Title:
GMTV This Morning
Date of transmission: 25
December 2000
Channel: ITV (UK)
Charlotte's Christmas Morning Interview
on "GMTV"
I believe
this to have been pre-recorded and watched only by an enthusiastic
skeleton crew.
Dave
Bellamy from Northampton, UK sent CCC the actual tape on which he
had recorded this program.
To view his new site just click on the picture below - Many thanks
Dave - I'm sure your efforts will be appreciated.
A
final year 2000 interview with Charlotte
- showing that this girl has a big heart - and it's in the right place,
too.
  
Interviewer
1:
"Hello there, welcome back and a very, very happy Christmas
to you all from GMTV and to our special guest, Charlotte Church...
It's lovely to see you."
Charlotte: "Thank you."
Interviewer
1:
"Merry Christmas... and all of that..."
Charlotte: "Thank you..."
Interviewer 1: "Busy time
for you?"
Charlotte: "Really, really
busy. I mean, We've been... I've been going round promoting
the Christmas album everywhere, like America and Europe and
all the different places, so it's been rather wild!"
   
Interviewer
1:
"It has... You going to get any time off then?"
Charlotte: "Yeah - well...
I mean... I get about three or four weeks off now..."
Interviewer
1:
"Marvellous."
Charlotte: "... erm - so
I can just relax and stay at home and then, towards the later
part of January I'm going to a concert in New York with Wycleff
Jean and Witney Houston and Eric Clapton and all those really
cool people in Carnegei Hall - erm - for the Wycleff Jean
foundation which is for underpriveleged kids and music. So
I'm really looking forward to that and I'm going to go to
LA and I'll be meeting... really exciting..."
Interviewer 2: "As well...
You do loads of stuff for charities, don't you?"
Charlotte: "Well - er -
yeah... I mean, I do try and use my fame in the best way that
I possibly can and - erm - you know, try and help people who
aren't as lucky as me and stuff like that. I do primarily
- well - just work with children's charities, because I feel
that as a child myself that it's easier for me to understand
it from a child's point of view, rather than from an adult's
point of view."
Interviewer 1: "That's true...
That's very true"
   
Interviewer
1: "You must have met an awful lot - you've met
loads and loads of people - but particularly, are there any
children that have really touched you?"
Charlotte: "I mean, there
has been many, many children - erm - and I - I
went to a local hospital in Wales called the Heath Hospital...
and - er - they're trying to build a children's hospital in
Wales, because Wales is the only country in Europe which hasn't
got a children's hospital."
Interviewer
1:
"Oh!
I'm surpised at that. It's extraordinary
isn't it?"
Charlotte: "It is. So I've
been trying to help raise money for that and doing concerts
and stuff like that... And I went to erm - see all the children
in the hospital and - erm - I mean - it was kind of sad to
see, but kind of heartwarming at the same time - with the
strength of all of these families and all of these kids who
were being so brave and so... Then we went to the premature
babies ward and stuff like that. But - er - the Heath hospital
- I mean, it's a great hospital and the staff are great but
there's just not enough space and resources for all of the
children."
Interviewer 2: "So Charlotte,
is that what you do? You work with charities that work with
kids - or - people your age?"
Charlotte: "Yeah, yeah,
that's, that's - you know - the kind of general feel. Erm
- I mean - there are charities that I'd like to work with
that I haven't got a chance to work with yet - mainly in Third-World
countries - erm - like Africa and India and places like that.
Interviewer 2: Why is that?"
Charlotte: "Well - I mean
- it's, it's so sad to see the poverty there - and - I mean
- of course, there are still... there's still like poverty
in Britain and America and stuff like that. But - erm - there
are lots of people doing charity work for - you know - the
"established" countries for children and stuff like that so
I think..."
   
Interviewer
1: "So you think you might be... The ones that are
forgotten about a little bit - you can really, really help them."
Charlotte: "Definitely - especially
in North Korea..."
Interviewer
1:
"Exactly - yeah, that's true..."
Charlotte: "My nanna showed
me a documentary about all these little kids in North Korea
who were starving and picking pieces of rice off the floor...
It's really sad, so..."
Interviewer 2: "I mean...
I suppose for all of us, we live in a really privileged way...
I mean, today, and all the things we're going to enjoy. But
Charlotte, do you ever think about the privilege that you have...
'cos your life's been extraordinary, hasn't it?"
Charlotte: "Yeah... I mean..."
Interviewer 1: "Compared with
so many kids who have nothing."
Charlotte: "Exactly. I mean,
I've been very, very lucky and - erm - I mean - I've got a wonderful
life. I've got a really strong family. A great set of friends
- erm - and so - and so - basically... what I try to do and
try and encourage others to do, erm, is to just help the people
who aren't as fortunate as ourselves - in the way we live today..."
   
