Olga Kurylenko for Fade In Magazine + Interview & BTS Video

Who’s inspired your work the most? For acting? Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves. I saw that movie when it first came out, and when I came out of the theater I said to myself, “If that’s what acting is, that’s what I want to do.” That’s when I made my first step. Not just to take classes, but to find an agent.

As a woman, in life, apart from acting? I am inspired by Simone de Beauvoir. Her writings have really informed my thinking: about the way to be, the way to construct your life. I really admire that woman — she was so strong and so smart. I wish I had her brain! I’m fascinated by smart people. I love reading philosophy.

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You grew up in poverty, and with your success have turned to philanthropic work. You wrote something a few years back: “Sometimes extreme poverty is not even about money, it’s about attention.” Your charity, Hopes and Homes, is about action in that sense — the mission is to match orphaned children with loving parents… I was much more involved with them a few years ago, before I started working all the time, but I intend to go back. You’re right that I totally support the idea — it is about attention, it’s not about money. I’ve seen kids who grew up in wealth, with very rich parents who were never there. They don’t speak fondly about their childhood. All they say is, “My father was never there.” “My mother was never there.” “They never hugged me.” “They never played with me.”

And here I am, who didn’t grow up with money, but who can tell you my mother and my grandmother were so there for me. We were so totally connected. They loved me. They encouraged my creativity. I would perform for them; we would draw pictures together. My grandmother is gone, now; my mother is still here. I was such a loved child that mine was a happy childhood, despite that I had no good clothes to wear sometimes. That was upsetting from time to time, but I would never call that chapter of my lifeunhappy. It was never about the new jeans, or the new sweater. Love was never lacking. If I ever felt deprived about material things, I was over it in a minute — which was the attitude my mother and grandmother instilled in me. I understood that “If I can’t have something? I just can’t have it.” [Snaps her fingers]

My mother and grandmother made me a human being, and that is much more important than going shopping or riding in a Porsche. There are parents who give a child away because they believe they are too poor to raise it. But you can: children are much better off with their own mother, rather than living in some institution where it’s guaranteed they will be fed. Love is more important. If you have to struggle for food, struggle together

Struggle is a part of life, but struggle with your loved ones? That makes it so much easier. If you struggle by yourself and you have no love, there’s no way you’re going to survive. If you’re surrounded and you feel love, chances are you’re going to go through struggle. If you’re all alone, and not supported? You’ll fail.

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