What’s On BOOK Exclusive ‘My kids thought DEBBIE TRAVIS I was crazy. I THE TV STAR CHATS TO HELLO! ABOUT FAMILY LIFE, FOLLOWING YOUR guess I did DREAMS AND HER ADVENTURES UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN become deranged

t’s almost impossible to pin down Debbie Tra- How long did the process take? It took about live. And every time we visited I felt so healthy after a bit!’ I vis! In addition to being a TV star, bestselling two years. It was a lot of research. I interviewed and so alive and full of vitality. We had this dream author, newspaper columnist, public speaker a lot of people about starting again, the risks of buying a little house, and the dream kept and head of her own business empire, the you could take, getting rid of the fear, and all growing and growing until we started looking U.K.-born lifestyle icon has managed to convert the questions that we all have. Self-doubt is the at 40-bedroom monasteries! Then I thought: an entire 13th-century Tuscan farmhouse into biggest factor for everyone, and so I really want- “What if I shared it? What if I invited people to a luxury retreat. ed to address that. live this dream with me?” All in a day’s work, it seems, for the 58-year-old mom of two, who tells Hello!: “I love rising to a What do you want readers to take away from While you were going through this entire jour- challenge.” And her latest book tells this book? Everybody has a dream and ney, how supportive were your family for you? us how it all began. In Design Your Next it can be realized. Everybody’s got a They were great! When you take on something Chapter, Debbie sets out to inspire us seed of an idea in their head, but we that vast, they have to be on board. It can be so with tales of her own journey, both push it back. We push it back because destructive for a person to have a dream that figurative and literal. “I made this we think we’re not capable or we’re their partner doesn’t believe in. My whole family leap from doing television shows in fearful or it’s not the right time. And was very supportive although I think my kids Canada for 20-odd years to sitting on even if you decide to try it, we get hung thought I was [crazy]... and it’s kind of funny be- a hillside in the rain in Italy with 80 up on the “how.” The book is three cause I guess I did become deranged after a bit! builders, thinking, ‘What the hell have sections: dream it, do it, live it. We all I done?’” want to live our best life, but some- Who are your role models? When it comes to my At the same time, it was a refreshing times you need to be shown how. I Tuscan project, the role model was really Fran- change. Before she took off to Tus- want to reach people who just want to ces Mayes, who wrote Under the Tuscan Sun. cany, “I started to get this feeling of déjà vu smile more and be happy and just do something When I read that book many years ago, I just every day,” she explains. The book – aimed at that really makes their hearts sing. wept all the way through the book, going: “I readers who, like her, feel stuck in the same old want this. I want to do what she did.” I rang her routine – taps into both Debbie’s own Italian You’ve followed many different paths. Which up when I was alone over there and she let me adventures as well as retelling uplifting stories one feels the most true to you? Well, after be- come over to talk about all the problems I was of women who have reinvigorated their lives ing a model in my late teens, it gave me a lot of dealing with. And then, of course, there’s always after spending time at her Tuscan retreat. confidence. If you can stand in front of execu- Martha Stewart and Oprah. Here, the mogul opens up about her newest tives in a bikini, dying inside at 17, you can venture, her supportive family and her own basically do anything. Once I became a decor- Throughout your book you want the reader to next steps. ator and married a Canadian and moved to ask what’s next for themselves, but what’s next Canada, we started a show called Painted House, for Debbie Travis? I’m going to India for a vaca- How did you ever fit writing this book into your which was the first decorating show in North tion, because when I come back I’m going to be hectic schedule? I got myself a little hut in Thai- America. That was what I loved, but as human on the book tour, so I’m going to an ashram in During the process of land, thinking, “Where can I go as far away from beings you have to keep evolving, and that’s the Himalayas to be by myself for a bit. But, of renovating her Tuscan other human beings as possible?” It was magic- when I would discover new things that fascin- course, already there’s another book that’s in my villa (right), Debbie admits al. It was the rainy season, and I just sat in the ated me, like writing books and adopting the head that I’d quite like to write. There’s always a she’d lose focus quite pouring rain writing this and kind of weeping as Tuscan lifestyle. next, I think. There will be another next until often: ‘I’d ask my friends I wrote it because there are so many moving they put me into my grave. where I should put a stories. And I started to realize, “Wow, there’s What drew you to Tuscany? I was fascinated by particular vase and they’d something here.” the lifestyle. I mean, it’s just an incredible way to INTERVIEW: BIANCA TEIXEIRA say, “Debbie, you don’t

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: NO CREDIT; MAX ROSENSTEIN; GEORGE ROSS (2); TRAE PATTON/NBC/GETTY IMAGES; NO CREDIT; PATTI PERRET/UNIVERSAL PICTURES; ROY ROCHLIN PATTI IMAGES; NO CREDIT; MAX ROSENSTEIN; GEORGE ROSS (2); TRAE PATTON/NBC/GETTY NO CREDIT; CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: even have a roof yet!”’

TOUR MOVIE MUSIC TV THE A HILARIOUS EVENING GREEN BOOK THE PAINS OF GROWING A LEGENDARY CHRISTMAS WITH ALEC BALDWIN Shining a spotlight on a piece of In her second studio , set for a Nov. 30 WITH JOHN AND CHRISSY Known as the master of southern history, the Oscar-buzzed release, Canada’s digs a little deeper Fan-favourite celebrity couple John TO-DO characters, SNL and 30 Rock drama tells the true story of Tony with her lyrics. Despite the Legend and Chrissy Teigen are star Alec Baldwin, 60, will Lip (Viggo Mortensen), an Italian- 22-year-old’s bubbly, here to spread some holiday LIST be in Canada to delight fans American bouncer hired to drive a upbeat image, “there are cheer! Hosting their first-ever with several special nights of famous black pianist (Mahershala so many different facets TV Christmas special, the HELLO!’s pick laughter, impersonations and Ali) on a concert tour through the to me,” she says now. pair will celebrate the of the week’s political insights. Tour dates Deep South. The pair use The “I go through things like season of joy with friends, include Winnipeg (Nov. 29), Green Book – a segregation-era everyone else, so I want family and special guests, events and Calgary (Nov. 30), travel guide – to help them safely to start talking about including Stevie Wonder new releases (Dec. 3) and Ottawa (Dec. 4). navigate their route. that more.” and Kelly Clarkson.

50 HELLOMAGAZINE.CA HELLO! 51