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Many people will likely agree that 2020 was the worst year they have ever experienced. Today marks the first day of 2021. If you watched the ball drop in Times Square last night on television, you saw a very different scene unfold in New York City. Pandemic frontline workers gathered in pods to attend the world-renowned annual New Year’s Eve ceremony.

The area that’s usually packed with over one million guests from all over the world was sparsely populated. Over the course of the horrific past year, we’ve arguably become numb to things “being different.”

At the stroke of midnight 2020 vanished and 2021 stepped in. Today, millions of people are desperately hoping we can find our way back to normalcy somehow. We want to hug our family members and spend time with our friends. We want to slay the COVID dragon that has spawned over 79 million infections and caused 1.7 million deaths around the world.

Actor Gilles Marini carries all those same wishes as 2021 stretches before us. Every year since 2011, Gilles and I have done a holiday interview. This year was particularly painful for me. I lost my dad in the blink of an eye – he was making a simple trip to McDonald’s and never came back. He sustained fatal injuries in a car accident right before the first COVID cases were identified here in the U.S. in March.

Gilles and I have been friends now for 11 years. I’ll never forget his words of comfort on the phone within hours of my mom, brother, son, and I trying to absorb the shock of my dad’s sudden passing. As always, he extended love and prayers and encouraged me to be strong for my mom in the days that followed.

Sadly, Gilles and I now share the loss of our fathers – though he lost his dad, Georges, at an incredibly young age – 19. I was blessed to share all kinds of milestones with my dad across multiple decades.

Our dads were both huge givers. Georges Marini was the town baker in Cannes, France and he frequently gave needy people food to eat and a place to sleep. He repeatedly told Gilles and his brother and sister that they should always live their lives to show love, kindness, and generosity to others.

Gilles continues to dedicate his life to honoring his father’s legacy of love. He is one of the kindest, most compassionate people I have ever known.

My dad was the executive director of the Old Newsboys of Flint, a nonprofit here in Michigan that helps children and families in need have Christmas. To date, ONB has helped over 824,000 kids have something under their Christmas tree. Everything that Christmas meant to my dad is weighing heavily in our hearts – as we spent our first Christmas without him this year. My entire county mourns my dad’s loss – just as an entire town lined up for Gilles’ dad’s funeral.

Gilles and I are not alone in dealing with loss, especially in 2020. He reflected on the unprecedented chaos that has ravaged the world since March with subdued observation.

“No one was ready for this. Anything you have in your life that is negative and difficult accentuates tenfold,” he said. “I’m at a loss. I’m usually pretty good at feeling and seeing what good will come in the near future. But right now, I don’t think anybody really can. It’s up to mother nature to calm down. It’s up to us to start loving one another a little bit more and start listening. You can say, ‘Oh, it’s 2020.’ But it’s us. It’s a lot of different things from all this racial tension to the pandemic to shutting down the entire planet.”

Like millions of families across the globe, the Marini family hunkered down together and didn’t know what to expect when the pandemic was first declared. Gilles, his wife Carole, son Georges, and daughter Juliana gathered a few close friends and secluded together at their cabin in a remote part of California for months at a time last year.

“We’re in the middle of the national forest. There’s a dirt road and around me is the national forest. There are no human beings for miles. So that might be why we haven’t caught the virus,” Gilles said.

Gilles and his family remained healthy through the course of the year. Anyone who followed Gilles’ breathtaking journey on season eight of “Dancing with the Stars” knows how physically fit he is. So, it’s no surprise that he spends a lot of time lately working out. He’s also skilled in martial arts and Georges and Juliana have followed in his footsteps. Gilles posted a video on Twitter of working with his kids on the mat.

The everyday beat down my daughter is giving me. 😂🥊. She’ll be ready, your kids should too. Put them in #jiujitsu and a little striking for good measures. 🥋 pic.twitter.com/DJdJWwjfCL

— Gilles Marini (@GillesMarini) November 14, 2020

“Georges won two world championships and one national championship. He’s a really good fighter. Juliana is more of course – a young woman,” said Gilles, “So, I teach her a little bit more striking lately and Jiu-Jitsu is secondary because she’s really good at Jiu-Jitsu.”

“Teaching it to your kids is vital to me – in a time where you can really focus on what’s next for your kids, you can look at this young woman starting to grow and turning from a child to a young girl and now a woman. So, in case of a very crazy situation, I’m more at ease to know that my daughter will be able to utilize everything she ever learned in a very gentle way that’s why we call Jiu-Jitsu the gentle art. In a very smart, gentle, maneuvering way – she’ll be able to escape any disturbing situation -like potential abuse – that might otherwise affect her mind forever.”

