Female First Blog » Friend To The Stars (Almost)

Behind The Scenes With Konnie Huq

Ruth — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:33:20 +0000

When I was a child, Konnie Huq was part of my Monday-Friday evening routine. I just couldn’t get enough of Blue Peter; from the ‘here’s one I made earlier’ creations to the exciting challenges they tackled on a daily basis.

So when I interviewed her I was hoping to relive the glory days of the 1990’s and rediscover my lost youth. But I didn’t. Not only did she sound drunk on the phone, but her answers were bizarre and incomprehensible at times.

Talking about her new TV show, Zoo Days, Konnie was still faffing about with animals and cute things with the aim of making kids all over the UK smile (and beg their parents to take them to the local zoo!) How sweet.

Her attempts to make wildlife sound much more interesting that the failed ventures of David Attenborough – yes I know he’s an amazing animal man, but he really doesn’t breathe life into the world of animals – although I suppose Konnie’s reports on animals holed up behind bars is possibly not as close to the truth as you might want from something like this.

Sadly, my love for Konnie was ruined by this interview, I was sad at how ‘normal’ she was after being my childhood hero for such a long time; but my mum always did tell me… “Never meet your heros.” I guess you mother is always right.

Read the full interview here; http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity_interviews/Konnie+Huq-54770.html

Behind The Scenes With Eileen Rose

Ruth — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:07:42 +0000

The interview with Eileen Rose was one which really moved me. I know I come across as quite jokey, and I think that’s a great asset of mine when it comes to interviews, but there are a few cases, where jokes need to be put aside whilst you just listen to a remarkable story.



Eileen Rose is a singer/songwriter, who I have to admit, I had never heard of prior to the interview. But afterwards she has a massive impact on my life.
Speaking about her latest album, At Our Tables, Eileen explained that a lot of the inspiration had been taken from death, 9/11 and a book called For One More Day, by Detroit author Mitch Albom. The book had the opening quote which read: “The Dead sit at our tables long after they have gone.”
When Eileen told me how much this line meant to her, it resonated so well with me as I tried to cope with the grief over the death of my grandfather and even inspired me to go out and buy the book in question.
Its really rare that someone touches you in the way Eileen did, and I left work that day feeling like I wasn’t the only person in the world who had lost someone, but knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for us all.
Without a doubt, this woman is one of my most enjoyable interviews to date.
Ruth xx

Behind The Scenes With Rickie Haywood Williams

Ruth — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:15:36 +0000

Rickie Haywood Williams AKA The Face of MTV news

Rickie Haywood Williams – otherwise known as the face of MTV news.

During the interview, it became clear that his job was one many journalist would kill for, befriending the best bands on the planet, hanging out with movie stars left, right and centre, and obviously, getting invites to the hottest celeb parties going.

What’s more, he let me into a super special little secret, which, obviously, being me, I had to share with the entire world…. What the lush

Pharell and the super famous Timbaland being the worst interviews he’s ever had.

What’s more, diva of the moment, Kanye West left him waiting in a hotel room for two and a half hours before turning up to the interview! I think the fact that Rickie waited for him deserves an electronic round of applause, I know I wouldn’t have stuck around.

His dream interview was pretty interesting; Oprah Winfrey – as “She would have a great story to tell” – well yeah, fair enough, but so would the survivor of a shark attack. Surely he could have picked someone more interesting…

Mine would obviously be my future husband (almost) Giovanni Ribisi; just so that I could meet him, and he’d fall in love with me and then we would get married and live happily ever after… *ahem*

And on that note… I had better go!

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity_interviews/Rickie+Haywood+Williams-54057.html “target=’_blank’>Check out the full interview here

Behind The Scenes With Finley Quay

Ruth — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:48:04 +0000

I know you’ve all been waiting for me to talk about a horrible interviewee, and I’ve refrained for as long as I can, but now, you’re getting your money’s worth – or internet time as the case may be.

The first horrific interview I had was with Finley Quay, who I actually thought would be one of the nicer musicians on the scene. Eeek; how mistaken I was.

I don’t know whether he was stoned, drunk, hungover or just pissed off that I had asked him how he could possibly be releasing a greatest hits when he’s only had like, one song. But either way, he didn’t win me over.

As you can see from his answers, getting a response from him was like trying to get blood out of a stone, but not just any stone, oh no, a stone that has been left in the desert, for a million years, in the baking hot sun, in an area when rain (or blood) has ever fallen. It made me want to cut my own ears off. Well almost.

Needless to say, his pointless answers didn’t sell him overly well, and as an interview is supposed to be a great way to plug your latest release; he didn’t seem to get that concept. At all.

I feel sad that there isn’t more I can say about this interviewee, but as he was about as deep as a puddle and as interesting as a white sheet of A4 paper, the only thing I can say is, my initial wonder or how this bloke managed to get a ;’greatest hits’ together, is nothing short of a bloody miracle.

