Marieclaire

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After months of touring in her native US, Pink is still raring to go as she nears the stage at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.

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Do you get nervous before a show?

No, I get focused ‌

like a pilot before they fly a plane

Melbourne is said to be Pink’s most successful market – her Australian tour has 18 dates in the Victorian capital alone.

Below inset: Jackie Frank with Pink in a selfie taken by the singer.

frankly

speaking

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With more than 500,000 tickets sold for the Australian leg of her tour and a two-year-old daughter in tow, Pink is one red-hot mamma. She shows her true colours to Jackie Frank. Photographed by Andrew Macpherson Every page is now interactive, shareable and social using the

Jackie: We just shot you for the cover of [this issue]. You looked beautiful!

Pink: Thank you.

Jackie: Did you feel beautiful?

Pink: I felt pretty, yeah. Well, you have really good taste, so I was in some pretty amazing outfits.

Jackie: If I had told you 10 years ago that you would one day be the face of Covergirl cosmetics, what would you have said to me?

Pink: I probably would have laughed.

I laughed when my manager, Roger, told me they called asking about it. I was like, “Whatever,” and then I was like, “Oh, that sounds awesome, yeah.”

Jackie: I saw in a tweet that you called Australia “positive land” ...

Pink: Australians are not full of shit.

When you’re from Philadelphia, you can smell bullshit from the other side of the street. That’s how it is.

Jackie: Why do you think Australia  has taken to you the way it has?

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Do you have a ritual before you go on stage each night?

We all get together and have a little prayer. It’s nondenominational.

It’s just a way to

centre yourself and ground yourself

and remind yourself that

you are lucky to be here Pink: I have never, ever been able to answer that question. I have no idea why anyone likes me [laughs]. I am very polarising. It’s either absolutely love or absolutely can’t-be-around-for-morethan-three-seconds.

Jackie: Five hundred thousand tickets sold. That’s massive.

Pink: I sold more last time [laughs]. I had more time. Now, I have a two year old. But it is overwhelmingly amazing.

Jackie: What’s it like travelling with two-year-old Willow?

Pink: It’s different. I used to stay up till 4 o’clock in the morning on the internet, drinking wine, smoking cigarettes, wake up at noon, roll out of bed, go to the gym. Now it’s foot-on-face here, hot breath ... it’s just awesome. It’s exhausting and it’s terrifying and it’s the best thing that has ever happened.

Jackie: You tweeted, “My life was once whiskey, tears and cigarettes ... Now it’s snot, tears and the colour of poop.” The hashtag was #bliss. So is it too much of a stretch to say that Willow saved you?

Pink: I wouldn’t put it that way. I think that I was already on the right track.  62

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Trust is paramount among the performers, who must maintain absolute focus for the spectacular stunts during the show.

I don’t see a harness!

There isn’t one.

Just being on the inside [of the ball]

didn’t seem

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What’s it like travelling with a two year old?

It’s different. It’s exhausting and it’s terrifying and it’s Life on the road is very different with daughter Willow in her “crew”, but Pink reasons children “just rearrange the picture”.

the best thing that has ever happened

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Motocross-legend husband Carey Hart lends a hand backstage. He also accompanied Pink to Australia during her record-breaking tour in 2009.

I think children just rearrange the picture. It’s like a puzzle piece that hasn’t been fitting and then all of a sudden, if you do it right, from a certain perspective it rearranges the pieces and puts it all together. Or you realise, fuck the puzzle, that’s life and this is what’s important. I’ve stopped waking up going, “Oh, my problems.” Now it’s just, “Oh, my blessings.”

Jackie: It’s like you need some sort of a handbook when you have a child ...

Pink: When we got home from the hospital, Willow had a meltdown and I had a meltdown and it was like a mother of all meltdowns for both of us. It was our first meltdown together. Carey didn’t know who to comfort first. He was like, “Arrghhhh.” It’s like, “Wait, you sound like her!” Carey’s eyes were like saucers [laughs]. He didn’t know what to do.

Jackie: You’ve said you want lots of kids.

Pink: I don’t want to do the baby stuff five times, but the idea of, like, a holiday with five kids fighting and me just sitting at the head of the table cracking up, pouring more wine, I just love that idea. I love the idea of all the chaos.

I figure if one kid moves away ... I want a gay son, so I have got to keep trying until I get that going.

Jackie: I believe there are certain positions you might want to try ...

Pink: To get a gay son? Please let me know [laughs]. I really want one so bad.

I was at some benefit, sitting around the table with all these really conservative people, and one woman was saying how her son had just come out and she was so stressed out about it, and I was like, “You don’t know how lucky you are; he will be yours forever [laughs]!”

Jackie: There is such a softness about you now. I remember first seeing you on

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the screen and [you were] angry and tough, and now I just want to hug you.

Pink: I think that growing up is realising that you can be all of it and that vulnerability doesn’t have to be a weakness. That’s the challenge. I think we think we have to be super-masculine and defensive and able to do it all. The gift is [to realise]: you can hurt [me], but maybe I’m not going to let you.

Jackie: You have described your dad as your first rock star. How has he influenced you?

Pink: I was daddy’s little girl, so he was my god. He really taught me to stand up for what I believe in and how to fight and when to fight and who to fight and when to walk away. He gave me my spirit and he showed me that one person can change something. Everyone used to call him Mr Cause and roll their eyes. He did a lot of good for our 

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Do you always have the last word?