Juliana is currently attending school online. Luckily, she’s able to count martial arts workouts with her dad toward her PE credit, and they both like working together.

When he’s acting, Gilles could be away on location and might easily spend weeks or months away from his family. With a large part of Hollywood/filming being shut down due to the virus for months, he hasn’t worked in a year and really enjoys being able to spend this extended time with Carole and the kids.

He also realizes that many marriages or family relationships can potentially become strained after spending so much time together. But this is not the case for him. He described his time at home with his family as “absolutely incredible.”  He added, “I cannot stay one second away from my wife and I know she feels the same way.”

Back in 2019, Gilles and Carole suffered a terrifying experience when they went to a club in Vegas and someone drugged Carole’s drink. She had seizures and fell, hitting her head hard on the floor. Gilles was terrified and used his firefighter training to help her. Thankfully, medical help also arrived and she ended up spending that night in the hospital. During that experience, Gilles felt like he could have lost everything in an instant – if he would have lost his wife.

“it was devastating. It shut me down completely. I didn’t want to do anything, I just wanted to be with her because it was traumatic to me at first,” Gilles explained. “I was very focused. Thank God I used to be a firefighter. it was the worst experience I’ve had. That really threw us into a crazy loop. Also, when she seized, she fell straight down onto a marble floor and hit her head so hard – so she had a concussion and that was 2019. Then 2020 happened and I just spend time with this woman that I love more than anything in the world.”

The entire entertainment industry has suffered due to the virus. Live concerts at large venues are suspended, and film and TV crews are just starting to figure out how to safely shoot new and returning series and movies.

Gilles starred in his first-ever Christmas movie, “A Taste of Christmas,” in 2019. It premiered in 2020 on Nov. 20 on Lifetime. The former “Brothers and Sisters” star loved working on the project.

In the film, he plays the suave, talented, but sometimes testy Italian chef Stefano to perfection. Stefano encounters some struggles in getting restaurant owner Olivia’s (Nia Vardalos) quaint Italian restaurant open for Christmas. While mitigating challenges, he falls in love with Olivia’s cousin Natalie (Anni Krueger).

The movie is funny, romantic, and heartfelt and Gilles loved the experience.

“I love Christmas movies. I love when people are showing love and Lifetime are rock stars – the PR they had and the way they put the movie out there, the love they had for the movie was really sweet,” he said. “I can’t wait to work for Lifetime again – it’s such a great company and I’d love to do more Christmas movies. Lifetime also gives you the opportunity to push the envelope a little bit more. So, I can’t wait to work with them again and it was fun because people watching could feel in a time where feelings were kind of disappearing from everybody’s body with this nightmare of 2020.”

One could argue that arts and entertainment are necessary to distract us from the devastation that is happening around us. Gilles said that he’s learned the opposite is true and it’s been humbling.

“As actors, I believe 2020 humbled all of us. Understanding that we are not essential. We do not mean anything to this world,” he conveyed. “I thought that entertaining people and making them feel good in a dark time was crucial. But what’s crucial is surviving and it is humbling knowing my job doesn’t mean anything and my passion is the only thing that really matters — even if my job doesn’t mean anything to others. That was a big stab.”

Gilles is right. On New Year’s Day 2021, the U.S. passed a grim milestone of 20 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and a cumulative total of 346,000 American deaths. In any case, saving lives is top priority.

However, the economy is also impacted by the horrific disease – including the film industry. According to the World Economic Forum, Hollywood “supports more than 2 million jobs and 400,000 American businesses.”

Film production has stopped or is delayed on many projects and movie theaters are closed in many cities and states. Binge-watching shows on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video has become a go-to part of lockdown or quarantine entertainment.

People in multiple facets of the entertainment industry are unemployed and like other parts of the U.S. economy, there are lots of uncertainties about the future.

Gilles has watched fellow acting friends work at other jobs to make ends meet during the entertainment shutdown and has been sickened by people using social media to mock them.

“It is so devastating for someone to not be able to work elsewhere in fear of having an entire population say, ‘We’re so happy he failed.’ Or the fear of someone saying, ‘It must not be a passion of yours because now you’re working in a garage repairing cars.’ So, it’s difficult to be in a position of fame and being in the limelight and having the world stop – and if you do anything that’s not really your job – people will just mock you. We should also be able to express our opinion without feeling like we’re walking on eggshells and fear we’re going to be judged.”

The charismatic actor also holds these realizations in check as he looks at the current homelessness crisis around him in Los Angeles. He is bowled over by the terrible situation and seeing the fallout that the virus is causing on American soil.

