Quick Interview – Ornella Koktová: This is What She Thinks about Gott, Mareš and Vondráčková

Recently you seem to prefer being on the wayside. Does this have a specific reason?

I quickly matured thanks to my Pepa. I used to be a spoiled brat and inexperienced in terms of the media, so I often ended up saying nonsense – further amplified by the fact that I was too gullible. But I’ve learned my lessons now.

Now we often see you also on the other side of the line, as a media host…

It’s a strange feeling to be there. But when I do interviews, sometimes I can’t help but ask myself “what are these people doing in showbusiness if they don’t want to discuss anything?” These people irritate me. I’ll never be like that – a person who doesn’t say anything to anyone. Who do they think they are? Do they think they’re Oprah?

So who do you consider to be a TOP Czech celebrity?

For instance Karel Gott – he’s the kind of guy who’ll wait even for the last fan, just to say a few nice words. That’s exactly what it should mean to be a star – it’s not about making it look like “I’m an extremely interesting person” without talking to anyone. After all, it’s the fans who make this whole showbusiness thing work.

And aside from Karel Gott?

For instance Leoš Mareš, but with him it feels like he’s more like a “product”, basically a “brand name” now. Nowadays, top stars are usually 70 or older (laughter). Someone could consider Lucka Vondráčková to be a top star, but I’d she’s just an average artist – I don’t understand how people can consider her to be the top. Half of the girls you’d meet on the streets can sing like she does.

What’s your profession, how do you spend your free time?

Now I focus on Quentin, my writing, and horses. And when I do decide to take up some work, it must also be a form of entertainment for me. But going to work from eight to five, well… that’s something my Pepa says I should experience – to know what it’s like.

Do you follow the motto “You reap what you sow”?

Yes. I’ve arranged my life so that now I can write articles from home – articles which make sense. Everything I did up to now, all of that was entertaining to me. So a good offer is one that can entertain me – and of course it must be well paid. But I’m definitely not afraid to make fun of myself. Those who can’t do that are stupid crackers.

(Laughter) You were not very concrete when you spoke about your job.

I’m currently an editor – but we’ll see what the future has in store for me.

If I look at your Facebook, you look like an exemplary mom. You do a lot of stuff with Quentin.

Quentin is an extremely prominent personality, so I can’t leave him on his own in a playground. Whenever I’m thinking about what to do, I sometimes end up having a lot of doubts – whether I’m being a good mom, whether it’s ok that we only went for one walk, that I only showed him a few fawns… I always feel like I should give him more. But sometimes that’s not possible. I often feel exhausted and so I just let him play on the computer. 

What about a babysitter, so that you can relax a bit from time to time …

I already thought about hiring a babysitter, but it made me feel bad – it felt like I was being a bad mom.

And you really haven’t been anywhere without him yet?

Yup; in fact, me and Pepa didn’t even have our honeymoon yet. We only went for a single weekend trip – and took Quentin with us. I’ve already suggested to go somewhere on our own, but it never worked out because my mom wasn’t available.

She can’t babysit?

She said she’s young and doesn’t have enough time to be a grandmother – even though on Facebook it looks differently. She keeps publishing photos and comments with him, but that’s mostly just for the looks – to make it seem that she’s being a good grandma. But in the past she kept saying how she’ll enjoy being a grandma and that she doesn’t understand grandmas who keep wearing miniskirts and going out instead of taking care of their grandson.

And does your mom wear a miniskirt?

I think that she surely has one or two in her wardrobe.

And what about asking a girlfriend to babysit?

I don’t even know whether I have any girlfriends – I don’t have time to meet anyone.

And girlfriends with children?

I’m not the type of woman who would like to chat on a playground. In general I’d say that my life now is fairly boring – and I don’t really have time to take pictures in bikinis or underwear in front of a mirror, like others do.

If I look into the future, there will be a time when a girl will steal Quentin from you. What’s his take on girls now?

