A rendezvous with Carla

Your foundation has worked in prisons, hospitals, and houses for the homeless and the elderly. Have you visited those places?

Yes, I've been there almost every time we have given concerts there. It has been incredibly successful. We gather the very best artists and, for the people who aren't able to move, we also play music in their hospital rooms.

Music as medicine…

I'd like to think so. Music is not a primary need – it's obviously not like food or water – but it changes something in the air. It conveys instant pleasure and it creates bonds.

Back to your foundation, it also deals with the issues surrounding illiteracy. For many people, not being able to read is a shameful thing that they often keep secret.

There are three million people who suffer from illiteracy in France. Those people are not – as many would reckon – immigrants or people in the streets. In fact, most of them have jobs. When you can't read, can't drive, can't go to the post office or talk with the staff, you're disabled. So it is often kept secret and they do feel ashamed. But they're intelligent people. They just "missed the train" when they were young, because no one helped them. Through my foundation, I've been working closely with the associations that deal with this prominent issue. A few years later, illiteracy became a "national cause" – and I'm proud of that.

You've described education as the "indispensable superfluous" – could you explain that?

I used the word "superfluous" because we don't think of education as something to live or to die for, but it's indispensable because without it, we're animals.

You were raised in a very artistic family. Do you consider that life has been generous from the start and is that why you wanted to give something back with this foundation?

Oh yes, very much. I've been quite lucky. It's a very good experience to give things away – to give time, money if you can, to people in need. Even in a selfish way, it's a great satisfaction.

The couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier is an executive member of the foundation. What does he bring to it?

He brought so much. He helped us with the scholarships for fashion and he didn't only bring ideas – he was present all the time to talk and meet with students.

Gaultier famously said, "Modelling is the only activity where men are paid less than women." Did you become a model because it was the only job where you would make more money than a man?

[laughs] Not really! But I noticed that when I was modelling, that statement is true. It's also because the cosmetics or jewellery markets are much smaller for men than they have been for women. The trend of sophistication for men is quite recent, commercially speaking.