“We all have situations. I’m complaining about really losing everything and at the same time if I go under an overpass on the highway in LA – there are people half my age, in the street, making a tent and you know it’s a tent they used to have in their garage that they didn’t ever use,” Gilles said. “Now they are using that tent to live in a different place. We are in America. We are not in a poor country. But yet you can see the damage from this disease and animosity in human beings – the fact that we are insensitive to people dying of coronavirus at home makes us who we are.”

One person that continues to inspire Gilles is his best friend Eric who lives in France. He’s endured some devastating experiences over the past year – including losing his mother and battling cancer.

“Eric Sarramagna is my brother by choice. Eric was my brother in arms in the service – in the special forces. After the service, he went down to the south where I lived. He’s everything to me, Lori,” Gilles said, “He’s my family. I would lay down my life for this guy for sure. My wife would completely understand.

In life what you want is love – and health – of course – but love and family. He lost those three – in a 6-month period. I had him on the phone about two hours ago in France and said, ‘How are you doing brother?’ – I talk to him at least twice a day and he said, ‘I’m good, I’m good.’ and I said, ‘What’s up?’ and he said, ‘It rained all day.’ And I said, ‘Okay.’ And that’s all I said because when it rains all day – he can’t even go outside and get fresh air. He had so much chemo that if COVID-19 comes around – he would die. His immune system is creeping up again so we’re very excited.

Also, the person he’s been with for 11 years did something horrific. So, every time I bitch about anything – I just think of my brother and I feel okay. If I were in his shoes, I don’t know if I would want to live. If I didn’t have my wife and kids – I wouldn’t want to be here. That’s how deep the scars are, and all this happened to my friend and not a hair on his head and he still tells me, ‘Everything will be fine, Gilles. We still have all this time left and as soon as I can take a flight, I’ll come see you.’

That’s the man who tells me that we’ll be fine – that man, who lost everything. I have a lot to learn. He’s my hero. I’m going to tell you the strength that Eric has reminds me of the strength of my father and that’s probably why I love him so much.”

Among Gilles’ biggest hopes for the new year, is that people find genuine unity and instead of telling people what we don’t like about them or how we disagree – that we try hard to see another point of view and value all the other attributes a person has that we do like about them.

Furthermore, he hopes people start using common sense and human compassion to help stop the virus from spreading. He feels strongly that we need to stop villainizing youth who are trying to live their lives in a very dark time. Instead, he feels it’s up to each of us to “nip it in the bud.”  We need to take care of ourselves without being told what to do – including doing everything we can to protect the elderly and the vulnerable people around us – even if that means not visiting them right now.

He also has high hopes for vaccines to help us return to a pre-pandemic life. “I want to hug. I want to kiss. I want to have a normal life,” he said. “I want the vaccine to help us as soon as possible.”

Overall, Gilles realized that for him the silver lining in 2020 was the love that flows within his own family. “My family makes me believe I’m the king of the castle and I’m very aware that I’m not. But they always make me feel good and important. Love is the positive – and I have never been more in love with my wife – like we just met and we’re 22 years old.”

 

 

Christmas is here, and it seems hard to believe another year is drawing so quickly to a close. In many ways, it is bittersweet looking back on a year that for many, was filled with heartache and unimaginable loss. Wildfires ravaged homes and took lives in California, hurricanes ripped through the Carolinas and the Florida Panhandle, and senseless mass shootings claimed more innocent lives.

Somehow, the resilience of the collective human spirit remains strong in the wake of such horrific devastation. At Christmas time this year, spreading love, kindness, and compassion seems more important than ever. So does spending time with family and friends and finding ways to show them how much they matter.

One tradition I’ve held dear for the past nine years is an annual Christmas chat with my friend Gilles Marini. It’s been a big year for Gilles and his family. As always, he credits his loving and beautiful wife, Carole, for keeping their busy, hectic lives running smoothly. He also marvels at all his son Georges has achieved in college and how much his daughter, Juliana, has grown.

The Marini family supports multiple charities throughout the year. Despite maintaining a rigorous schedule on the set of “Days of Our Lives” this past year, Gilles is always looking for ways to encourage and support others. He rode in the first-ever European Kiehl’s LifeRide for amfAR which culminated in the LifeBall. He shared that he’s shooting the campaign for next year’s LifeBall, for which he’s wearing red, which symbolizes a straight person’s support for the LGBTQ community.

He also had a life-changing experience shooting the upcoming World War II film, “Waiting for Anya,” which based on a British novel by Michael Morpurgo. Directed by Ben Cookson, it also stars Jean Reno and Anjelica Huston and is slated for release in 2019.

