Helena Noguera. “I’m no longer afraid that people will think I’m too light, but I’m too old”

Model, TV presenter, actress, singer, novelist, playwright. Helena Noguera has already had a thousand lives. Not out of instability, but out of curiosity. He does not want to choose anything final, not to define himself. In an entertainment society that loves to label, this path is not the easiest, but the Belgian Tornado has a multi-talent. He is taking on roles (he is filming Brigade Anonyme, a detective series with Eric Cantona), launching his musical universe (an album released a year ago) and thinking about a fourth novel. But what drives him more today is theater. “I wrote the first play, And then, In 2006, but I never dared to repeat it. As if at that time I stole a place that was not intended for me.”

Against his will, he will wait fifteen years to repeat the experiment One last dream for the road, a show that focuses on a toxic mother-daughter relationship. Born out of Paris des Femmes, a festival dedicated to short 100% female stage works, the piece was immediately praised for its tonal freedom, its subtle madness and its poetry. In the process, Helena decides to expand it for herself and her troupe (Romain Brau, Pierre Nott, etc.); after presenting it in its final version in Paris in June at the Theater du Rond-Point, he will perform it. again at Petit-Marigny and on tour in 2024.

“Books protected me”

He had a love for words since he was a teenager. he devours Duras, Kundera, and Vian, escapes into their imaginations, and constructs his thoughts there. They are the ones who save her from predators when she becomes a model. “At 15, I was locked in the house with my books and I avoided going out with the wolves in the evenings or on weekends. Even when shooting with questionable men, I stayed in my reading bubbles; books protected me.” His education too. He is taller than a child, strong, runs fast, stands up to boys. But during puberty, their outlook changes. In order to protect her and to know her artistic potential, her father refuses to enroll her in matriculation and beauty contests. “It falsified my identity. I’ve never been poor other than playing characters, but that’s something else. Beauty cannot be the basis of life.”

However, it will not be easy to break the preconceived notions. Modeling leads her to television, another universe where archetypes and prejudices are legion. When she sent her first texts to publishers, she simultaneously presented music programs, wore the label “Leo’s sister” and was afraid of reactions. “Twenty, twenty-five years ago, the space allocated to girls with my profile was very limited. I became a show girl, because I didn’t know how to do it. It was hard to meet a world that said no to me and laughed at my aspirations as an author.” She then signed on under the pseudonym Barbara Klein, a nod to her father’s choice of famous blue and her middle name (“Helen the Barbarian,” she laughs). “I didn’t want people to read me or not read me for the wrong reasons.” Éditions Denoël noticed him, signed his first novel the enemy is within but advise him to accept his name. He accepts as a signal women who are victims of the same prejudices.

“I have the temperament of a leader”

Twenty years later, after three other novels that explore her life, female identity or romantic relationships, writing is at the center of her work. He withdraws from the world for one week every three weeks to isolate himself, making exceptions only for his beloved. His routine is shared by Montmartre, his base for thirty years, and the province helps him there. “I’m stealing time show girl who has to earn a living. I didn’t dare to tell myself that I was an author when I was young, but when I grow up, I take on this role.” A place that allows you to express all aspects of your personality. “My temperament is the temperament of a leader. I like to lead. Fortunately, I became an actress. without it I could be a dictator. Acting is a school of humility for those who have trouble with authority. When you interpret, you have to become flexible like clay.’ There were many offers for the role of the beautiful brainless girl, but directors such as Marcial di Fonzo Bo(Vera, woman) or Pierre Nott (Queen of the Runway)show imagination commensurate with its potential.

“I don’t like waiting or being in debt”

“The concern remains, however. The difference is that today I am no longer afraid that people will find me too light, but too old. There are fewer roles for girls my age. Young people are waiting, and the commercial system in which I work responds to market logic. In Native American tribes, when we get old, we no longer hunt bison, we sew hides. I like them, I go around. When the phone doesn’t ring, I think about my bills, but above all, I tell myself that I have time to write. I don’t like waiting or being in debt.” Helena repeats to herself like a mantra this phrase passed on by her best friend’s mother. So he plays with time. when his son becomes a father in 2021, he defies instructions by calling himself Meme. “Words are weapons that allow me to put my neuroses behind me and also to deconstruct thought patterns.”

To change perceptions, he would also like to be the head of a magazine. “The message will be encouraging to those over 50 who are too quickly kept in the closet.” He imagines himself dancing in an evening cabaret and creating stage worlds for those who compel him; now the freedom of everything. He has strength and talent. “I am happy where I am. Belonging to a little bit of everything and really nothing suits me. I would like no less, no more. I am in my place between the shadow and the light.”

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