Interviewer
1:
"It's very refreshing to hear it as well."
Charlotte: "Thank you."
Interviewer 1: "And it's also
refeshing to hear you still refer to yourself as a child..."
Charlotte: "Oh yeah."
Interviewer 1: It's not as if you
feel..."
Charlotte: "Completely...
I mean, I'm not like - grown up or anything. I'm still fourteen.
So - erm - I also did a concert in Chicago for underpriveleged
kids in - like - the ghetos and stuff like that. And it was
Billy Gilman and Amanda Dunbar, who's a great artist, who's
done pictures of me and stuff and me and Amanda - erm - she
painted two pictures of me and we ran off lithographs of them
and we printed 500 of them which were selling for a $1,000 each
and 350 thousand - of - no 350 of them - went, so we raised
$350,000 and so this whole event kind of... that's the money
that funded it... and we gave them a big turkey dinner and back-packs
with all free stuff and art-kits and school... school stuff...
so..."
Interviewer 2: "Back
to Christmas... I
don't suppose you know what you're going to be getting later
on today..."
Charlotte: "No..."
   
Interviewer
2:
"But, tell me - what's the best Christmas present you've
ever had?"
Charlotte: "Erm... Well...
I had a lizard called Iggy.
Interviewer 1: "A lizard?"
Charlotte: "A lizard..."
Interviewer 1: "No!"
Interviewer 2: "As you do...
yes."
Charlotte: "I l o v e, I absolutely
love reptiles. I want - 'cos I want to go travelling around
Africa and India and China and particulary the Amazon as well.
'Cos I just love reptiles and snakes and spiders and everyhing.
I'm really mad! Erm - so - I asked my Mum..."
   
Interviewer
1: For a lizard? Ahhh... What's he doing?
Charlotte: "Well - er - at
the moment he's - er - he's with our... our driver looks after
him while we're away."
Interviewer 1: "Hahaha - How
big is this lizard?"
Charlotte shows the size of Iggy by spreading
her arms wide: [See shot 4 above]
Interviewer 1: "Oh! He is
a serious lizard."
Charlotte: "He's a serious
lizard. Yeah - he's a water dragon, really gorgeous."
Interviewer 2: "Are you getting
him anything for Christmas? A fly or two..."
Charlotte: "Crickets."
[Nodding] "... crickets... and locusts. Oh, it's horrible.
And once my dad put one on my shoulder," [Charlotte
points to her right shoulder] "and - er - in the
morning... he got a locust... I just screamed my head off. Oh
my God!"
   
Interviewer
1:
"Well listen. We wish you all the best."
Interviewer 2: "Yeah."
Interviewer 1: "You're going
to be singing for us later on. And it's lovely to see you...
"
Charlotte: "Thank you."
Interviewer 1: "...You've
done so well... an extraordinary year it's been. It really
has."
Charlotte: "It's been...
it's been really, really manic. I mean, we never expected
the success of the first two albums, never mind the Christmas
album, because it's done particularly well in America and
it's - er - number - well I can't remember what it was, but
it got into - like - the top ten. It was wild - we couldn't
believe it... so I mean, we're very pleased with everything
that has happened."
   
Interviewer
2: Charlotte, "Thank you very much... and - er -
all our love to Iggy as well. We hope he has a good day..."
Charlotte: "Yeah." [Rolling
her eyes] "Ohhh... Thank you very much."
Interviewer
2:
"...Who
want's a cricket?"
Here,
the focus switched and the link in to the next item was announced.
Interviewer
1:
"Anyway - now today's program, as you know, is all about
how we can make a difference to children in need around the
world... Children like these AIDS orphans in Botswana. It's
a small country, but it has the worst HIV infection rate in
Africa... "
The
next item was entitled "A Dying Continent"...
Simon: "Everyone in this small country, over the age
of 15, is either infected already or will become infected in
the very near future. Only the under 15's - and even then only
those not infected from birth by their Mother - are expected
to survive. Even they are at risk if the message about AIDS
is not made clear to them in ample time. What a way to spend
Christmas!
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