Gilles and I covered a lot of ground during our conversation. As always, he was charming, witty and ever-the-gentleman. We compared notes on our kids, talked about his Christmas plans and discussed our mutual belief recent Golden Globe nominee Rami Malek deserves a Best Actor Oscar for his riveting portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic film, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Gilles generously shared photos with me, which are included below, along with a condensed version of our conversation.

Lori Melton: It’s been a rough, crazy year and my heart has been with you and everyone out in California. Were you guys affected by the fire?

Gilles Marini: I think we are all affected in a way and some people lost absolutely everything. Even worse, some have died in those fires. Now, mudslides and so on and so forth – it’s been very simple to find a way to point fingers at what the problem is, but it’s more like a very bad cycle of things. Fires are more predominant now than ever.

What happened is scary. It’s more than horrific. I don’t know what to say – having it rain down. It’s not a movie. In our mountains this arsonist I think lit up nine fires. He got caught of course.

LM: That was horrible!

GM: Yeah, that was wrong! It’s already very hot, we have a big problem with water and on top of everything else, you have someone completely insane lighting these fires. When I want to do a campfire at my property on the mountain, I don’t need paper or fuel. I don’t need to add anything. It’s extremely dry and very dangerous. So, I’m clearing a lot of trees.

I know a ranger who came to my property once – I showed him what I did, it was very clear and he said very nice, well-protected. He knew I was a firefighter so we exchanged a lot of ideas and stuff. But, he told me, if it’s a brush fire, my house might be safe. If it’s a canopy fire, where trees are on fire all the way up, there’s no way you can stop it.

So, I’ve gotta be aware of that when I’m at the cabin every time. You go to sleep at night and it’s a beautiful, peaceful place. But you always have an ear open for the sound of something bad coming toward you and possibly eradicating you in 20 minutes. So, everybody’s affected by it and some people much, much more.

LM: Will you go to the cabin again this year for part of Christmas?

GM: Yeah, I’m going on Wednesday, I’m going to spend a couple days over there. I’m going to build a floating bed. I recoup a lot of people’s trash and I got some nice rectangular pallets – so I’m going to make a floating bed. It will be sweet. It swings around and at the same time you can take a nap if you want outside. It’s going to float like a hammock, suspended.

I’m also going to relax, unwind a bit, think about what’s next, think about writing, creating, producing. The movie “Waiting for Anya” will probably come out very soon.

LM: That was probably one of your more challenging roles emotionally. What was the experience like?

GM: It was probably one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. The experience changed me – it’s very difficult to explain how it changed me mentally and physically, of course, because I lost so much weight for it. It’s still very difficult to talk about the film because I get emotional. I got in touch with old ancestors and the family members of the people that lost their lives or fought and did what they did.

I think the movie’s about how you can do something heroic and no one needs to know. Decades later, a young 11-year-old girl comes to a guy in the village – she recognizes him as a very famous writer and says, “You need to see my Grandpa. He’s got a great story about the war.”

That’s how the whole thing started. A car broke down and a guy met a little girl who said you’ve got to meet my grandpa. I think they saved 7,500 children from the war in this region. Those people are so real. Those men and women were real people.

They were working, never a day off. Never a vacation, never any amusement except being a shepherd. I think they really thought what they did was normal. It was nothing heroic, it was just – that’s what needs to be done. That’s why through the war, nobody said, “Hey, we did this!”

LM: It’s a big change seeing your first child go off to college. What differences do you notice in your kids?

GM: The biggest differences between a couple years ago, not long ago and now is very simple. They need us less. Carole has had such a hard time not having our son at home. She’s doing everything in her power to help Georges when he’s away, more than if he was at home. Then she realizes, “Oh my God, he’s completely fine.”

 

As a kid, Georges always needed to work really hard to get good results. It didn’t come to him easy. Next thing you know, he has all these As and a couple Bs and he’s feeling like a champ because he’s independent, he’s choosing to do whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it.

So, his mind is in the right place and he’s dedicated to making something out of his life. I think, my son doesn’t need me anymore. For the rest of my life, I’m going to put my head on his shoulder more now, instead of him putting his head on my shoulder. It’s really special.

LM: What does he want to do?

GM: He wants to be a Special Agent in the FBI and a profiler. – Everything criminal justice, profiling serial killers. He’s never liked the bad guys, he never will and he’s very straight-minded.

LM: That’s incredible!

GM: This generation they look, they think, they’re smarter than we were, they go faster, they’re going to make the world a beautiful place.

LM: Juliana did a beautiful thing taking you to dinner when you were down on the anniversary of your dad passing – that was so precious.