If you need something to help you realise that there are people duller than yourself, check out the interview here; http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity_interviews/Finley+Quay-53818.html

Ruth xx

Behind The Scenes With The Cheeky Girls

Ruth — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:48:36 +0000

I thought I’d finally gotten into the swing of interviewing celebs, that was until I got hit with The Cheeky Girls… I guess the best way to describe the fifteen minutes I spent with them would just be simply: OH.MY.GOD.

Not only did I have them both answering the questions at once (which made it impossible to decipher who was who when I was writing the article up) but to say they spoke in broken English would be an understatement – it was English that had been broken up with a sledgehammer before being reversed over by a 18-wheeler truck then thrown around buy some baby elephants AND they did it all in the fastest voices I have ever heard. Get the picture?

That said though, it is possibly one of my most enjoyable interviews to date, simply because the pair were so enthusiastic about everything and were willing to open up about their eating disorders where so many other stars flatly refuse to discuss anything which might portray them in a negative light.

Gabriela was open about her bizarre engagement to Lembit – which ended shortly afterwards! – and Monica was more than willing to tell us how it felt having her sister ‘taken off’ her by a man; she seemed to cope quite well sharing her beloved twin!

As the interview began to draw to a close I found myself really wanting to be a cheeky girl… no, not just so I could be a super skinny girl or have a *ahem* great singing voice, not even so that men would ‘Touch My Bum’, but because these sister seemed to have a connection and a lease for life that you don’t see very often.

But maybe that’s just the way they are in Transylvania?

Check out the interview here;

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity_interviews/The+Cheeky+Girls-53640-page2.html

Ruth xxx

Behind the scenes with Richard Fleeshman

Ruth — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:47:02 +0000

To say I was a little bit too excited when I heard I would be getting my hands on him was a complete understatement… I’d started looking for wedding dresses and venues before I’d even spoken to him… I was totally convinced I could sweep him off his feet and down the aisle.

I was wrong.

As the latest soap-star turning pop-star he was brandishing himself out to all the media outlets; (FemaleFirst being his first choice – obviously.) and I wasn’t going to let this lad get past my Dictaphone and reporters notepad!

So I think he’s the deal; you work in a popular soap opera for a year or two and then suddenly you think you can sing… I mean what is that about? Acting and singing are two completely different things… so why does everyone try and fuse the two… or make one lead to the other?

This I had to find out!

However, finding out was a little trickier than I initially expected, first off, I must point out that despite the horrific attempts at a pop career by many ‘actors’, Richard Fleeshman is a bit of a bloody good singer; its a shame his looks went as his voice grew though – I liked his goth look in Corrie but now he’s got some crazy afro head, Indie boy look going on… not good.

When it came to chatting about moving from acting into singing I hit a total brick wall (he’d thoroughly prepared for this question) and it was like he was reading from a script and refused to elaborate on that. Great. Failed at the first hurdle.

And it didn’t get any better after that either; he was quite defensive and didn’t open up very much, not that I didn’t give him my best shot… I prised at him like a knife at a piece of toast jammed in the toaster, but he just wouldn’t budge, and I could feel and impending electric shock… or boredom induced sleep.

Towards the end I sort of worked my charms and got him to open up a little bit but the fact that he didn’t seem at all excited by the fact that he was on tour with Sir Elton John made me want to bash his head against a wall. Why he got that gig I’ll never know!

So what’s the result? Sorry Rich but I think I’ll find another man to marry…one who will actually have a great conversation with me… although I probably won’t print our pillow talk! ;]

Ruth xx

Check out the interview here;

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity_interviews/Richard+Fleeshman-53133.html

Behind the scenes with Ziggy from Big Brother

Ruth — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:05:32 +0000

So this one was of my first interviews at FemaleFirst and I was dead nervous because, not only was it with someone super fit, but it was about dating so I knew it was going to involve a lot of banter and flirting!

When it came down to though, Ziggy was surprisingly open and talkative, he was willing to chat about his previous life as a pop star in band Northern Line and his on / off relationship with fellow contestant Chanelle Hayes (the Victoria Beckham wannabe)

Despite coming across as quite false on the show he really surprised me, and I found myself actually wanting to marry him, especially when he decided to try out a few of his chat up lines that he’s learnt courtesy of DatingDirst.com.

He tested a few of them on me, my favourite being; “I may not be Fred Flintstone, but I can make your bed rock!” classic.

Not only can he talk the talk, but he’s actually a ‘real man’ too as he tells me about his new hobby: Cage Fighting. Yeah, I think this is him trying to get away from his pretty boy model persona and prove that is he is also actually really tough and manly… but whether or not he will just get his ass kicked remains to be seen.

So all in all, getting chatted up by Ziggy was one of the best ways for me to start my career at FemaleFirst…and start as you mean to go on..

Check out the full interview here; http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity_interviews/Big+Brothers+Ziggy+tests+his+favourite+chatup+lines-52650.html

“I’m new to this area…. Can you give me directions to your house?”