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Anyone seen this interview before? it's from 2004

I guess loads of you have seen this because it's pretty old :lol:

Just thought I post it

 

 

 

From The Sunday Times

November 7, 2004

Anastacia and Shawn Newkirk

 

SHAWN: I was shy and introverted, and I became aware that my sister was very different. There was something unique and special about Anastacia. She was a risk-taker, a people person, one of those people who walked into the room and captured attention because there was an energy that came from her. Back then I was like, "I wish I could have that." But, of course, now I'm an adult and I understand that it's all about what you give off. I was more of a spirit that walked in with her head to the floor, looking at the ground.

 

My mum was a single mum and maybe, as I was the older child, it fed into an instinctive maternal protectiveness.

In an unbalanced parenting situation it's not uncommon for the oldest child to feel, even subconsciously, that they have to rise to the occasion. If you're 12 and old enough to look after your two siblings because Mum's got to work, you just do. But it didn't feel unnatural to me to be the helper, and I think it set a precedent for the way my siblings looked at me.

 

We grew up in Chicago, but when I left to go to New York University the seed got planted that the whole family should go. We were kind of a team, me, my siblings and my mum, so we tended to move as a group. I think the move to New York was very different for Anastacia than for me. She felt like she'd come home, but for me it was a little too much of a city. For somebody who had low self-esteem issues, New York felt a bit overwhelming.

 

I rode on her coat-tails at first, and before long we were dancing in a club. So it was nice for me — she recognised the person I was and brought me along. But I think it also started making me realise that it wasn't for me. I moved out of New York to LA with my mother and brother, again moving as a group. Anastacia stayed in New York, and it gave us a chance to spread our wings. I didn't have to aspire to be the extrovert; and she didn't have to feel she was too loud.

 

While I was in LA, Anastacia got her first big success, but it was initially in Europe, so my response to it at first was intellectual. My mum was the first one to go out there to visit, and I'd hear things like Anastacia had a bodyguard. But until it was a tactile experience for me I didn't fully understand. When I saw for myself what it all meant, it made sense and deepened my respect for her — it's a big commitment. It made me realise you should be careful what you wish for.

 

By then I was running a business as a personal trainer in LA, and she called and asked if I would go to New York for a month to train her before her Freak of Nature tour. I thought it would be a great opportunity to spend time with her. And then she asked if I'd be interested in coming on the road. While we were away she needed to find a new assistant and she asked me. We used the six weeks away as an experiment, and it clicked.

 

When we returned, I moved back to New York. But while I was visiting LA she went in for a mammogram at her doctor's suggestion. She called me when she left and said she felt something wasn't right. But I didn't feel a pit in my stomach. Then she had a biopsy and the news was bad, and she and my mum were on the phone together to tell me.

 

When I found out, it hit my heart and tears came up. It was surreal. But it feels to me that you have to be the strong one when someone is in a crisis — it's always afterwards that you have your moment. During the process you just go from one minute to the next and it all happens so fast, and at the end it's like, "What the hell did we just go through?" But as close as I was to it, I didn't go through it. It was painful to me that this had to befall her, but she took it like a champ and she fought back, kicking and screaming. Once again it reminded me what zest and fight she has for life.

 

When it was over, I realised I wanted to relocate back to LA — the cancer made me see I needed to be where I wanted to be. Ironically, it all worked out, as Anastacia also decided she could get a better bang for her buck in LA.

 

Now she's on tour again, but this time I'm staying at home. I'm in a relationship that is serious and important, and she's very mindful of that. She presented her concerns about what's going on in both our worlds and said there was plenty that needed to be done at home, and that she needed someone there who she could trust to watch her back. So although the road has been a great experience, she went and created a situation that works for me. I think she knows me very well.

 

 

ANASTACIA: I was a very easy-going kid, very free spirited, very happy — very similar to who I am today. Which is probably why it's not hard to maintain it as an adult. It's who I am.

