Women are more exciting than men

The charming Australian (43) likes it when his fans flirt with him, but has been faithful to his wife for 22 years.

Doing an interview with Simon Baker feels like a meeting with an old buddy.

 

"Hi mate, nice to see you" he says, smiling friendly, and with a firm handshake, when we meet at the noble "St. Pancras Renaissance" - hotel in London. His blond fluffy hair and his laid-back, casual demeanour make him appear like a grown-up surfer boy.

 

The 1,8m tall Australian keeps looking at me attentively all the time with his blue-green eyes - almost as if he wanted to look inside my soul. And all of a sudden I realize why Simon Baker has had his breakthrough with the role of "The Mentalist", someone who has outstanding powers of observation. But, on the other hand, the man with the piercing eyes also lets me in on some of his deeper secrets during our conversation.

Your current film/comedy is called "I Give It A Year". You, however, have been happily married for how long?
My wife Rebecca and I have known each other for 22 years, and have been married for 15. I'm very proud of that fact - especially because it is known that in Hollywood you have to count every married year in dog years (laughs)!

 

How did the two of you meet?
We were introduced to each other by mutual friends. It was like an arranged blind date- but neither Rebecca nor I realized this. Very embarrassing that I, "the Mentalist", was too blind to see what was happening there(laughs). However, you have to know that I was still together with someone else at that time, but the people who fixed me up with Rebecca obviously didn't care about that! When my relationship with that other woman failed, about eight months later, these people made a second attempt - and this time it worked!

 

Do you believe in love at first sight?
I wouldn't call it love straight away. But I think that there are people with whom you have a special kind of chemistry, even at the first meeting, and you feel drawn towards them irresistibly. That's what it was like with me and my wife. We didn't fall head over heels in love, but we felt a special connection. That's what we built our relationship on.

 

Can you tell us a little bit about your wedding?
We didn't go with the traditional order: first the wedding, then the children - we did it the other way around. Our Stella was five when we tied the knot. By the way, we even got married twice. First, on the beach in California - just me and my two girls - and then we had another, big wedding in Australia.

 

You got married in the seventh year of your relationship, which is considered particularly difficult. It did all turn out all right, didn't it?
Almost! We had bought a ring for our daughter as well, so that all three of us would have a ring to wear at the wedding. But Stella lost hers in the sand at the beach and was - obviously - very upset about that. Fortunately her ring had been lot cheaper than ours... (laughs).

 

Has your success in Hollywood never endangered your relationship?
I've had my breakthrough with "The Mentalist" when I was in my late 30s, so that's relatively late. It can be crazy, when all of a sudden people treat you as if you were someone special, this can change your personality and this is the dangerous side of success. But I have always known where I belong!

 

How do you deal with the "special attention" of your many female fans?
I am enjoying it! Generally I think that women are much more interesting than men - I mean that in a strictly platonic sense (laughs). Women are much more complex than men. Men always have to concentrate on doing one thing, whereas women can do 15 things at once, they have to, otherwise they would be bored.

 

What kind of a father are you: are you strict, or more the "buddy"-type?
I would like to think that I am sensible and a little bit old-fashioned. Good manners, respecting others, taking responsibility for your actions and being on time are things that are very important to me. I also try and encourage the three of them to always try new things.

 

What was your own childhood like?
I went to the beach - surfing with my friends as often as I could. When I was seven I stood on a surfing board for the first time. My hair was almost white back then, because it had been bleached by the sun so much.

 

Didn't you want to become a professional surfer?
Yes, I dreamt about that, but looking back on it today, I am happy about my decision. As a surfer I would probably be finished at my age, but as an actor I have the feeling that the best part of my career is yet to come!