The multi-artist Kristian Leth has both acting, music and several books on his CV.
And then he is the son of Jørgen Leth – a truth he has for years tried to free himself from professionally.
He tells this in the Radio4 program ‘The last meal’ on the occasion of the publication of the memoir ‘A way out of the fog’, where he describes for the first time growing up with a father who was largely absent.
In the program, Kristian Leth explains that for many years he has had to resort to writing about himself and his family.
– It was something I did not want to write about for a long time. I did not want anyone to have a feeling that I was starting a place where I was guaranteed some kind of attention. It has been very important for me to get the knowledge and skills first, he says and adds:
– That was what I was to be judged on.
Took distance
42-year-old Kristian Leth has always been aware that his well-known family could give him an advantage in the creative industry to that extent, and he was certainly not interested in that.
A decision that has meant he has time and time again had to say no to offers that might otherwise have pushed him into the spotlight.
– It was very important to me that the first things I did I fucking myself. And therefore I can also see that I shut something down. There was some substance I would not touch because it would feel like a trick somehow, says Leth in the program and continues:
– I can not tell how many program proposals, interviews, quiz programs, family culture- more or less tabloid shit ideas I have said no to, which have had to be about me and my father or me and my family. I have said no to everything.
But even though he acknowledges that he has probably overreacted at times in his release process, he sticks to his decision.
– If you’re constantly struggling to think you’re talentless, I do not think it does not help to have earned every single centimeter you have walked. It is by no means a complaint, but a finding. It’s a condition, and I also think I overreacted. I scrubbed myself with the wire brush, because I simply should not have it (that he got a head start due to his family, ed.) Sitting on me, says Kristian Leth.
In connection with the publication of the book, Ekstra Bladet has tried to get an interview with Kristian Leth, but according to his publisher he was not interested.
You can hear the entire interview with Leth in ‘The Last Meal’ on Radio4 on Sunday morning or as a podcast below: