(April, 2013)
Germany
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 humour 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 its 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 others 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 women 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 smalltalk. 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 smalltalk 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.
translation by: Icey
