Quick confession - Tomáš Řepka and Kateřina Kristelová: We aren’t planning to live together
If anybody has been making waves in the world of Czech showbusiness over the past year, then it is the former footballer Tomáš Řepka and the presenter Kateřina Kristelová. Since the time Tomáš fell in love with Katka, he has calmed down, published his third book and goes out on dates with his girlfriend just like any normal person. One of the most highly scrutinised couples in Czech showbusiness gave us a few minutes of their time to do an interview with Luxury Prague Life, where they gave us a little glimpse of their world.
When I go online these days, you two seem to be staring back at me from just about every single website. Why is that?
Tomáš: I really have no idea, but it might be to do with the fact that I recently published a book called “Thank you”. It might be to do with that, but we don’t otherwise lead an especially high-profile life.
Katka: On the contrary, we attend social functions rarely in view of how many articles there are about us. But it is true that I have discovered that living with Tomáš means being in the public eye a lot and not having to do anything to get there. All of those efforts you make not to be seen are in vain, because you really are under the microscope here. But we don’t let that bother us. We live our lives in such a way that they are pleasant for us.
What is it for example like when you are taking your daughter to school? Do people stop you wanting to have their photo taken with you?
Katka: Yeah, nine out of ten people want to have their photo taken with you. With Tomáš that is, but you do sometimes find somebody who follows me on Instagram. (laughs)
And Claudinka comes home from school at least once a week saying that one of her classmates wants an autograph and photo from Tomáš.
Tomáš, do you feel that people like you because of what you achieved as an athlete?
Yes, but paradoxically I have never gotten used to it. I still sense those people and register them and I am still a bit bad-tempered about it all. I don’t like people in big groups in general, it is something verging on paranoia for me. I always have the feeling that people are watching me and it bothers me. But it is of course nice when somebody says something nice to you, wants an autograph and appreciates the fact that I was an athlete and is not interested in what people are writing about me.
I remember that you always used to have a short fuse so to speak …
Tomáš: I still do.
Really? I get the feeling that you have calmed down a lot since you have been with Katka.
Tomáš: Yes I have, thanks to Katka or maybe because I am older now, and above all I got a bit bored of it, or whatever.
What do you think Katka?
Katka: His friends and family say that I am partly responsible for that. I have for example taught him to count to ten before shouting at anyone, but he still does have that in him. Just recently we went to the carwash and the men in front of us were taking a little longer than usual, so I was terrified that he would go and rip off their doors, windscreen wipers and aerial. (laughs) So he does still have it in him, but on the other hand, he really has calmed down a little, he has mellowed, he is probably calmer …
But on the other hand, if anyone badmouthed you anywhere, you have a man who would definitely stand up for you …
Katka: Yes, it definitely is a good thing to know that I never have to be afraid anywhere, that he would protect me.
Tomáš: That’s obvious, isn’t it?
Tomáš, you must have made a lot of people angry with your book …
Tomáš: I hope so. (laughs)
Do people call you? Write to you? Threaten you?
Tomáš: Paradoxically not, believe it or not. Not at all. I was even looking forward to that time, but nobody has contacted me yet. So I hope somebody does.
You also said that if you were to write another book about the life you are living now, it would be really boring. Can you describe that boredom to me? What in fact do you do?
Tomáš: I don’t know whether I said boredom, probably not …
Katka: I said that, you read that right …
Tomáš: … but life writes that itself, I couldn’t say that I will write another book in a year’s time …
Of course.
Katka: I will have to split up with him … (laughs)
Tomáš: Well … no, don’t do that … But whether there will ever be another, that is something only time will tell.
OK, so what does your “boring” life look like then?
Katka: According to our Instagram, it looks like we don’t do anything. But our day, our life is completely normal. I have a seven-year-old daughter who lives with me, so I take her to school, make her a packed lunch, help her with her homework at the last minute just the same as in other households. When she is at school, I have a lot of work. I have been making a living doing other things than television for a long time. People don’t know much about that and I don’t really want to talk about all that in public, but I am working hard on several projects. Just because I don’t happen to be on television at the moment doesn’t mean that I am not working. We both work. Although January and February are quite dead in the world of showbusiness, which is a good thing because we can rest. We can for example watch a film at two in the morning or five in the afternoon. That for example is really great.
