After seeing photos of Mel Gibson's sultry Russian-born girlfriend in magazines, and watching her gypsy-like music videos on YouTube, I guess I kind of expected Oksana Grigorieva to walk into our interview yesterday with a thick Eastern European acent - like Natasha from the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoons.
To my surprise, the singer/songwriter/expectant mom was ethereal and soft-spoken, with a hint of a British accent - probably from her years of living in the U.K., where she gave birth to her 12-year-old son, Alexander (whose father is former "James Bond" Timothy Dalton).
Just past the halfway mark of her pregancy, Oksana's baby bump was barely noticable under a flowing, black peasant blouse. "I'm not pregnant, I'm just fashionable," she quipped. With her dark features, pouty lips and long hair, she vaguely reminded me of Octomom (don't kill me), only prettier and with fewer children.
Oksana's publicist is Maureen O'Connor - a highly-respected veteran in the entertainment industry. She spearheaded last week's press conference with journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee when they arrived at Burbank Airport after being detained in North Korea for five months. For Oksana, Maureen didn't indicate that any topics would be uncomfortable or off-limits during our interview (which we cannot agree to), but clearly Oksana had been prepped to steer the conversation toward her classical training, and to acknowledge Mel's artistic talents without divulging too many details about their romantic relationship.
She did, however, have no problem talking about her current food cravings. "I actually do eat a lot of sugar right now. I wish I didn't. Ice cream, mostly. Vanilla and strawberry." Spoken by someone whose life has been anything BUT vanilla.
Click here to watch video of Oksana and see more of what she said in our formal write-up.