Success within the music business typically brings admiration, however for Lacuna Coil‘s frontwoman Cristina Scabbia it additionally led to unsettling encounters with stalkers—a lot in order that the FBI needed to become involved.
In a latest interview with Metallic Hammer, Scabbia mirrored on the highs and lows of rising to mainstream steel fame within the 2000s. Among the many darker moments was the presence of obsessive followers who adopted her and even despatched disturbing messages.
She remembers one fan who gave her his marriage ceremony ring. “That was to inform me he had ended a poisonous relationship,” she says, “and to thank me for one way or the other saving him from one thing unhealthy with my voice.” Whereas uncommon, that interplay paled compared to the extra troubling experiences that adopted.
“That was peculiar, however I did have precise stalkers that had been doubtlessly harmful and would observe me round,” she reveals. “I bear in mind them sending me bizarre photos of me lined in blood or sending me photos of a fetus.”
The scenario escalated to the purpose the place regulation enforcement needed to intervene. As a precaution, authorities assigned FBI brokers to observe her security throughout Lacuna Coil‘s North American tour.
“I reported it, and for one full tour I had an FBI agent in each city checking on me,” she explains. “It was not solely disturbing, it was additionally boring for me as a result of I needed to be confined on a tour bus every single day.”
Regardless of the challenges, Scabbia additionally acknowledges the perks of fame. She weighed in on the once-popular observe of rating the “hottest ladies in steel” in magazines, a pattern now extensively criticized as outdated and sexist.
“I do not see the negativity in these lists in any respect,” she says. “I do know lots of people are in opposition to this as a result of they see it as sexism, however I assumed it was only a method to say ‘lovely.’ I did not see it as one thing that objectified me.”
This is not the primary time Scabbia has spoken on the topic. In a 2022 interview – additionally with Metallic Hammer – she famous that such recognition will be “empowering” if the artist is in “full management” of how they’re introduced.
Nevertheless, she did draw a line: “I hate when the picture of a girl is totally sexualised, particularly if there may be expertise behind her. There’s nothing unsuitable with liking your self or feeling attractive and exquisite and displaying it. Put it this manner: within the music world, if being attractive is the one factor that it’s important to supply, that is type of unhappy.”
Enter your data beneath to get a day by day replace with all of our headlines and obtain The Orchard Metallic e-newsletter.
