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The relationship between Jagger and Gimenez turned out to be a fling. And he is, by all accounts, an excellent father to Lucas, as he is to his other six children. But frankly, it’s just weird that this interview even happened. Someone must’ve called in a HUGE favor. During the interview, Jagger was a consummate professional as he endured shockingly bad questions from someone who acted like a star-struck fan. However, it’s pretty obvious he wasn’t comfortable in this situation. That discomfort is all over his body language, as he barely makes eye contact with her during the entire interview, and he doesn’t even lean in or appear very interested in what she has to say. Jagger probably shows more emotion and gets more excited about a trip to the dentist.
Now, we weren’t expecting her to ask questions such as, “Hey, Mick, remember that time when we had that wild tryst at such-and-such place and Jerry had no idea?” or “What were your first thoughts when you found out that you got me pregnant?” But still … Gimenez, who should know better, was asking questions that were, quite frankly, idiotic. Here are some examples:
When talking to Jagger about what it’s like to be on stage, she asked, “What do you see when you’re actually up there? Do you see the actual people or do you see one big crowd?” Before he could finish answering the question, she immediately mentioned that he must look at cute girls. (It was one of many times she interrupted him throughout the interview.) Really? This is the best you could ask Mick Jagger, frontman for one of the most successful touring bands of all time? It was kind of painful to watch.
One of the worst questions was toward the end of the interview when Gimenez mentioned David Bowie, and she asked Jagger, “Were you good friends with him?” Given all the information that’s out there about Jagger and Bowie’s close friendship — not to mention the touching statement that Jagger made about Bowie after Bowie died, it’s just mind-boggling that anyone could ask something so stupid. Luckily, Jagger answered it with grace, and said that one of the last times he saw Bowie was at Electric Ladyland studio when Bowie played him tracks off his most recent album. Bowie died soon after, and Jagger mentioned that since he hadn’t seen Bowie for a long time prior to that last meeting, it’s a reminder of how important it is to keep in touch with people who mean a lot to you because you don’t really know when they might die.
When talking about Jagger’s son James being cast in the TV series “Vinyl” (Mick Jagger is one of the show’s executive producers), Gimenez asked Mick if he thought James did good a job on the show. What was Mick going to say? “No, he’s horrible!” Of course not. He’s not going to say anything negative about his own son who was cast on his show. Furthermore, Gimenez seemed surprised that “Vinyl” has more one director. Did she really think the very busy, Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese had signed on to direct every episode of the series? Even if Gimenez is the most clueless person on the planet about television and could care less about “Vinyl,” couldn’t one of her show’s producers have prepared her a little better in asking good questions? The whole interview was embarrassing to watch.
Then she tried to get Mick to tell her how his South American fans are different from fans in the rest of the world. Most celebrities hate these kinds of questions because it’s almost like they’re being set up to say that fans who live in a certain area are “better” than fans who don’t live in that area. There’s no way to say that without offending certain fans. Not only was it a dumb question, it’s a tired question that should never have been asked.
And then she wasted too much time by going on and on about how much energy the Rolling Stones have on stage — as if she’d never seen a Stones concert, as if it’s hard to believe that someone in their 70s could possibly be as fit and healthy as Mick is. So she had to ask him another cliché question (something that he’s been asked so many times before by other interviewers) about how he keeps up his energy level. She then emphasized the age issue once again by saying she’s amazed that he could have so much more energy than she does. (Gimenez is 26 years younger than Mick, by the way.) It was supposed to be a compliment, but it came off as mildly insulting. And when she asked Mick how he handles raising so many kids with having a busy career, Mick politely reminded her most of his kids are adults.
The worst faux pas was when she brought up that Mick is a great-grandfather (another of her passive-aggressive references to his age), but she called his first great-grandchild a “he” when the child is actually a “she.” When talking about the great-grandchild, Gimenez gushed, “He’s so cute!” But then Mick had to remind her that his first great-grandchild is actually a girl. Awkward. But you’ve got to love how Mick responded at one point when she told him that he has to keep track of the names of his grandchildren. He simply replied, “I’ve got the names right.” Yes, Luciana, he can keep track of who his grandkids are, but apparently you can’t.
When family gatherings and the rest of the children (including Lucas) were mentioned in the interview, not once did Gimenez say something like, “Oh, by the way, full disclosure: I’m Lucas’ mother.” (Although the show did briefly flash on screen an old photo of Mick, Gimenez and Lucas together. If you blinked, you would’ve missed it.) Maybe she was told not to mention in the interview that she’s the mother of Mick Jagger’s youngest child, but it was very strange that she acted like she didn’t know much about Mick’s family, when her son Lucas is part of the family. Whether she was playing dumb or not, it did not make her look good.
Hopefully, Mick won't ever put himself in this situation again of being interviewed by an ex-lover who can’t even ask him good questions and who keeps interrupting him with idiotic comments. Whatever favor he did in order for her to do this interview, he shouldn't do it again. It’s not worth it..BY CARLA HAY
