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Cristina Show -
June 20, 1994
On June 20, 1994 Selena Quintanilla
Perez appeared on Cristina's special edition, wearing her hair "No Me Queda
Mas" video style (The song of which she also sang on this appearance),
up tall in curls, she wore a black vest with gold lapel, underneath a white
v-necked t-shirt and black spandex pants, plus tall black boots. In this English translated
version of the interview, you will learn much about our favorite Tejano
Queen!
Crssssssssss.....Now we take you to our regularly scheduled program,
(Cristina's theme music) Selena and Cristina:
Cristina: Do you consider yourself as "Sexy"?
Selena: (Hesitates) ummm...no (An applaud from the audience,
Selena laughs) Aye Gracias, well no, I don't consider myself as sexy.
Cristina: Could you stand up? (Selena stands and raises her arms)
What do you think?
Selena: Thank you.
Cristina: I know that a lot of women say this little girl is not embarrassed
to sing or to dress like this and then to sell these clothes in a boutique.
Selena: Okay, but let me explain a little more about things like this.
It's like a performance, singing. It is like a "show" and I am not like that
normally. There are 2 different personalities. Normally I dress in a more
modest fashion.
Cristina: Okay, you feel that you are 2 people. That happens to almost
everyone that are in the entertainment field. You feel that you are Selena,
"the person" and Selena, "the personality."
Selena: Exactly
Cristina: Like a doll for the public. Explain the basic difference between
the two Selena's.
Selena: Well, when I am singing I am a completely different person. I
could be very free, depending on the situation I could do what I want. I
could have to deliver, as with many songs, a lot of emotion if a song is
very sad as with a very happy and excited song. It depends, it depends.
Compared to when I am in my, I am normal, like whomever, of the public.
Cristina: Are you a "Modern" girl or are you "Old fashion"?
Selena: Old fashion, because of my family. (Cristina begins but Selena
interrupts) Also naturally moral.
Cristina: Okay, and your form of projecting yourself on the stage, your
husband is your guitarist. He travels with you. He never had an attack of
jealousy when there is a man near with intentions of flirting?
Selena: No, because we communicate. Before we were married and when we
were friends! It is the most important thing to be friends before anything.
Cristina: What is it that attracted you to him?
Selena: He was timid.
Cristina: He was timid?
Selena: Umm humm...(nodds)
Cristina: And you were timid also?
Selena: No (laughs) Not as much as he.
Cristina: But when you were a child, you were timid?
Selena: Yes, very timid.
Cristina: What did you do to over come it so you could give advice to those
who are timid also?
Selena: Well, I believe that is due to my dad. And his BELT! (Selena
laughs and begins to imitate her father) "You're gonna sing, little
girl!" (Shaking her hands in front of her and laughing) Boy, I was
very timid. But when a person grows up you change and those things too.
Cristina: What is it that you do to control the men that flirt and go
overboard and get the Selena "personality" confused with Selena "the person"
and they think you are real sexy? This must have happened before, because it
happens to everyone. How do you stop that?
Selena: "I'm married, you should have more respect."
Cristina: When you're on the stage you're not married, when you're on the
stage you are neither married nor single, you are a "personality."
Selena: A lot of people respect me because, I don't know if you've ever
been to our shows..
Cristina: Yes.
Selena: When I am singing, I believe that if I respect the public, then
they will respect me and I know it. It's noticable.
Cristina: Do you believe you are very strong?
Selena: I believe so, dominate and aggressive.
Cristina: Dominate and aggressive?
Selena: You have to be.
Cristina: Why?
Selena: There's a lot of men in this business, if you can't speak for
yourself they are going to run you down every which way.
Cristina: You think if you weren't a strong person in this business the
people would take advantage of you because you are a woman?
Selena: Exactly, it has happened! I also have the protection of my
father.
Cristina: Tell me, what's the worse that has happened to you?
Selena: Not only me but the whole group. Just because I am a woman, the
promoters didn't want to let me give shows, or promote the group because I
was a woman and also very young. That's one of the problems with the group
when we first started, they didn't want to give us the opportunity to play.
Cristina: Okay, we will talk about your father who you've mentioned 4
times in one segment, a person very important in your life and your
representative. And the person that said "You're gonna sing!" (Selena
laughs) and the nest segment, today it's incredible to believe when Selena
was a child she preferred to play football with the boys instead of playing
with dolls. We'll be back.
Selena Interview Part 2
Cristina: Here we are back with Selena. The first thing I want to ask you in
this segment is how come you have this "bow" done? (hairstyle) or how do yo
say "bow" in Mexico? Chongo? (pony tail)
Selena: Gajos...(meaning orange slices shaped)
Cristina: How come you put your hairdo so big today?
Selena: Because...(laughs)...I don't know..
Cristina: Did you do it all by yourself?
Selena: Yes..
Cristina: I've very amazed! How can someone can do that all by themselves??!
Selena: I don't know, I don't know..
Cristina: Do you do your own make-up too?
Selena: Yes, everything, everything.
Cristina: Wow...
Selena: Thank you very much!
