It's a laugh, or two or three, a minute with Sarah Sechan. Now 33 and a mother of one, she has not lost the self-deprecating, dry wit that she brought to her stint as an MTV Asia VJ when the music channel was starting up in the late 1990s. The breakfast TV host and emcee recently branched out into acting, with a role in the sex comedy XL and as a gullible, self-centered dangdut singer in the sobering Perempuan Punya Cerita (Women's Stories). After recovering from a bout of dengue fever in February, she discusses tall dreams, time spent in and out of school and her lack of direction.
First memory? I was outside our house in Surabaya, saying good-bye to my parents who were going out. And I joked with my older brother, "There's a ghost over there." He was so angry that he pushed me into a fish pond. That's my early memory. It's kind of spooky.
First crush? John from New Kids on the Block! My family was living in London and the group came and and stayed at a hotel on Bond Street. I cut school with my girlfriends and we waited outside the hotel for a really long time until they came out and we chased their car to the first traffic light. The house was dark when I came home, but as I came in my mother smacked me on the head with an empty soda bottle. "Where've you been, your school called and said you were playing hooky." I started crying, but my dad came downstairs and said, "Ah, come on Kus," which was his pet name for her, "don't forget when you were young, you used to wait for Bimbo [music group] to go on stage." So she wasn't angry anymore.
Craziest thing I've done ... I was in New York, and it was the time of the house party. I must have been 16. We were having our party, and someone complained about the dancing and the cops came. We were so afraid, because we were cutting school again, so we climbed down the fire escape. We went in through a window into an old lady's apartment, she couldn't speak English and panicked a bit. We told her, "One moment, we need to use the bathroom." That was pretty crazy.
I'm very bad ... With directions. If I am driving, I often forget the way, even if I have driven along the same route many times.
In high school I was ... Skinny, and very short. When I was at school in Pennsylvania, London and New York, everybody else was so big. I had to wear shorts under my jeans to make my butt bigger, but now it's so big.
Friends say I am ... Crazy! Meaning that we will be talking about something, and I'll suddenly change the topic or make a random comment.
I would never ... Get plastic surgery. First of all, I don't have enough money for it, and I'm really afraid of going under the knife. Unless they told me I would look like Angelina Jolie.
I wish I had written ... Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. It's such a simple song, but when you listen to it over and over again, it's got such a good vibe. Even with all the pollution and traffic, the world is so beautiful.
My happiest moment ... When my son was just born. He smelled really good; we Indonesians say newborns bau surga (smell like heaven). Maybe it was just because I was so happy, the nurse might have just sprayed the room with Bayfresh.
My best trait ... My height, my butt (laughs). It's not always good to make jokes about everything, but I always try to find the funny side of things. So, my sense of humor, and my sexy body.
And worst? I'm very jealous about my son. He's mine! We have a nanny, but when I am home she cannot feed or bathe him. Once I was taking a shower, and she went and changed his diaper. Nobody cleans my son's butt but me.
My most embarrassing moment ... I always thought it would be falling over, but it's happened to me so many times and I never feel embarrassed. Maybe if I forgot to wear underwear and the papparazzi caught me, like Britney Spears. But we all make mistakes, it's only human.
My favorite journey is ... Coming home after a full day's work. It's the thought of going to sleep and having a massage, that "ahhh" feeling. Then I get home, and my son squeals, "Let's play Spiderman," so no massage.
Regrets? I wish I had drunk my milk when I was a kid. I would be a lot taller. I didn't like it. My mother would bring me milk and when she was out of the room, I threw it out.
"I'm finished Mom."
I laugh at ... Aming from Extravaganza.
Dream dinner guests? Marilyn Monroe and Alda Risma (the Indonesian singer who died of a drug overdose last year). I want to know how they really died. And Johnny Depp, because I think he's gorgeous.
If I weren't me, I would be ... I would be me, but a bit taller. It's hard when you go to concerts.