I hope he’ll find a good, decent girl. I’ve been raising him to be a well-behaved gentleman already since he was a kid – so already now he likes to give flowers to girls, open doors for them, all on his own. He also sees his dad do that. And he’ll be a tall blonde guy with blue eyes, so there will be plenty of girls to choose from.

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And do you know what kind of girls he likes?

I found out he likes blondes. In fact, he doesn’t even care whether she’s an adult or not (laughter). In school he’s in the sights of four blondes, and he gave kisses to all of them. When he enters the classroom, the first thing he does is that he kisses each of them, hugs them and plays with their hair. And then they start fighting over him.

They fight over him?

He certainly has something in him from his father – and I think that he had thousands of girls in his lifetime. I believe that it’s good if men can have a bit of fun before they get married. I wouldn’t want him to find a good girl and then cheat on her. I’d feel bad for her.

And what about your heart? What about Pepa?

My heart is still free and wild, even though I love Pepa. And he’s the same. He helped me mature – and also the hard times in terms of finances that we had to endure helped in that sense. Basically, from a girl that was used to having everything and left from the maternity hospital in the newest Mercedes, I became a cornerstone of my family – and at one time I was even carrying the whole family budget on my own.

Did you learn to appreciate money?

Not only money, but also the people around me.

What’s it like, carrying the family budget on your own?

I was quite proud of myself. But it wasn’t an act of sacrifice. I liked writing, it wasn’t like stacking goods somewhere in a supermarket. But I was sad that Pepa didn’t have any project to work on – anything that would fulfill him. I saw him suffering in silence, and I felt sorry for him. And yet, he was proud of me… but now that’s gone and we both contribute to the family budget.

How does your relationship work? At the beginning nobody believed it would last, but then you got married, you have a child…

At the very beginning, we wrote messages on Facebook to each other – and that lasted nine months. In high school, me and my friends – we made fun of him. Back then I had no idea I’d ever see him again. But then we met… it was in front of Rudolfinum, I was hungry – and there was a person who kept inviting me for lunch for nine months, right behind the corner.

So you went to meet him…

And it ended up a five-hour long lunch, with a much more lively ending than it should have had.

How does one go from “making fun of somebody” to a “very lively lunch”???

Well, we spoke about everything. Then he mentioned that he has an apartment nearby. At first I made fun of that proposition – I won’t fall for that. But at some point he stood up, put his keys on the table, and said that I should either leave the keys there or come. And then he left. And I’ve never been in such a situation in my life – I thought I shouldn’t leave them there just like that, so I brought them to him – and then something happened there… when I was leaving the apartment, then I turned to him and said that he should know that I don’t do this with just anyone. I felt like I had a burning mark on me (laughter). Then, we dated for a year, and after that I got pregnant.

And now, how are you doing with Pepa?

I consider myself an honest person, so I’ll give an honest answer. There are times then I feel a bit bored. The same bed, the same sofa, all the same – and I tell him and he then tries a bit. I think that the way we snuggle every day is beautiful – we watch a movie or something, and we don’t keep any secrets. We wake up hugging each other. It’s often said that a good relationship can be identified by how people wake up together. I certainly plan to take even batter care for our relationship in the future – to come up with stuff to do, just for the two of us. But I don’t want to be like some of our models, who are away every weekend and don’t see their children enough.

And what about the children? Would you like a second one?

Definitely, and I hope that it’ll come sooner or later – it must be a girl. I don’t want to buy more clothes for boys. It’s really a tragedy, the clothes for boys that you see in stores. But the most important thing is to make sure that the second one comes when our family is fully secured financially. But I believe in fate – a fortune teller once told me that I’m expecting a boy and that a girl will come in the future. And at least the first part was right.

Did she say when?

No.

You’re certainly a very open person. You often swim against the current, and so you will be commenting fashion articles in our Editorial “Against the Current”. Why did you decide to accept the offer?

Most fashion magazines tend to merely praise fashion, but I think that it’s good to make up your own mind – and I certainly have an opinion to share. I’m not afraid to say what I think – I’m not like some other people, who won’t give a negative review for an established fashion house. Don’t expect me to do that.