Novelist Danielle Steel got caught in lockdown in Paris & shes going bonkers
From where I sit, the people with the best sense of community in the pandemic are the Italians, the British and New Yorkers. People are scared everywhere, but those are the people who (from the outside looking in) seem to have a sense of virtual togetherness in a time of crisis. Germans seem to be handling the crisis well too, maybe not with a sense of “we’re all in this together,” but with an efficient, easy adaptation to the new reality. I would be curious to hear more from French peeps about how they think they’re handling the pandemic and lockdown. I bring this up because there’s at least one American in Paris who is going a bit bonkers: novelist Danielle Steel. She spoke to Page Six:
Supersuccessful novelist Danielle Steel: “My Paris apartment here is where I live half the time. I got caught in it March 1. I’m scared to death to be a world away. It’s traumatic. Although I have help, I’m afraid. I can write up a storm but — I’m unnerved. Anxious about my kids. Nervous if my children need me. Two had weddings last week. One’s in the Hamptons.
“I’m doing nothing. Staying home so long, you can’t get inspired. Life this way is unacceptable. Nights kill me. So nervous I’ve lost 10 pounds in four weeks. I look at the clock — it’s 9, 12, then 2, then … where did the day go? I go out an hour for exercise, but if a jogger sneezes nearby, it’s terror. You whip out a spray can. Twice a day I do laps around the apartment. I don’t want to live in seclusion. I could be a Carmelite nun. You only have the phone. It’s all about the phone.
“I can’t watch the news. It’s frightening. I don’t want to hear more of a friend’s cousin’s grandmother. Or hear if you smoke, you’re dead. I already have three in my mouth. TV is so terrifying. Like, you’re going to die no matter what you do. I hated science-fiction in school. Now I’m living it. What will normal life be again for us? It’s all unsettling. All sci-fi.”
With 650 million copies of Steel best sellers sold, is another heading our way? “I finally got to work. You never know where ideas come from. Random House is happy with my outline. Wednesday I delivered the new one.” Might today’s current misery end up in a book? “Count on it.”
First of all, WHO is losing weight these days? I’m sure I’m losing muscle weight/mass but I’m absolutely replacing it with fat because I can’t work out like I used to and I’ve gotten to that point in the lockdown where I want to eat everything, especially candy and sweets. Second of all, I don’t think anyone is really having weddings right now? Maybe virtual weddings or simple affairs with no guests? And yes, everything is so unsettling. I imagine moreso if you’re caught up in a lockdown in a country not your own.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
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