GM: It was! It’s super hard for me to talk about it. When I think of my dad, I become a young man again, a teenager, I become very fragile and I become like a child again. I think she sees and feels that, and she becomes like a mom in a way. She’s like, “Let me take over.” So, she did it and Georges did it on national television. So, it was a little bit rougher for me. He just completely surprised me and made me feel special.

 

Somebody asked me something a couple of days ago, “How do you feel about your life so far?”

I think I answered, “If tomorrow I die, (of course I don’t want that to happen), I’m only going to die with a smile on my face.” My father didn’t have time to enjoy life. He just worked really hard and then died at 44.

I really thought about it and man, look at this short, but incredible life I’ve had so far. I’m so blessed. I started very humble with nothing but a French bull dog in the streets of Miami. It’s not conventional but I thought, “You’ve done some cool stuff” – and I have no regrets.

LM: Is Juliana still helping kids?

GM: One day I asked Juliana why she stayed late at school and she said, “I’m taking care of kids with difficulties at school.” So, my daughter kind of does this as a calling. Every time she sees someone struggling with studying, or it could be a kid with Down Syndrome, or whatever the issue or challenge they have, she tries to become the cool, super sweet and understanding friend and tries to help them at every level. So, she’ll stay after school or spend recess doing that.

My good friend Manny’s little boy Eddie has difficulty when it comes to speaking and stuff. Juliana is like his big sister. She creates games for him – she loves doing it! She wants to be a singer and she’s taking lots of classes. She’s really good at it! But, if she doesn’t end up having a career in entertainment, maybe she’ll have a career taking care of kids with disabilities. Did I say she’s only 12?

LM: Is she still involved with Kelly Stone’s organization?

GM: Of course. Last week they wrapped like 12,000 gifts. It’s insane. Juliana is doing that and more. She’s always like that! I couldn’t do it this year because I had nine episodes to shoot, so I was completely stuck. Carole went, and it was really nice.

LM: Well, I know you have such a compassionate soul.

GM: Thank you, Lori. Being nice and compassionate is just common sense. It shouldn’t be like, “Congratulations.” It should be like, “Hey, you’re a normal dude. If only everybody would be that way.”

I think I’m not doing anything special. I’m sitting next to my closest friend in the United States, Kevin, he’s sitting right next to me. If I’m in the woods and broke my finger and I could call 50,000 people and 911, he would be there in an hour, even if it’s a 2-hour drive. I’m so not alone, in that boat.

There’s a lot of very good people in the world. If we put a percentage, there’s 90 percent of very good people and 10 percent bad people and those 10 percent make a lot of noise and discourage us to be good people. But, we are all human beings and would not survive if we’re not good people. But we are, we all are.

I was very young with my brother and we were pushed away like dirt by this famous artist. He was like the De Niro and Pacino of France. He was playing bocce ball and my brother and I saw him at like 5 and 7 years old. We went toward him with a piece of paper and a pen we got from the restaurant asking him “Can you please sign an autograph? He literally put his hand on my brother’s shoulder and shoved him and said, “Shoo, shoo!”

LM: That’s terrible!

GM: Keep in mind, we didn’t grow up in a place that was all roses and petals. We turned back and looked at him and we were like, “We’re so done.” That’s how people in this industry can be. Just because they’re one of the 10 percent of people you cross one day in your life, doesn’t mean we’re all bad. I think I have the responsibility to encourage people to do the things they want to do in life. Because we live every day sweetheart, dying is only one time.

LM: Is your brother here with his kids?

GM: Yes, he lives here in Los Angeles. It’s interesting to see kids from your family and how close and how different they can be at the same time. You need to make them feel special. You can’t just say good night and put them to bed — I’m sure some people have no choice because they’re working so many different hours.

I think it’s important to bug them, to make them feel like your child and feel like you’re part of their life somehow and feel like they can count on you. It doesn’t take much, but I do this with amusement and fun versus education and rigid communication. I want them to have good times. Hopefully, they’ll show that good time to everyone else and make them smile.

LM: You were putting up decorations last weekend. What kind do you put up? I know you did your tree. Do you do lights inside and out?

GM: Yes, we did our tree. The outside lights didn’t go up this year because we have construction next door. We did Halloween and we did Thanksgiving. Christmas, we have this tree that is so big, that I popped out the L4 in my lower back. Like 5 days, I can’t work out. I’m functioning. But, I can’t go and roll around in Jiu jitsu or the gym.

I thought I was cutting a normal size tree at my cabin, but it was a 12-footer. It wouldn’t fit in the car. I can’t believe I didn’t get pulled over. The truck that I took, the regulation was fine – it just looked ridiculous.

