LookToTheStars.org’s Michelle Vink caught up with Hayley Hasselhoff recently to chat about her career and charity work. Here is a small excerpt from the interview.
I have heard you in interviews talk about how loyal you are to your family and how you have had to deal with so much gossip both at school and in the media. How has that negativity affected you?
It use to negatively affect me because gossip from the press most times are false accusations where many people who don’t know my family personally seem to feel like they do just because they’ve read about us or seen an interview. Where it gets hard to deal with cause others look at you in a different way when they shouldn’t because they don’t know the complete truth… and our family shouldn’t have to share the complete truth since we like to keep our personal life as private as possible.
How has it affected your family?
My family and I have learned to not have (bad) press affect us.
What can you say to teens that don’t think gossip really affects people?
I would tell teens that every piece of gossip – either publicized or just between a group of friends – affects everyone, because even if it’s true or false, it’s someone else talking about another behind their back or even in front of them, which hurts since it was probably something someone either wanted to keep personal or share with certain people, but something the person wanted to share, not have others share it for them.
Also gossip seems not always to be true so by having other people talk about someone else without actually going to the person they heard about could make others believe something about someone that could ruin their reputation.
You and your family have been through so much in the public eye. How have you managed to stay so strong and positive?
I’ve managed to stay strong and positive by not letting negativity affect me and to only make me stronger and to put a bigger guard around my heart. Also to stay very close and loyal to my family and to not let anything affect us. We all have a very open and close relationship, which has helped us through our struggles.
Why do you think it is so important to be a positive role model as a celebrity?
I think it is important to be a positive role model as a celebrity because although you don’t necessarily want people to be watching your every step, they do. So anything you do gets publicized. Also many people look up to celebrities, and if you’re not setting a good example then who is? You want to show people that being a celebrity is something to be cherished and that every celebrity is really just like you. It should be showing people not to change for others and to really lead their own life, and not to do what others do but to start your own path and be original. I hope by being a positive role model it will inspire others to do the same in their lives.
Read the rest of this interview.