Tom, what do you do when you are not writing books?
Tomáš: All sorts of different things, I call it moonlighting. At the moment, I am preparing a large project, of course I have my collection of t-shirts in my e-shop www.tomasrepkacz.eu, which is quite a success, I think. But I would like to take it to the next level, to create another limited-edition collection. Other than that however, I am always doing something, I am always out and about somewhere, meeting people and dealing with a lot of offers …
I have noticed on the social networks that you two travel a bit together. Where are you heading for next?
Katka: I never ever travelled much, in part due to the fact that I had a small child and in part due to the fact that I needed to work. Things have eased up a little now and the main thing is that I now at last have somebody to travel with. We have travelled abroad together quite a lot seeing that we have only been together a year. We have been to Rome, to the seaside, to Slovakia and on various weekend breaks in Europe. We are now planning to go to Tokyo, that is on our wish list. Florence is also on it, as is London where Tomáš used to play. Those are places to stop off at where he takes all his girls. I haven’t been there yet, so it would only be the polite thing to do to take me there. (laughs)
We will definitely be going on some sort of last minute with Claudinka. We definitely do plan to travel. Claudia also spends time with her other family from time to time as happens with children from divorced parents, so we have enough space to enjoy some romance with just the two of us.
Can you speak any languages?
Tomáš: I can speak perfect Italian, my English is a bit broken, but Katka can speak it perfectly.
You have been together for a year. What are your plans together for the future?
Tomáš: We plan to continue dating, we like it that way and are enjoying things.
Wait a minute, you don’t live together in one household?
Both at the same time: No.
And don’t you want to bring things together under one roof? All that travel must be difficult. It always gets me worked up.
Katka: But if he is home all the time, that must get you worked up too. Don’t try to tell me that it doesn’t.
Tomáš: We are not planning to live together for the time being and the travel isn’t too bad. Dating is excellent.
What in your opinion constitutes a great date? Where do you take your girlfriend?
Tomáš: It is true that us footballers are a bit of a stereotype. Yes, I admit that I am no great planner. I like things to be straightforward and clearly set. But I have got a few braincells to rub together and I am able to come up with a few ideas. Not epoch-making ones to tell the truth, but I do come up with some ideas.
Katka, are you happy with his ideas?
Katka: Yes, of course I am. But the truth is that it tends to me who is the active one in that respect, meaning romantic dinners for two. Although I am no great romantic.
Are you not?
Katka: I prefer passion, romance doesn’t really interest me. I like fast action. (laughs)
But we tend rather to enjoy our lives. We don’t mind spending a lot of money on a good five-course dinner, going somewhere and then of course working hard and then taking another trip or having a really nice evening together. I am still touched by the fact that if we are having a nice evening at my place, we find it worth the effort to get the room ready, to get ourselves in a romantic frame of mind, to get ready, pour some good wine, talk and have some great food. We are still on that wave of people in love. And precisely due to the fact that we don’t live together, I think that the dating is still wonderful.
Who wears the trousers in your relationship? I would say that it is Katka.
Katka: No way …
Tomáš: Hold on, it does look that way, but that certainly isn’t the case.
Katka: He is sometimes almost frightening. Tomáš expresses his opinion only once and emphatically. He is the only man in my life who I am afraid of. (laughs)
What on earth did you do …?
Katka: Sometimes women want a sort of minor change, something in the home, or in their plans … and at that moment I am very quickly put firmly in my place. It is absolutely impossible to manipulate Tomáš.
Be specific. Did you want him to fold his socks …?
Tomáš: Hold on, we do agree a lot in that respect. We both like things to be tidy, so we are always cleaning up. There is no problem there.
Katka: I really am an order freak, organised in everything I do. I always say that I am an organised punk. There are some things I couldn’t care less about, for example people’s opinions on how we should live our lives etc, but when it comes to spreadsheets, accounts, things and documents, I have everything under my complete control.
