What is the meaning of life?

Sharing your life with others, having a strong network
 of family and friends.

What is the difference between right and wrong?

It really depends – wrong and right is definitely a cultural thing, unless you’re talking about something like murder.

Where is your happy place?

At home
in my garden with my kids, planting seeds, watering our plants, having barbecues.

Nature or nurture?

You need a good balance of both, I think, to be a happy, successful human.

Is it more important to be liked or respected?

Being liked, in the end, is going to make you a happier person. You could die unhappy and alone, but be respected. You’re not going to die unhappy and alone if you’re liked.

If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be?

For being a loving parent, a loving friend.

Who or what is your greatest love?

My family, it keeps going back to my family.

When did you last lie?

Oh god, just the other day. I’m with my 10-year- old [Ever] in Germany to have a little mommy-daughter time, but I didn’t want the baby [Dashiel, 3] to know that we were going together. I told her that Ever was going on a field trip and momma had to go to work. 

Does the supernatural exist?

I don’t think so, I don’t think ghosts exist.

Are you fatalistic?

I think it’s very easy for people living in the first world to be fatalistic. But when you’re living in a third-world country and your family is dying around you, or sick because they don’t have clean water, what are you going say? “Everything happens for a reason”?
I think that’s very much rich-people talk.

What is your greatest fear?

My kids not finding their passion, being lost in the world and allowing the world to lead them rather than leading.

Animals or babies?

Babies.


What talent do you yearn for?

I really respect people who make others feel confident and comfortable, who bring out the best in people.

Do you like to be complimented?

Yeah! Who doesn’t?


Do you have a high pain threshold?

I think I do. Giving birth on both occasions was really fun for me – I had a great experience.

What book do you recommend most to others?

One Hundred Years Of Solitude [by Gabriel García Márquez]. It really represents life to me. It’s about a family and how things grow and become chaotic and amazing and dramatic. As you get older, things start quieting down and people start moving away; the nostalgia that comes from remembering your past and how sometimes the good memories can be the most painful ones when you’re looking back.

Which lesson has been the hardest to learn?

How to keep things to a minimum.

What food sums up happiness?

Anything baked or fried – that’s why I married an Englishman [film director Paul WS Anderson]. Pub food, pasties, scones – they hit that good spot. 

What have you never understood?

Why women feel they need to destroy themselves with plastic surgery. It feels very prevalent at the moment, seeing young people with loads of plastic surgery.

What is the one thing you want to know before you die?

That my kids are passionate about something and good at what they do, so that I can die in peace, knowing they’ll be fine no matter what.

Are you scared of dying or what happens when you die?

Some days I am and some days I’m not. It really depends on my mood.

Quinoa or Quavers?

Wait, what? [Stylist explains] Oh, Quavers all the way. You had me at crisps. 

Milla Jovovich is the face of the new Joop! Wow! Woman Fragrance, #WowWoman, available from 18 July.

Image: Getty