N: You arrived in Egypt, studied there, started to build your life...

Y: Exactly. I couldn’t go to Mauritius, either. My life went in a very different direction. I had to earn money. Moreover, I was lost, on the run, but I had to survive. I worked in the tourism sector in Egypt. I became a diver. I was quite successful. I mean I made a lot of money. I was helping everyone in some way. There were very poor people, I was helping them all.

​

N: So how did your acting story begin in this life?

Y: Actually, from the day I ran away from home in order to survive because I acted every single day, Neslihan. Everyone knew me as a half German, a young girl whose mother was living in Mauritius. Nobody knew that I ran away from home. I was just trying to stay alive however after spending two and a half years in Egypt I met Jean- Jacques, I met my husband. He had just arrived in Egypt. He was working for an American diving company there. Jean- Jacques had a great passion for cinema. He had studied cinema and wanted to make a movie. I did not know what a movie was, nor a director. I had never seen a play or a cinema hall in my life! After settling in Paris together, I went to the cinema for the first time in my life. Jean- Jacques started making me watch movies. He started introducing me to directors. One day, after coincidentally watching bad acting in a movie I said, "if this is acting, I'll do it too." “And I can do it much better. I'll show you all” I said and so I decided to become an actress. It happened exactly like that!