Bethany Hamilton is a very busy girl. Traveling to Tahiti to paddle Teahupoo with Carissa Moore. Promoting her biopic Soul Surfer at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Missing a main artery by millimeters courtesy of a fin-gash earned on an Indonesian boat trip. And that's just the end of May and June! Still in the thick of publicizing her film, which comes out on DVD August 2, Bethany somehow manages to make time for the things she enjoys most -- surfing and inspiring others.
We talked to you right before Soul Surfer came out, how has your day-to-day life changed since?
It's changed a lot. Soul Surfer came out April 8th. Now it's the end of July and so much of my life still revolves around the movie and promoting it. I'm getting a lot of cool opportunities coming through that I really want to work out, like a surf travel TV show. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes my way. But for now, I'm just taking life one day at a time and trying to enjoy everything that I've been doing.
You've been a celebrity in surfing for a long time; do you feel like a bona fide Hollywood one now?
Ha! I definitely DON'T feel like a bona fide Hollywood celebrity! Going out in public is a bit different; I'm even more noticed, but my heart is in surfing and it always will be. I'm just a surfer.
Which was more work, making the movie or promoting it?
They were both a lot of work. Making the movie was a lot more fun because we were on set and it was cool to see everything being made. It was great because I was on Oahu and could go surf whenever I wanted. Where promoting it, I'd end up in freezing cold Chicago or somewhere -- not psyched to be away from the ocean! Since the DVD is coming out August 2nd, and the international releases are still coming up, it's still kind of hectic. We took trips to Chicago, Nashville, Florida, Colorado, LA and New York, and I've been doing interview after interview since. So you can see why I'd get sick of answering the same question over and over again! But for the most part I just gritted my teeth, put my head down and worked hard. Knowing that I love the movie and how it turned out motivated me to promote it. It was worth it.
The most enjoyable shows were probably the ones I did with AnnaSophia. We both have our different take on things and we've become pretty good friends, so it's always more fun to do interviews with her. One of my favorite shows was probably the recently filmed show "My Wish" with ESPN SportsCenter and Make-a-Wish.
I saw that. It must feel amazing to be able to inspire kids in the fight of their lives like Kendall.
Hanging out with Kendall was amazing. She was a ball of energy -- the cutest little girl. She and her sister Cameron were so fun. We took them surfing; just hung out, and let them help color one of my surfboards, which turned out pretty cute. It was a special day. She got to go on this parade with me in Waikiki and she held my hand all day. It was so cute. It's pretty mind-blowing to see this young girl who's dealing with so much and has already been through so much, but is still able to smile. She was an encouragement to me. At the same time, it's really heartbreaking. Our health is something that's so special, something to be cherished. To lose it is really sad. I had a hard time not crying at times while hanging out with her, but I just tried to have fun and that's exactly what we did!
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