The GALA interview with TV presenter Annemarie Carpendale is actually about body hair, but we take the moment to chat with her about the development of her son Mads and the Carpendale family’s house construction in Munich.
Annemarie Carpendale, 44, is one of those women you see on TV and you’re like, “How does she manage to look so flawless all the time?” In our interview, however, it becomes clear that things are not always perfect for Wayne Carpendale’s wife, 45, and mother of a four-year-old boy. The occasion is Annemarie’s brand message for the IPL hair removal device (Intense Pulsed Light) from the “Braun” brand.
Annemarie Carpendale: First experience with hair removal
Do you remember your first leg shave?
Oh yeah. I still know exactly what the trigger was. Today smooth legs are taken for granted by young girls, but in my day it wasn’t that common among young people, especially not in Germany.
Annemarie Carpendale values thorough hair removal with the IPL hair removal device from “Braun”
© Brown
When I was 16, I went to America on a kind of student exchange and went to high school there. Back then, all the girls at school wore hot pants, and so did I. I will never forget the situation when two or three boys put their heads together in the schoolyard and one then spoke to me: “Why do you have hair on your legs?” – Um… “why not?!” was my first thought, but in the end it was one of the few moments of my life where I remained speechless. From then on, of course, I started paying attention to it anyway and pretty soon bought my first wet razor…
Today, almost 30 years later, are you more relaxed about the subject?
Definitely, but that’s the case with everything and applies above all to being a mother and wife. Of course I won’t let myself go. But it’s a bit different whether you’ve been in a relationship for a long time or whether you’re single and go out every night to meet the man of your dreams.
And the long relationship also means that you have no inhibitions about removing body hair in front of each other?
Wayne and I have always been very relaxed on the subject. Well, of course there is one thing in the bathroom that you don’t do extensively in front of your partner. (laughs) But treating my legs with the IPL device from Braun, I even do that in the living room while relaxing.
But it is also a question of type and has little to do with whether you are particularly in love or have been in a long-term relationship. There are certainly ex-boyfriends where you drew the line somewhere else. For example, my husband was there for the birth from A to Z and we can still be romantic. But there are also people who don’t allow something like that because they fear that the eroticism will then be lost.
What’s your opinion on men’s body hair – sexy or unkempt?
I don’t want a bear at home. (laughs) … Of course everyone can decide for themselves, but for me it is part of the modern, metrosexual man that he grooms himself. Wayne does that too, of course, but with him it involves relatively little effort.
Son Mads’ cord cutting process
After the intensive Corona period, traveling is becoming more and more, also for you. How do you organize it with your son Mads, is he always there?
We have a rule: If we’re anywhere under 24 hours, Mads can stay with Nona, Grandma or our nanny. But most of the time we take him with us. Of course, that’s still going really well at the moment, because he’s only four and goes to a kindergarten where that’s possible. He enjoys being on the road and being in contact with so many people. As long as he remains so cheerful, inquisitive and outgoing, we will continue to do so. If we noticed that traveling wasn’t good for him, that would of course be something else.
Does Mads realize what kind of jobs his parents have?
I didn’t know until recently that Mads even knows what our professions are called. But recently he actually asked a friend in passing: “Is your mom actually a presenter too?” Well, for him it’s the most normal thing in the world to see Dada and Mama on TV. Of course, he would think it would be even cooler if I were a firefighter, police officer or, best of all, head of the SEK. (laughs)
It won’t be long before Mads starts school…
Oh, a difficult subject! (laughs)I’m anything but a mother hen … I started working again three months after the birth. That was totally compatible with my job, hardly anything has changed. I still do a lot from home now. Because I sometimes travel alone and Wayne then takes over, it’s quite normal for us that mom isn’t the only person I care about… But when Mads starts school, that’s something else.
Wayne always says the cord-cutting process begins the moment the baby comes out of the womb. That’s true, but a lot will change. At the moment our life is such that Mads travels with us all the time. But of course it’s not that easy anymore. We then have to completely restructure as a family so that someone is always at home. The thing that pains me the most is that we won’t be able to take him everywhere with us…
House building stress with husband Wayne Carpendale
You are currently building a house in Munich. How’s it going?
It’s as bad as everyone says. (laughs) Seriously, itisquitestrenuous and intense around the clock. I know, when Wayne calls me, we’ll have to decide right away whether the socket in the bedroom should be eight or a foot from the bed and whether the curtains should be single or double. Questions that you have never thought about before in your life. We’re both 150 percent guys. That means we don’t do anything just like that. As soon as one person has to make a spontaneous decision, the other comes along: “Oh, do you really mean it? Shouldn’t we look at three example houses again?” We are not exactly uncomplicated, not decisive and total perfectionists. But at the end of July, beginning of August we really want to move in… crazy!