Rock musician Jehnny Beth has recalled how she was bullied by her schoolmates over her sexuality while she was still struggling to understand it herself.
“I’ve always been a bisexual, so I’ve always been attracted to men and women, completely equally,” the French musician born Camille Berthomier said. “To me there’s no difference, that’s the way I am – I was born that way.”
The former Savages frontwoman turned solo artist continued: “But it took me years to understand it or even put a name on it, and when I was a kid my attraction to different people meant that I was rejected [because] obviously people felt it.”
Beth, 40, said she was bullied by “gangs of girls” at school while also facing judgement or suspicion from adults, including the mother of her “first love”, a girl who lived close by, who eventually forbade her from visiting.
“I was just a kid, but I was looking for a deeper connection [with the friend], and all that rejection left me with the feeling of being dirty,” Beth said. “And [my] Catholic grandmother didn’t help!”
In her guest appearance on the Good Vibrations podcast, out this Friday, Beth spoke about the making of her latest album, You Heartbreaker, You – the follow-up to her debut solo album, To Love is To Live – which was released on 29 August to glowing reviews from critics.
Beth co-produced the album with her longterm partner, Johnny Hostile (Nicolas Congé) – together they agreed to delete any music that made them feel “bored”.
“I think it helps the music to be interesting,” she suggested. “I don’t think we have time, nowadays, and [our] attention spans, even mine, are so reduced. I feel like I need something to grab me straight away, and it’s a good exercise as an artist, you know?”
When it comes to love and relationships, she later said, “I don’t think we’re that evolved.” She recalled how one song on the new record was inspired by some graffiti she and Hostile saw on a car, which said: “YOU CHEATING BASTARD, I’M PREGNANT WITH YOUR CHILD.”
“We’re still at a prehistoric phase... hate is very close to love, you know?” Beth said.
Elsewhere during the conversation, Beth opened up about her latest acting ventures, including a major role in Netflix’s hit political thriller series, Hostage, opposite Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy. She also revealed the main difference she found working on an English set over a French one.
The full episode of Roisin O’Connor’s Good Vibrations is out this Friday (12 September) wherever you get your podcasts.
You Heartbreaker, You, the new album by Jehnny Beth, is out now on Fiction Records. She plays Electrowerkz in London on 30 October, and Camden Assembly on 31 October.