Cristina: Wow! My god...I am very impressed. Great, well, we're going to
talk about the father whose face isn't very friendly and in this segment I
want to ask what did your father do for all of you to be "professional
musicians." Tell me what you used to do and what happened during your life?
Selena: Everyday we had to practice only 15 minutes. We didn't like it at
all but when you're really young you want to play with your friends and
neighbors. Just to pass the time and have fun! And to practice 15 minutes!
It was, "AHH!!! But papa, we wanna play!" But those minutes paid off!
Cristina: What kinda work did your father do? He ran a restaurant?
Selena: Yes, a restaurant.
Cristina: Where the kids used to play?
Selena: Yes, that was like a hobby...to pass the time. I believe my
father never thought that this was going to be our career, being an artist.
Cristina: Your father was a musician too?
Selena: Yes, a musician way before. He had a group called "Abe y Los
Dinos." That's why we called ourselves "Selena y Los Dinos," because it is
2nd generation.
Cristina: You have a brother and a sister.
Selena: Yes
Cristina: Both are older than you?
Selena: Exactly..
Cristina: You are the baby?
Selena: The baby.
Cristina: Okay, aren't they jealous of "the baby"?
Selena: No..
Cristina: That it's "Selena y los Dinos" and not "Los Dinos and also
Selena"?
Selena: No, no, no...All of us have...we grew up with morals and also
respect for everyone. My father also treated us EQUAL and we're not
different. We all have talent even if they are in different aspects.
Cristina: What do you think of one father, that is also a manager, like
Michael Jackson's father? They came out with a lot of books and his kids who
are now adults are now complaining about how he used to make them work, how
he was very abusive. He used to hit them and that they didn't really have a
childhood. What's your opinion of a situation like this one?
Selena: First I want to say that my father wasn't like that. My father,
he saw the talent and he tried to cultivate it and tried to do something
about it. But it wasn't in a bad way. It was to help us to do something in
life. I think it is something very sad because not all parents are like
that. And even if the father of Michael Jackson did that, you have to love
your parents even if they do bad things. (Applause) Thank you. You know,
it's like the roles, like they reverse. When a child does bad things, the
parents are always going to love their child even if they do something bad.
They are always going to love them. It's like that love you have within a
family.
Cristina: You think that those kids should have more respect and love them
even though the parents made them go through something like that?
Selena: I think that Michael Jackson loves his father. They've gone
through a lot of bad things.
Cristina: Did you think you lost something because you were a child star?
Like what ordinary kids had?
Selena: I believe so.... but I won in other aspects. I met other goals.
Even though I was a girl and I lost some of my childhood it was for a good
cause. To help my family because we've been working since we were very
little to put food on the table.
Cristina: So you didn't used to dream about being a singer or a star? Like
other girls who get a spoon or a soda bottle and practice in front of a
mirror because they dream of becoming a big famous singer! And you, no?
Selena: No... I never thought about it.
Cristina: What did you want to be?
Selena: I wanted to have my own business and I had a dream about being a
designer and I am doing that.
Cristina: You are designing and we're going to show them today here. How
come you used to climb trees with the boys and you didn't like dolls and you
are a designer!?
Selena: (Laughs) I don't know! I love a lot of sports. The boys
were more challenging. I could do anything like the men! It was equal!
Cristina: How come that is so important to you?
Selena: The truth is I don't know. I just wanted to play with the boys at
that time, now I don't! (Laughs)
Cristina: What do you like to do to relax?
Selena: To relax? To tell the truth, I don't know how to rest! I am a
person that has to do something all the time. When I relax I am working on
business.
Cristina; Selena thinks that a singing job is the same as working in a
factory or secretary?
Selena: It's a job.
Cristina: But it doesn't pay the same Selena?
Selena: (Laughs) That's true, but it's work! A person...The life
of an artist is not all glamorous. It's a lot of work. A lot of people think
that it's very easy. They think you always stay in good hotels, you buy good
things, but it is not like that. You have to work very hard like everybody.
Cristina: How do you like being a star? How do you like when you get to a
hotel and the whole world seems to be after you? When you're having dinner,
when you're walking, when they ask for an autograph and when they ask for
your picture all the time, when you're feeling good and when you're not
feeling good?
Selena: Well, for me it's totally something! When I am... like when I
don't feel good at the same time I think they don't know my private life.
How can you take that little magic that they have in you? The image they
have of you, if you treat them good...you understand, if you treat somebody
bad, they're not going to buy your record! Why, why would you want to treat
someone like that?
Cristina: Always when they ask for a photo or autograph, you will give it to
them?
Selena: Yes.
Cristina: You never refuse?
Selena: No...or I say when I'm with my family and I want to relax little
with them, I'll say "Could you wait a little and after I'll sign?"
Cristina: What do you think about the artists who don't do that?
Selena: (Makes a face) For me, how can you do that when the public
has you up there? (gestures with hands) You understand? (applause)
How can you do that? They are the ones who make the artist! They buy the
records, they buy everything. And you have to be grateful to the public in
that way to give autographs if they want an autograph, you give them an
autograph! It's not going to take very much of your time, I do it!
Cristina: It's not a big deal, in other words?
Selena: Exactly!
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