I drove it back, we yanked it out of the car. We set it up, it fell twice. It was so tall I had to take a ladder, climb the ladder and I had barbecue tongs with me trying to reach the tip of the tree. The tree is magnificent and the trees on my property, they smell like lemons – it’s a noble fir and smells like lemons.

LM: What are you most looking forward to for Christmas this year?

GM: I’ve got to say I’m excited to have my son back home. He’s coming back Wednesday, I might not see him immediately because I’ve got to go to the cabin to make sure everything is good up there. Then he’s going to meet me up there, we’re going to shoot BBs and go on the ATVs – having dad and son time a couple days would be fun.

LM: Do you guys listen to any specific Christmas music?

GM: We say “Alexa, play some holiday songs” and then Mariah Carey comes up and I remember I was very much in love with her when I was a kid. That’s how we listen to our holiday music – the technology is really awesome.

 

LM: Shifting gears, didn’t you once say your father was a huge Queen fan?

GM: My father had 3 favorite groups, Queen, Dire Straits and Pink Floyd. Obviously, I had that in my ear growing up. Pink Floyd was a little less than Queen and Dire Straits.

He loved Queen. I was 14 years old and Queen was already on. I went to a place with ski slopes, we went to the Olympics that year, and my father took us on the only vacation we’d ever been together, and this is when I’ll always remember Queen. It was “Bohemian Rhapsody” everywhere and I met a girl and we both absolutely loved Queen. That’s something that has always kind of stuck in my mind. I’ll always remember the band for bringing happiness to my childhood.

This guy is special, I saw the movie of course.

LM: I know! What an incredible job Rami Malek did playing Freddie Mercury!

GM: He embraced it fully. The first thing I look at is the eyes of an actor. The movement and everything else is one thing. But inside his eyes, he was completely immersed in being Freddie Mercury. I believe he was in character the entire time. It was beautiful to see.

That’s why I tweeted something about it. I know nobody can feel what I feel inside but I think that was the documentary I always wanted to see. Everybody knew Freddie Mercury as the artist, the eccentric. But really, very few people even knew his name was Farrokh. It’s interesting he kept a lot of things secretive. I wanted to know how they started and how crazy amazing it was.

I think it’s a lot of work, what the young man went through, transformation-wise, his thoughts, process. And, giving such a statement that will always be cherished by millions and millions of Queen fans. It was remarkable. He deserves the Oscar.

LM: Yes, he does! I agree, it was just incredible!

GM: This movie gives me closure. I would love for Freddie Mercury to be a little bit more open. Of course, we can talk about it now. I remember the time when AIDS was more than a death sentence. You were the one with leprosy. You were the one that would be killing everyone around you.

People would freak out. In my neighborhood, if somebody knew you had AIDS, you’d be in trouble. You became a very big problem. In my neighborhood, they thought they could transfer AIDS to the people.

On one hand, I wish Freddie Mercury came out and said this is who I am, — he didn’t have to tell us, but, it would have been great for people who needed a super hero. Like what Magic Johnson did, a super hero.

I have closure because I have a better sense of what his family was. I understand your story and I get you. Your childhood and everything is who you are. I understand this is a culture where it isn’t easy to come out and say anything. Toward the end he did and then he passed away. After watching the film, I think he did what he needed to do. I will always cherish the artist and the person.

LM: With all your tireless work for amfAR you have a very invested perspective.

My personal experience with AIDS was more young men in my neighborhood dying rapidly. They were not gay or prostitutes. They were straight, young drug addicts, who could spread it by sharing needles.

A lot of people made a lot of bad choices and then Elizabeth Taylor showed us with a snap of her fingers how we should do things. Sharon Stone was next. We’re still not understanding everything properly. AIDS is not a thing of the past. It’s now. We’re thinking pharmaceutical companies just have to sell pills for people to survive.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just survive, I want to live. 35 million people are living with HIV and only 5 million have access to medicine. How about we race to find a cure and the vaccine?

LM: How was the European LifeRide?

GM: We went to Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and we did the LifeBall. I’m shooting the campaign for the next LifeBall. I’m doing this campaign as the red color, which is the color of the straight men supporting the LGBTQ community. I’m working with an incredible photographer and designer and it’s going to be a beautiful campaign. I’m very excited to shoot it and see it next summer in Vienna.

It was an incredible event. The road, the stories, the doctor and researcher we met. Things are very hopeful because amfAR is putting their money into young researchers, with new minds, new ideas and new technology. It’s being very effective. We’re getting very close to a cure. Very close. Lots of money goes to medicine and we need to also give money to research. I want this to be like polio. Get a vaccine when you’re young and you won’t get this horrible disease. It would be so lovely, don’t you think?

