TRANSLATION:
"We don't need a
psychotherapist!"
Bill and Tom Kaulitz are identical twins,
which is hard to believe sometimes. Instead of having two genetically identical
people standing in front of you, it seems more like there are two men standing
in front of you who couldn't be more different from each other. An optical
illusion, because as soon as they open their mouths, you're talking to one and
the same person. Even when they're of the complete opposite opinion...
Your job as jurors on "Deutschland
Sucht den Superstar" will be coming to an end next month. What's gonna
happen after that?
Tom: We will be dedicating ourselves solely
to our music career. Our move to L.A. in 2010 and us taking a break had two
reasons. One being that it became seemingly impossible for us to lead a private
life in Germany. Secondly, we wanted to work on our new album in peace. We hope
that we'll finish it this year. The songs for the album have already been
chosen, now we're in the last phase of production.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow says: "People
always stay the same age they were, when they became famous." Is this
true?
Tom: She has a point there. I often think
that I didn't change much. I still have the same kind of humor and I still
crack the same dumb jokes. In some way you do stay the same. Then again, we
learned a lot - from how to deal with staff to how the music business works.
A lot of teen stars take a downward spiral
and later terrorize the people around them with their high-handedness, e.g.:
Justin Bieber. Who's "allowed" to tell them "No"?
Bill: I really wish there was no one doing
that, but it’s a fact that there are still people that are opposed to us. We've
known most of the people around us for seven, eight years and they don't stop
telling us the unadorned truth just because we're in the public eye. I often
think that our environment sees things too critically because Tom and I always
find ourselves in a position where we have to defend ourselves and our actions.
Robbie Williams was discovered when he was
fifteen, just like you. He says: "Fame magnifies your sensitivities, it
strengthens your weaknesses and it reveals the eeriest sides of your
character."
Bill: It's true. A career magnifies your
strengths and strengthens your weaknesses. I've always been an extreme
perfectionist, but now I've actually reached the point where I panic if
something really doesn't go the way I wanted it to go. This feeling of
panicking is often so intense that I can't sleep at night. No one has to
pressure me, I'm already pressuring myself.
Tom: I'm such a stickler for little details
that I always have to know exactly what's going happen the next day. If
something happens that was unscheduled it feels like we're heading for
disaster. I wish I could say: "Okay, whatever. Let's see what the next day
brings for us.", but I just can't. Add to that, that I sometimes ask
myself if it's healthy that I'm talking to myself the whole day when Bill and I
are separated. It stresses me out when I'm constantly talking to myself,
because I don't know if I'm heading into a weird direction by doing it, or not.
How did those years of downtime feel like?
Bill: The strange thing is I can't say if
it's harder to live with the fame or without it. After two years of having some
time off, I really have the urge to start working again. But the moment I see
the first photographers standing there, I think: Shit, maybe I do need another
year off. On the one side I want to be left alone, but on the other side I want
to be successful with the band. But that's just how people are - they always
want what they can't have.
Does your life in the public eye lead to
you still posing, even when you're doing normal things like peeing?
Tom: It's like that with Bill, but not with
me.
Bill: I just can't shake that habit. As
soon as I see a camera, I get paranoid and I immediately fall into a specific
behavioral pattern. Even when we take pictures at parties with our family, I
tense up because I just know that those pictures are gonna surface one day. A
light flashing means to me: Be careful, you're working and you're in the public
eye!
Who would you pay more for per hour: A
mechanic or a psychotherapist?
Bill: A mechanic. I often thought that
maybe seeing a psychotherapist would be good for me, but I don't really believe
in them. I'm not a person that runs around not knowing what kind of problems
I'm facing. I'm pretty good at knowing what's wrong with me. But I feel like,
if I can't solve my own problems how is a stranger going to help me solving
them.
Tom: Talking to a psychotherapist helps a
lot of people. We, as identical twins, don't need that because we talk to each
other the whole day anyway. I'm Bill's shrink and he's mine. That's why I
always immediately notice when he's not here. Then I have to tell my thoughts
to myself.
Bill: No one can understand that we have to
share our thoughts with each other the moment they come to our minds. We blurt
out everything that goes on in our heads in each other’s presence, unfiltered.
Normal people don't even do that in front of their mothers or their best
friends.
Tom: When we communicate with each other
it's like a fart - we let everything out. For people, who listen to us talking,
it comes as a shock. Since we know everything about each other, we're also
really close. It has an almost supernatural feeling to it that we share almost
the same thoughts. Actually, we don't even have to talk to each other. We
already know everything there is to know about the other.
Does it drive women crazy, knowing that
they'll always have the feeling that they only come off second best in a
relationship with you?
Tom: It definitely takes some time to get
used to us, because we come in a double pack. We'll probably spend our whole
life together and we'll also do pretty much everything together. It's really
hard for your partner to not get jealous about this kind of intimacy.