Yeah, and the first and the middle and

Not content to simply swing above the audience, Pink is launched, bungee-like, from a stage trapdoor up into the arena.

community ... and he had a sarcastic comment for everything. He always had the last word; I loved that as a kid.

Jackie: Do you always have the last word?

Pink: Yeah, and the first and the middle and then the last one after that [laughs].

Jackie: You performed with [your dad] in 2007. How did that feel?

Pink: It was really endearing because ... he was really nervous and I had never seen him nervous before and it was so discomforting to see your parent like that for the first time. It was just adorable and he is so wonderful and he is all heart, so it kind of threw me off my game for a minute because I was like, “Are you OK? Do you need a beer?”

Jackie: What about you? Do you get nervous before a show?

Pink: No, I get focused ... like a pilot before they fly a plane, I would imagine.

There are so many things to check off in your head in our show, quick changes and ... different kinds of acrobatics and different kinds of harnesses and then lyrics, which I always forget, and ...

Jackie: How much preparation do you have to do?

Pink: I did six weeks of training for the last tour because I had to learn trapeze and that’s pretty full-on. This time around, I sort of already had an idea, so it was more like three weeks. The fun part is I get to learn all this cool shit.

I’m a 33-year-old woman learning how to do acrobatics. Usually, you’re 13 when you’re learning this stuff. I’m like a kid in a candy shop.

Jackie: Do you have a ritual before you go on stage each night?

Pink: We all get together and have a little prayer. It’s non-denominational.

It’s just a way to centre yourself and ground yourself and remind yourself that you are lucky to be here. Let’s go shine our light; there is somebody  Clip, Save and Share from every page using the

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then the last one after that

exclusive Already a competent acrobat after her last tour, Pink had three weeks of extensive trapeze training to prepare for The Truth About Love tour.

wATch

Download the free app and scan this page to watch a video of Pink’s “True Love”.

How much preparation do you have to do?

I’m a 33-year-old woman learning how to do acrobatics.

fast 5 Do you have a celebrity crush?

Andy Garcia. He is a charming man.

Favourite Pink song?

I don’t have a favourite Pink song.

It changes depending on the mood.

Well, today?

Today, I probably wouldn’t listen to that whore [laughs]!

Who are the guests at your dream dinner party?

Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) and my friend, Kerri Kenney-Silver. She’s an actress. She was on Reno 911. I want those two on a table together so they can just talk major trash and laugh.

And maybe Jim Carrey can get up and do his Fire Marshal Bill [character].

What is your perfect evening these days?

The other night I took Willow to Disney On Ice and got her a cup of popcorn.

I’m always so worried about the popcorn because the kernels get into your gums, and she has these little baby gums and little teeth, and it’s like OMG should I be doing this?

What would you spend your last $20 on?

First thing that came to mind was McDonald’s French fries.

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out here who needs it tonight and it’s not just about “I’m jet lagged’, or “We’ve done this 60 times”. That’s why I go on my Twitter and read the comments every night when I’m doing vocal warmups. It reminds me that these people haven’t seen this show before, they don’t know what happened last night.

Someone is bringing their 70-year-old mum that hasn’t been to a concert in 20 years or there is a five-year-old girl with muscular dystrophy, or just there’s something going on bigger than us.

Jackie: On Twitter you follow Martha Stewart. What do you get from her?

Pink: Thanksgiving decorative ideas, when to garden certain plants – I love her. She is one of my favourite people and she’s an ex-con. Love her!

Jackie: When you’re at home, you’re in the kitchen?

Pink: All the time. Garden, kitchen, sandbox ...

Jackie: But on stage, you’re so physically pumped. How do you sleep?

Pink: It takes a while. I watch cooking shows and drink red wine.

Jackie: What’s your favourite dish?

Pink: I make a mean pumpkin cheesecake around the holidays. It doesn’t sound good, but it’s awesome. Yeah, we cook, we get down. Willow is a little baker, little blueberry muffins.

Jackie: Your life is reflected in your lyrics – the break-up with Carey, your parents’ divorce, your disdain for Paris Hilton ... Is it cathartic for you?

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Pink: Absolutely, that’s what writing is.

Getting it out. Exorcising your demons.

I think writing is very therapeutic.

Every kid should have a diary. They say the best thing for writer’s block is to get up every morning and just write. Don’t think. No judgements. You can’t lift your pen from your paper for five minutes. You have to keep writing even it’s, “I have nothing to say, this is total bullshit, this is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid.” Once you get past all that, you get to the real stuff. Writing is necessary.

Jackie: What are you listening to?

Pink: I usually just shuffle. I just heard [Australian singer/songwriter] Matt Corby yesterday. He’s, like, amazing.

His voice is incredible.

Jackie: Do you use music to soothe you?

Pink: Sometimes I go off music completely, like there is too much noise in the world. I find myself listening to spa music. My husband thinks I’m totally weird. I’ll walk in and get a massage and they’ll put on ’80s R’n’B. I’m like, “No, no. Put the flute back on!”

Jackie: You once said that beauty was never your goal, but that joy is ...

Pink: Yes, still.

Jackie: How’s that goal going?

Pink: I’m doing good … Doing well?

Doing good? Which one is it?

Jackie: I am doing well.  Pink: I am doing well, thank you.

Watch Jackie interviewing Pink on Sunday Night on Seven at 6.30pm. Visit www.sundaynight.com.au for details.

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Andrew MAcpherson

I’m like a kid in a candy shop