the dye myself but one day, at the shop where I restocked, they were wrong and gave me a different powder. This was how this khaki tuft had formed. I was desperate, but then I tried to insist: I made myself a chocolate, and one more … I started to like it. I said to myself: but I look like a chick, I love. Until I created this mass. Now I have a formula for doing it, as secret as that of Coca-Cola. It also includes honey, vinegar and cinnamon plus ten other ingredients, you can also make panettone with it ».
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His song of life?
«I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten, by Dusty Springfield. It takes me back to my first boyfriend, Phillip, a sailor I met in Liguria who made fun of me for kissing with my mouth closed. I was not capable. So he put this record on and said: when he says it counts to ten, there you open your mouth. I followed him in all ports, for the desperation of my mother who did not understand my movements. We broke up in Barcelona and I went through hell for two years. One day she phoned me, years later: he got married and called his son Cristiano ».
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Do you dream for the future?
“I hate prizes, they make me anxious. Only for an Oscar I might give in, but for now I have only voiced a dog from the children’s film Show Dogs. The American producers hearing the dubbed version wanted me to do it again. “This little dog is gay,” they said. But I said: either like this or nothing, so she stayed. So I have already done the dog, but the dream would be to act for Almodovar. Sure, if he doesn’t call me now though, when? Do I make your film at 100? ».
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Do you feel lucky?
«I feel miraculous. I accidentally discovered that I have a malignant tumor. I spread the cream on my legs, and I never do: I saw a mole. I had to leave for Brazil, in the wake of the success of I fell in love with your husband. For the sake of scruple, I had myself checked and they decided to operate immediately, even saying that otherwise I would have had a few months to live. At that point I should have done Jennifer Lopez’s tattoo in the beginning. Then, to show it more, I preferred the outside of her leg. If I hadn’t changed my mind I would never have noticed: I can say that Jennifer Lopez has worked the miracle ».
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July 9, 2022 (change July 9, 2022 | 07:06)
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