A lot of identical twins think that this
symbiotic relationship is more torture than fun, and go through various phases
because they can't live with each other but they also can't imagine a life
without each other. Do you think that this type of intimacy sometimes feels
like it terrorizes you?
Bill: No. We never had such thoughts about
each other. I can't even imagine being a way from Tom for a longer period of
time.
Robbie Williams has been living in L.A.
since 2002. He says: "It's almost impossible to fall in love in L.A.,
because the women there are so neurotic. This gives them superpowers. Almost
every single one of those women is great at being neurotic." Do you share
his view?
Tom: There are those typical Ego-Freaks in
L.A., whose personalities are mostly fake. But I feel like this type of women
has become international. If you're unlucky, you can find it in every city.
Let's assume you see a woman in a coffee shop
in L.A. that piques your interest. How do you introduce yourself to her?
Bill: It's a typical L.A. thing that the
people tell you a lot of personal things about themselves. Everyone is
supposedly doing something interesting and is leading a great life. Tom and I
attract attention by almost never telling anyone, anything about ourselves.
When the people do ask us about what we're doing I immediately downplay it. In
L.A. understatement is a downer. That's why people will then continue talking
about their personal lives. And I'm really okay with this.
Tom: When you join a Gym in L.A., you have
to disclose your job on the form. We then look at each other and think about
what would sound realistic. When we write that we're in college, the people
notice that this can't be true and then proceed to ask us: "How can you
drive a car like that when you're in college? Are you the kids of some
millionaire?"
And again, Robbie Williams - he says that
there are two types of groupies in Germany: "One type wants to take a
picture while having sex, to have some sort of proof to show to their friend.
The others ask: 'Robbie, are your feelings for me real?' Did you have similar
experiences?"
Tom: I can confirm that groupies want to
know if my feelings for them are real. But that's not just the case in Germany.
I think it depends on how you scored with her. Women who are tough to crack,
you make a lot of promises to. Those are the candidates who then ask if you
really have feelings for them. I didn't really lie when I answered them,
because I think that's harsh. I take the middle way - I never say that it's
just for a night, but I also don't make her feel like more is gonna happen
between us.
How do you react when a women wants to take
a picture during sex with you, just as proof for her friends?
Tom: I would never participate in something
like this. With us it was always the case that the women were informed that
they weren't allowed to take pictures. It was clear to them. When we first
started, the girls had to leave their jackets and bags with our security guys
and basically already enter our room half-naked.
How do you react when a women tells you
that she's pregnant tomorrow?
Tom: It can't happen to me. I'm in a relationship;
therefore I haven't been picking up random women for quite some time now.
Bill: A lot of things changed. At the
beginning of our career we had to sign a lot of autographs. Today, the people
don't really want that anymore. When people ask me if they're allowed to take a
picture, and I look like shit, I tell them: "Don't be mad, but no pictures
today. But I can sign something for you if you want." then they answer
with "No, thanks." Newcomers can forget about printing their
autograph cards, autographs are out.
Tom: When you want to take a picture the
people get so excited that they can't turn on their cameras and they really
start to shake. When I see that I also get really nervous.
Bill: We both are so bad at handling those
situations because we fail at small talk. I admire when strangers meet each
other and when they're able to just simply throw a few comments at each other
and hold a conversation. When I meet someone I don't know, I feel very
uncomfortable in the situation. I never know what to say and the other person -
in most cases - also doesn't. And then there's this awkward silence. It's
easier for me to small talk in English, because there are those typical empty
phrases you can use to start a conversation with someone. In German everything
is so fraught with meaning.
When was the last time that you told a
person "I love you"?
Bill: When I was in school I often told my
girlfriends I loved them, without thinking twice - but I never meant it.
Sometimes it did happen that I had a crush on someone, but it was never
anything serious. I haven't found anyone I can tell "Yes, I love you and I
mean it with all my heart." yet. With family members it's, of course,
something different.
Tom: He tells me every day that he loves me
to death.
A lot of artists can live with their
self-love. Are you really missing something in your life, Bill?
Bill: I do miss loving someone - but what
does missing even mean? It's not like I'm looking for the love of my life every
day, and that I always think: Oh, poor me, I still haven't found my one true
love. The thing is, people are just made for being with someone. I think that
there's no one wHo really means that he or she likes being single. I think
that's a lie.
Tom: Some people pity you and say:
"He's been single for so long. He has to be so depressed." They
forget that you're not living this sad life that you don't live on your own and
work on your own.
Bill: Exactly. The relationship that comes first
will always be the one Tom and I have. Everything else comes after that anyway.
They say that Goethe had his first time
when he was 39 years old!
Bill: Wow! Then I feel even better.
Translated By: Icey @ LoveTH-Music.com & Tokio Hotel Malaysia
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