 

Shawn had a harder job than I did growing up, because she was parenting with my mum. I was three when Mum and Dad separated, and Shawn really took those reins, as most older kids do. My brother and I never worried about anything: Mum and Shawn were there.

 

We weren't exactly social butterflies. Shawn and I were kind of loners. Even though I was very friendly — I could always find a friend anywhere — we never wore make-up and we never tried to be part of fashion in our teens. I did that when I was 18 or 19 — that's when I realised what gloss was!

 

Things changed when we moved to New York, which I loved. I knew a man who was opening a club, and he said: "If you and your sister ever want to come down, you're more than welcome." So we'd go dancing together, and after a while, Shawn said: "I'm over it." But I wasn't. So I stayed, and that's when I got noticed by MTV and chosen to go on to Club MTV as a dancer.

 

When I heard the word MTV, I thought: "Oh my God, I'm a star!" I thought that I'd reached my pinnacle of success; I got paid $25 a day for eight shows.

 

I thought it was wonderful, but for Shawn, it wasn't her thing. She doesn't want to be in front of the camera. She's probably having an anxiety attack about doing this interview. But she was happy for me — it wasn't like she felt left out.

 

Because my first real success was in Europe, I don't think it had such an impact on my sister. The real impact for her came when she started working and travelling with me. I wanted to employ her as a trainer, so I asked her to come to New York and it flowed into, "I'm going to need an assistant, so why don't you see on the road how you feel about doing some kind of assistant thing?"

 

When we went on our very first tour is when I realised it could be cool, and it worked really well. Shawn and I are very similar, so everything she represented as a person was everything I represented. It was like having another me to do more of my stuff. It's been wonderful, and I think we have really got to know each other. We never fight — never. I would die rather than fight with my sister. Literally.

 

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I felt that it was really hard on my family. When I got off the phone with my mum, she told me later that she broke down and cried and cried, and banged into the back of someone's car. I had to tell Shawn over the phone too. She was the first call I made after I got the call from my doctor, which was how I found out. I hated doing that to her, as she was visiting someone in LA and was so torn about whether or not to come back to New York. But I think she didn't want to over-mum me — she wanted to feel that Mum could be there and do that. I think she wanted to sit at home and feel she could get a call to say that everything would be fine. It just broke her heart she couldn't be there at the moment I found out, I know. But she was there during everything, pretty much my nurse through the whole thing. She helped me get to a better place.

 

I'm on a world tour, and now I have two assistants, one that will travel with me more than Shawn. I want her to stay at home more and work the business. But our relationship remains ridiculously brilliant. It's the best friendship. We have fun, we laugh, she's my best audience, she knows how my mind thinks. I adore her. I couldn't get into the head space if someone were to ask what I'd do without her. It's not a question I can answer. It's never going to happen. She's never going to die, I'm never going to die. We're never going to die. If I could find a husband like her, I'd freakin' lose my mind.

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Heeey the Sunday Times is an Australian newspaper :P

 

Actually hold on... I have that interview ;) Want me to show you the scans?

:o OMG I'd never read this before. It's great. Thanks Nat :)
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Could you please scan it Carly? :D

 

anyone know if Shawn is/was married, because I was just listening to an old radio interview of Ana and she said something about wearing awful glasses to her sister's wedding :lol:

I know I'm really nosy, but I'm so curious now :P

I don't know... Could be that she is, but Ana and her family like to keep their private live private :lol:
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I don't know... Could be that she is, but Ana and her family like to keep their private live private :lol:

 

yes I know, I'm just a bit too nosy :P

I think Shawn was married once :huh:

Why wudnt she? she's a great person ;)

But then again, so am I, and I'm not married :lol:

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I think Shawn was married once :huh:

 

that's what I thought as well after listening to that radio interview

well as long as she's happy it doesn't really matter if she is or was married I guess :lol:

and it really isn't any of my business either :P

woow thank you so much!! I've never read it before!

It's lovely, funny and just sweeet!!!

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