Nunzia De Girolamo: “In politics I had to be a man, today I’m freer”

Nunzia DeGirolamo she is convinced that if we asked a man for three adjectives to define himself, these adjectives would all be positive because it is rare for a man to accept his faults and, above all, say them out loud. «It’s the first thing I ask my guests and, punctually, it happens that they define themselves only through positive adjectives. Men tend to disguise themselves, to hide. Putting negativity under the rug», says Nunzia on the phone from Rome, working on the new edition of Hi Malethe program that leads in the second evening of Rai1 and which returns from 21 January with several new features. Along with a completely new study – «Sort of men’s club like the English ones of the past, where women couldn’t enter» – and with new games and interview methods, Nunzia De Girolamo, former lawyer, Minister of Agriculture, former competitor of Dancing with the Stars, she feels that she is increasingly mastering the medium of television because, unlike politics, it allows her to be herself.

The new study of Hi Male it almost seems to suggest that you enter the wolf’s den: what have you learned from men thanks to the program?
“Two things. I had confirmation that males have a great ability to team up and create a system unlike women, who should help each other more. And then there is always the question of the adjectives they choose to define themselves».

What adjectives would you choose for yourself?
“Moody, which is a flaw for me. Determined, because I never give up. And then, perhaps, sensitive, a side of me that I often hide since it is an element of strength that in a certain social context can become a weakness. Often my husband (the senator of the Pd Francesco Boccia, ed) asks me if we can get off this roller coaster which has very high and very low peaks: however, I point out to him that when the electrocardiogram line is flat, it means you are dead».

What are the causes of very low peaks?
«Perhaps I wake up with a bad mood due to the weather, or due to an unpleasant answer that comes to me from someone, or I expect something to happen and it doesn’t happen. It’s all very humorous, an internal fact ».

How do you find serenity in those cases?
“Sometimes I read, sometimes I watch a TV series, and still others I do stretching, a fifteen-minute workout a day that I do alone to help me find a good mood again”.

In politics, sensitivity is something that can be attacked – I’m thinking of Angela Merkel’s tremors when she was chancellor – while in television it often has a positive meaning: do you feel freer to show it since you became a presenter?
“Very. Sensitivity on TV is an advantage because it transforms into empathy and opens you up to the other. From the management point of view it helps a lot because, if you have high antennas, you are sensitive and you are welcoming, the other understands it. In politics it was an element of weakness that you had to mask, as if a mask were imposed on you. TV has allowed me to be much more Nunzia».

What has Nunzia found the public?
«Everyone recognizes sympathy for me, a characteristic that did not emerge in politics where, inevitably, a certain aggressiveness came out to the detriment of the more playful and girlish part of me. That came out at Dancing with the Stars».

The problem of politics always seems to be the same: why, in order to take a woman seriously, must she try hard not to be so?
«For a long time, in order to assert herself, women had to lose their femininity, hide their attractiveness, their sensuality, and it’s a terrible thing: the tendency in politics is to play at being boys and, at the time, it affected me too. I had lost my femininity in so many ways: in language, in clothing, in taking care of myself, in the way I moved. In hindsight it is better to be yourself: femininity belongs to us, it is our strength. I’m much more serene now than when I was playing the boy at any cost.

When you were a minister it is probable that you had several people around you who sought you out and, perhaps, flattered you: when that power failed, did you miss it?
“In some ways it was a liberation. Many think that the politician has more power than he has: I believed that my strength could allow me to make a revolution, but it takes a team to change things. I say it was liberating because you never know if people are turning to you for who you are or for what you can give. From my perspective I can say that I have never understood politics as a power, but as a service that can also take away a lot from you in terms of private life. It’s a heavy thing.”

It’s a romantic answer.
“I am, even if I look tough.”

What was Nunzia De Girolamo like as a child? Romantic?
“A tomboy. I wanted to play basketball but my mother made me do ballet to make me nice but I hated it. I had a very bad Russian teacher, but in the end I thanked her because dance gave me rigor. Otherwise, like a good tomboy, I never bypassed danger, but faced it. My mother used to say that if my sister Francesca saw a ravine, she drew back: I didn’t. She happened to often challenge the boys. For a while my parents couldn’t go out with a couple of their friends because their son kicked and I hit him back, I challenged him. I said to myself: why do I have to withdraw? Why do I have to take a step back as a woman?».

