Galery

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"I do not remember that your Greek is so good!". Famous Canadian of Greek origin, actress, writer and producer Nia Vardalos accepted my comment as the greatest compliment in the world. "You are so kind! Thank you!" she said mixing English and Greek words in her charming way. We met in a flat in the Hilton Hotel some time ago and the occasion was not a film but a book. In her book "Instant Mom" (Klidaritmos Publishing House), she describes in an exuberant, plain and discreetly comic way the obstacles faced while attempting to become a mother, and ultimately the decision to resort to adoption. For years she tried to conceive having undergone IVF treatment, but when she saw that Mother Nature and science were playing their own game she decided to become a mother by adopting Ilaria, three years old at the time and almost ten today.
 
At one point Nia Vardalos states in her book, "this time I wanted to tell the truth." However, the truth was a real Calvary. Her visits to infertility and IVF specialists filled with anxiety, her disappointment when she was informed of the negative results... How much has that need to share her memories with the people affected her internal world?

"I think it is important to be able to approach everything you go through, assimilate the experience and then move forward. I thought I had been able to do so before. However, when I started the book with the idea of writing something funny that would include funny things, as is the case when I write scripts I realized I could not do it. It was devious and disingenuous. Therefore, I stayed true to the truth. It was a kind of spell. I felt real purification but at the same time I also felt vulnerable as never before in my life. I cried as I wrote, but now I am talking about it and laughing," says Vardalos.

This is the reason why Nia Vardalos refuses to talk about her failed attempts to conceive through IVF procedures. From the moment that the book became a bestseller, entering the New York Times rankings of best-selling books all wanted to ask her about the issue. "It was not easy for me to refuse to reply because I'm Canadian and Canadians are very good to others. Yet what I had to say on the subject I said it in the book." A book that she initially showed no one, not even her husband Ian Gomez. She did not want to be discouraged or suggested other thoughts. "I usually show the scripts to my mother to see if I have not gone too far with satire regarding my family. I showed this book to no one except my agent and said, ‘Publish it!’"

Nia Vardalos has not taken a dime from the book "Instant Mom".  All profits are available to organizations that are struggling with adoptio- related issues. "I feel that this is the reason why I have written the book. My biggest gain is the reaction of people, on Facebook, Τwitter, in emails, letters and phone calls from strangers who say they have adopted a child having read my book."