You both have large families, how are the relationships there?
Katka: Things are the way they should be. Things work fine. For absolutely all of us. We have never all been together, but we do go for dinner with the children. Tomáš’s children are adults, Claudinka is still young. We meet up like that often and like to do so. I think there isn’t a day which goes by without us letting each other know what we are up to. We are connected no only on the social networks, we communicate with each other, tell each other our problems and help each other to solve them. What is more, my family is huge, we are like the Hujer family, and Tomáš has fitted in there wonderfully.
The thought did cross my mind that you two together are an even stronger “brand” ...
Both: I suppose so.
Katka: Definitely, they prefer to invite us to an event together than each of us separately or without each other.
Tomáš: It is quite logical too. We wouldn’t go without each other.
Katka: We are above all both like two controversial brands, which you know works best. When there is double the controversy, that is probably all the more useful. We don’t complain. That would probably be blasphemous. We tend rather to decline invitations to events.
How would you rate 2017 and what are you looking forward to in 2018?
Tomáš: It was a wonderful year. I found a girl, the girl of my dreams, the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. It’s a shame I couldn’t have met her straight away, but life is like that. Of course the year was hectic, there were ups and downs in all respects, but I would rate it positively. The fact that I met Katka and am experiencing that which I am experiencing now makes up for all of the bad things I experienced. In 2018. I am looking forward to sorting out all of my unfinished business and meeting more normal people than idiots. That is one thing I would wish for.
Katka: Girl?? (laughs) I really enjoyed the year with him despite the fact that it was a really wild year. It isn’t easy living with someone dragging as much baggage with him as Tomáš has – all of the wives, the children, the gossip, the strings, the relationships … But I think that we showed ourselves and others that we think it is worth us being together and sticking together. We like being together and I have learned one thing – I couldn’t care less what anybody else thinks, that my value will never be based on the opinions other people have of me. You know exactly where all those haters can stick their opinions. The only thing that is important to me is that I am happy, that my daughter is happy and that Tomáš is happy. I think that we have a lot of people around us who love us and not only those fans on our social networks, but above all the ones in real life. We have love in our lives and not everyone is so fortunate.
In 2018, we are both looking forward to being offline more. Social networks are not the place to create relationships and reality.
Thank you very much for the interview. I wish you both the best of luck.
Fast confession:
What annoys you most about Czech showbusiness?
K.: The hypocrisy, the game which we are however all part of.
Romance or passion?
K.: Passion, definitely.
What is the most expensive present Katka has ever given you?
And the most expensive one Tomáš has ever given you?
His heart.
A white lie or absolute honesty?
K.: People confuse absolute honesty with impertinence. I am sometimes in favour of a white lie when the truth really will hurt, but otherwise in our relationship, we really are honest.
What recently angered you the most?
K.: The idiots around us, but we laugh at them.
The most important moment in your life?
K.: Ah, that is lovely. When I gave birth to my daughter and when I met Tomáš.
Which flowers are Katka’s favourites?
Katka, was he right?
I really love carnations, I really do like that crazy communist flower. That is because I think it has been wrongly neglected.
What is Tomáš’s favourite food?
Tom, is that right?
It is.
Your greatest blunder?
K.: My second wedding I think.
First love?
K.: No idea who Tomáš’s was, but my first love was Lukášek Ostrý – at nursery school in Bohdalec.
How did Katka charm you?
How did Tomáš manage to pick you up?
With his directness, there were no pretences, we went straight into things head first without any emergency brake.
Cat or dog?
K.: Dog.
What would you never forgive Katka for?
And what would you never forgive Tomáš for?
I would forgive him for being unfaithful if it didn’t grow into a parallel relationship. I would not forgive him for lying which would endanger us in any way.
If I gave you a million crowns, what would you buy?
K.: A million is a relatively small amount. Probably a big trip with the family and all our friends.
T.: Whether you are already p*ssed of with all these questions.
K.: Whether you have silicone breast implants.
They are all my own.