Fearless.
«I have always looked fear in the face, even if in the long run this risks turning into unconsciousness. My husband tells me not to always jump into things, and now I’ve kind of learned that. After so many slaps, now I’m a little more cautious ».

The craziest thing he’s done?
«A trip to Greece in my 20s with my high school mates: I took a risk with a motorcycle near a cliff in Santorini. With my parents, on the other hand, I’ve always been very respectful, with a great sense of duty. I’ve never done glaring pranks.”

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
«The lawyer and, in fact, I did it. I liked the idea of ​​standing up for people. As a child I played with my sister: she was a banker and I was a lawyer who went to her to deposit money».

Has Benevento ever been close to you?
“Much. In my family my father was the free and accomplice one and my mother the apprehensive one who didn’t let me do things out of fear. When I expressed the desire to study abroad she wanted me to go to Naples but, thanks to my father, I got Rome, the best compromise I could reach».

And is she more apprehensive or free as a mother?
“I am an apprehensive mother. Gea is my Achilles heel, I’m always very afraid of what happens around her, but I try not to let her feel it. I make her do all the sports, roller coasters, but underneath I want to die. It is right that she has the perception of doing everything without being limited by me. When she slept the first night away from home I didn’t sleep a wink, but it’s an act of love that involves a sacrifice that she should make. You are now 10 years old, and I already sweat thinking about you when you go to London in a few years to improve your English».

And the father, Francesco Boccia, what does he say?
«He is not apprehensive at all, he is the salt of the couple. If she depended on him, he would send her to London even now.’

Hi Male do you see him together at home?
«I look at Saturdays because I follow social media a lot and I try to stay on track, taking advantage of the criticisms to improve myself. That said, my family and friends enjoyed themselves more when I was at Dancing and my daughter would get mad at the jury.”

She a Dancing with the Stars has been beaten a lot, in fact.
“Everyone except Carolyn Smith.”

The reason, in your opinion? Did her political career have anything to do with it?
“Likely. It seemed to me that they were not looking at how I danced, but at my past: they were conditioned by that. Over time, I clarified with many of them, but the truth is that the more they raged, the more people from home voted for me, so in the end I also have to say thank you to them”.

Do you think that if it had been a leftist policy they would have been softer?
“I think so. If it had been for the jury, I would have walked out immediately.’

Lately we’ve been labeling what’s right and what’s left. Even Minister Sangiuliano has expressed himself on the subject, defining Dante Alighieri as a rightist: do you agree?
Dante belongs to everyone, he is universal. If I could interview a character from the past I would interview him, Dante. There is no ideology linked to culture, but I agree with the Minister on the importance of not falling into stereotypes».

Staying with politics, since the new government took office, everyone has been talking about your return, but it seems to be more of a thing that obsesses others than you: how do you explain it?
«Everyone has been returning there lately: Meloni wins and they write about a candidacy for the Region and for the European Championships. I want to think positive: evidently I did my job well and I left my mark. Someone on the street still calls me a minister, but now I want to complete this new path of mine and do it in a big way, challenging myself, doing something important just like I did in politics. On TV I’m still at the beginning ».

There is a risk that any promotion you get in the future could be associated with the current government: how do you feel about it?
“If someone said that, I’d send him to hell. I’d like to understand who can say such a thing in the light of a path I’ve taken alone, getting up from a bad beating and reinventing myself despite the prejudice of a politician who entered TV: if someone were to say that I’m making a career because there’s a government of right is like taking away an identity from me. The truth is that they will always have something to say, perhaps forgetting that I joined Rai when Giuseppe Conte was in government. It’s true, I have a centre-right ideology that I’ve never denied, but everything I’ve done I’ve done alone. I don’t think it would be fair for every government to take out my marriage, my connections, or anything else. TV, as Minoli said, is the mirror of the soul: if you bluff, sooner or later it will come out, and I would like to be judged for who I am».

Where would you like to go?
«Conduct a program that has to do with current events. I still have a passion for defending people: I would like a program like this because it would have more relevance to what I have been and what I have studied and acquired».

Would the premier or the premier interview him?
“Of course. I’d like any side it is. Today I would like Giorgia and tomorrow another: having spoken the same language, I would be able to strike the right chords. I always say that I am a presenter with a Masters degree in politics, and I would like to use it».

To receive the other cover of Vanity Fair (and much more), subscribe to Vanity Weekend.