LM: Yes. I can’t even imagine what the scenery on that ride would be like!

GM: It was gorgeous. Mountains and lakes and next thing you know you have trucks passing you at 120 miles an hour. I’m thinking, “What’s going on, is there a bomb exploding behind me?” and I realize, I’m on the Autobahn in Germany.

LM: That’s gotta be crazy!

GM: I was scared! I had a BMW GS 1200 and those bikes can go fast! Guess what? When you go fast, you pay attention. Everyone was really focused except us who were really focused on the scenery. I realized I was on the Autobahn because the asphalt was not the same. It was beautiful and thick. You don’t want to hit a deer at that speed!

LM: What is your best memory this year?

GM: I think the best memory I have this year is when I climbed in the little village where the story of Waiting for Anya happened. We had to climb with the sheep and the little kids to the other side to cross into Spain. That is the rescue the did back in the days. We were pretending to have the kids be shepherds and they were young Jewish kids. It’s cultural to use the kid, use the woman, use the pigs, use everything and we all go up with the cows and the sheep. So, the Germans were believing that.

I went from 191 to 157 in my weight. Then when I got there doing the role, I wanted to walk the same path these men took to Spain. Except I did it too early and it was full of snow. The day I did it I thought, “Yay, it’s finally sunny today.”

When I went, we got hit with two avalanches. It was probably the scariest moment of my life. In my mind, I’m thinking, “You’re probably going to die now” and I recorded every second of it. I never released the video because people would probably say, “You’re crazy, Dude!”

LM: Oh wow, Gilles!

GM: I was studying my friend. I wanted to feel the pain they went through to go and climb those mountains and the danger it brings. I wanted to feel the intensity of the frozen legs. I was with my friend Thomas. He’s a guide in Iceland and he’s never seen this. He was like, uh oh. We’re in trouble. It was an incredible moment of our life.

An avalanche went through in front of us and we were so close to Spain, we had to go. So, we had to walk where avalanche went through in front of us. It was the colors of green and blue like you’ve never seen. Because of the way the light hit the snow then we realized something was moving under us. We crossed that and realized, now we’re really blocked because there’s no more tree to grasp on and another avalanche to pull the tree down and we couldn’t see them.

We had to turn back 300 or 400 feet before the border. So, I waited a couple days later, when it was snowing so there was no avalanche. I took a different path and I made it. And this time I made it alone.

It was a very surreal moment because I felt I was somebody was following me. Keep in mind, I don’t know if there were bears or animals that could eat you like in America, like a mountain lion.

I was hearing a lot of noise and I was alone – hours away from any life form, no reception. There were streams everywhere and I finally reached my goal and when I reached my goal, I saw hundreds of white deer and they followed me for hours and I never understood why.

When I told that to village people, they looked at me like I was lying and said, “We get one.” I said, there was a lot of them, they were circling me. I showed them the video. They were jumping around the bar, saying “No way! Where was that?”

What I realized, is no one goes there. There were no traces of animals walking. The animals, they know that, so they go down as low as possible. I was too much of an early stranger to them. That’s why I believe they followed me. I’m in the border of Spain, alone, it’s snowing, and all those guys are looking at me like, “What’s up, Dude?”

In my jacket, I had a sandwich I was saving for the border. In the video, I said I came to feel what I had  to feel for my character and I also came to have lunch. It was the perfect time because I left at 6:30 in the morning and got there around 1:00. Then I had go back down, so most of it I ran, I wanted to go fast down.

The third time, I went with two brothers – one was 12, one was 20. We took a different path and a dog, and it only took us 2 ½ hours. It was easier, because they knew the path. We were hiding where the Germans didn’t have any posts – because it was the second World War, they didn’t see anyone coming into the mountain. My character knew exactly where to go to not get killed.

This experience is the climax of my career, but also the climax of this year for sure. Trying to feel as much as possible what my character did feel. And that I would never be able to replicate, this man spent four years in the camp, tortured and all that, I would never feel that. I went through as much pain as possible to make people understand what this man is going through. It was a beautiful experience.

The beating heart at the center of “Switched at Birth’s” indelible 100^th episode can swiftly be summed up by two words: Second Chances.

Some stories resonate so deeply within us and grab us so hard by the heart that we’re compelled to talk about them. “Memory (The Heart)” is one of those. Lea Thompson did a fantastic job directing it and it was so beautifully written by Linda Gase and Lizzy Weiss. They deserve huge writing props and maybe a gentle, teasing “shame on you” for stirring up so many mixed feelings.

