Interview: Eva Herzigova/Tico Torres

Notorious: Now, you both started your careers at age sixteen.

Eva: I think Tico started earlier, didn't you?

Notorious: Tico, weren't you in your first band at sixteen? Sweat?

Tico: I was in Cold Sweat when I was sixteen, but I started when I was fourteen.

Eva: And I started modeling at seventeen, actually.

Notorious: At those ages, most Americans are doing nothing but pricing at the mall, yet you both had started on your career paths and stuck it out to become major successes. Do you think your drive is part of your attraction to each other?

Tico: I think so. The fact that we both do have a drive, and that we both go toward something. I mean, Eva bounces ideas off me, and naturally I bounce ideas off her. Whenever I go into the studio where I paint, I ask her, "What do you think?" She'll, no holds barred, tell me what she thinks. And I respect it because she doesn't tell me, "It's nice" just because it's me. She tells me, "I don't like this," or "You're in the right direction but it is really terrible." It's good because at least I know where to go from there.

Eva: I would say we both come from the same kind of a family.

Notorious: Which is?

Tico: Very loving families.

Eva: Loving and caring. They mean a lot to me and Tico.

Notorious: Another connection is that you both grew up in Communist countries, and now in the good ol' capitalist U.S. of A., you are as a combined family unit probably up there in the top one percent of our rich folks. Possibly top two percent. That's an amazing trek for you two, from poverty to Jacuzzis.

Eva: [Laughing] Top two percent, at least. Gee, I really wish.

Tico: I tell you we're richer than anybody because we got great parents. That's all you need.

Notorious (to Tico): Among the Cubans I've interviewed who still live on Fidel's isle, their dreams are a bit limited by the reality of their situation. Your parents must have a hard time comprehending what you two have accomplished.

Tico: I grew up in New York City. It gave me the drive because I saw my family exiled from Cuba. I could see the hurt in them. So I naturally just said I got to fight my way up. They gave me a lot of strength. So did living in the city. My father left us. So it was all up to my mother and grandmother.

Notorious: Does being raised by two women make you a much more loving spouse and much more appreciative of the opposite sex?

Tico: Yeah, it definitely does.

Eva: In a really big way, that affects Tico. It can be seen in the direction of his paintings. Definitely. Everything is woman. They have a woman's feel, touch...they're just great.

Tico: They make my clothes, for God's sake. My mother is a seamstress. My mother and grandmother, they brought me up and they made all my stage clothes. My grandmother, until she was ninety-five, she made them.

Eva: She just turned one hundred.

Notorious: So they were both at the wedding.

Tico: Yeah.

Eva: Oh yeah. She's an unbelievable woman. Tico and I have been together for, what? Three years?

Tico: Almost four.

Eva: Three and a half years. She's never spoken one word in English to me. Never. She's always speaking Spanish, which I try to understand but I cannot answer. One day, we went over and were just kidding around the table where we were all seated. And I was going like this with a teacup [she pretends she's hitting him over the head], and Grandma was so protective. She stood up and lifted her cane and went, "Take it easy!" That's just one story.

Tico: If you ever want to meet an angel, you got to meet my grandmother.

Eva: She's wonderful.

Tico: She touches everyone. So I hope you get to meet her one time.

Notorious (to Eva): So you speak four languages.

Eva: Yes, I speak four. I mean I grew up with Czech and Russian.

Notorious: And now you speak English and French.

Eva: Yes.

Notorious: So Spanish should come easily.

Eva: I understand because I understand Italian. I Speak a little Italian but not as fluently as my English and French. It's similar.

Notorious (to Tico): And you speak Spanish fluently?

Tico: Fluently, yes.

Notorious: So when you two address each other endearingly, do you employ foreign terms or do you settle for the normal Americanisms like "honey"?

Tico: It's Ricky and Lucy. For example, last week we were getting into a little rivalry situation. She starts going off in Czech and I start going off in Spanish, and we're both talking two different languages and not understanding, because I'm learning Czech but it's difficult for me and she's refusing to learn Spanish. She's taking her time. So it's sort of like we still have our own turf when it comes to language, but it's pretty funny. If you had a tape of it, you'd have to laugh. It's pure Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. It's hilarious. [Eva laughs] I don't know what our kids are going to speak. If we are ever going to have kids, they'll probably learn all four languages.

Eva: Yeah, it'll be English, Spanish, Czech, French. That's good enough.

Notorious: Are you talking about children yet or are they considered a future project?

Eva: Definitely. I love children. And I want a lot of children. I come from a big family. I definitely want at least three children, but not now. A little later. The year 2000.

Notorious: The year 2000? For all three?

Eva: Not three by then. [Laughs] I hope not. Triplets.

Tico: We'll take our time. It'll be fun to have kids. We're building a home now.

Notorious: Now that Tico is concentrating on his art, he's home much more. But nevertheless do you both still find yourselves apart and traveling a lot?

Eva: My God! Yes, we do. A lot.

Notorious: So it's still not like you are together all the time. Most women married to artists are stuck with them day in and day out.

Tico: We both have these traveling lives. We meet, and it's still romantic. It's still a honeymoon. It always will be. I recently met Eva in Paris, and I had a show in Munich a couple days later, so it was like we meet, we hang, we have a great time together then we go our ways. I kind of miss it when she's not around. Once we get comfortable after a week together, I don't wan her to go away.

Eva: I gotta go.

Tico: And when I'm on the road [with Bon Jovi], it's even harder for her because I can't really get away from that situation. It's predestined exactly where you are going because you have a crew of three hundred people and you just can't take off whenever you want.

Notorious: Some folks find separation beneficial to relationships.

Eva: Definitely, because it's always like that first time, which you lose in a married life or in a relationship that lasts longer. You lose that first-time feeling. I think it's the nicest. Every time we are together, we are having like a precious time because there's not so much of it. The time we are together it's a "wealth"-spent time. It's, like, negotiated.

Tico: We love a lot. We fight a lot. It's great.

Eva: Yeah, and you pay more attention to each other.

Tico: You're not taking each other for granted because you're not with each other. I think that's the basis of our relationship. So I think that's maybe why we're still together. We still create that space between us where it's nice to be together.

Eva: You know, we met up in Venice because I was working there. Tico came over to visit. How romantic is that? It's like we stay for two days, then we come somewhere else, and it's just cool. It's definitely cool.

Tico: We're making it work.