The emotionally-charged theme and the fact that Gilles Marini made a heart-wrenching series return to Lizzy Weiss and Company’s magical milestone masterpiece, commanded commentary.

It’s hard, even now, not to well up with tears when looking back at it. So, Kleenex in hand, here we go.

Missing Someone Into Memory

Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things any of us will endure in life. Angelo’s death was sudden and unexpected. Daphne (Katie Leclerc), Bay (Vanessa Marano) and Regina (Constance Marie) suffered a horrible shock and terrible loss when Angelo was returned to them after years of separation only to be tragically ripped from their lives forever due to a fatal car crash.

In the opening scene, Daphne imagines her current life with Angelo in it. He cooks with Regina, jokes with her and Bay and even meets baby Carlton. Daphne misses her dad into memory and the scene is heartbreaking. We know he’s not really there and we dread the moment when she realizes it too.

Our hearts jump a little and thrash around in our chest when Angelo (an absolutely adorable Gilles Marini) fades from view. We echo Daphne’s thoughts: We wish he was still there too.

Bay and Daphne didn’t have enough time with Angelo and neither did we. Gilles brought his own unique sparkle and light to a troubled, complex character in Angelo Sorrento. We miss him.

Anyone who’s lost someone they really loved can’t help but catch a breath during this scene. Memories sustain us in different ways. But, there’s nothing worse than the time a memory or the weight of someone’s loss grabs us and shakes us unexpectedly.

A weight exists in all of us who have lost someone: It’s the empty void that exists because of the phone calls we’ll stop making, the heavy silence that replaces the sound of a voice. The birthday card we don’t send.

In truth, it’s a million little things that cease “to be” when someone is gone. We try to cover the hole in our heart by honoring the person’s memory and by living the way we believe they would want us to live. None of it is easy and for some of us, we never really get over a loss. We just find a way to get through each day.

Here’s a huge takeaway: Cherish the people you love. Right now. Don’t put off telling them what they mean to you. Life is short. Life is never guaranteed. If you love someone, tell them and show them. Every chance you get. Don’t squabble over meaningless, insignificant issues. None of it matters when someone is gone. The only thing that matters about anything we do in life is how we loved others while had the chance.

Second Chances

Daphne is angry when she finds out Ally lied about her background. And, she struggles with whether or not Ally, who is a recovering cocaine addict, really “deserves” the profound gift of Angelo’s heart.

Having the honor of reviewing dozens of Gilles Marini’s performances over the past seven years, one thing remains clear: He excels in moments when characters are having heart-to-heart conversations. Something sincere and soul-stirring spills out of his eyes. This is a rare gift among actors and Gilles exudes a very honest kind of light and compassion that come very naturally.

Angelo tells Daphne “everyone deserves a second chance” and he reminds her she was on a troubled path not-so-long-ago. He encourages her to give Ally another chance.

Gilles and Katie are perfect in this imaginary father-daughter moment between Angelo and Daphne. Every word they say rings so real, honest and true. BIG TIME Kleenex used here. Angelo may be gone, but, his influence still clearly guides Daphne’s heart. And, the final scene in which Regina “hugs” Angelo and says, “I feel him. I feel his heart.” is absolutely heartbreaking!  Sniff, sniff …

The huge takeaway here: People do deserve second chances because we all make mistakes. Each of us has the potential to change and rise above poor choices and unfortunate circumstances. We can’t change the past. But, we can mold our own future and shape it into whatever we choose.

Another takeaway: Don’t judge others. We don’t know everyone’s heart or hidden motivation in choices they make. We should try, as much as possible, to offer compassion, kindness and love instead of judging and criticizing others.

What a wonderful, inclusive world it would be if everyone lived by these principles.

A Heartfelt Final Plea

Those of us who fell in love with Daphne and Bay from the pilot, and have applauded every groundbreaking thing Lizzy Weiss, the cast and the crew have strived (and succeeded) to accomplish with “Switched at Birth” don’t want to see this series end.

Please. Don’t. Go.

We need more shows with the tremendous heart of “Switched at Birth.” And, we need more showrunners, writers, directors and actors who are not afraid to use their voice and the TV platform to shine a light on important social issues and injustices. We need more shows that delve into the depths of the human heart and its capacity to love, to see others from the inside out, to forgive and guide us all.

We have enough medical dramas, sci-fi/fantasy worlds and crime/legal dramas. Please, TV-powers-that-be, remember what this chaotic world needs more of right now is love.

Thank you for opening our hearts and for sharing yours “Switched at Birth.” You will be sadly missed once the series wraps. But you will never, ever be forgotten …

Thanks for stopping by my site! I’ve been away for a long time! New updates coming soon! 🙂