Benjamin Mascolo: “Bella, who loves me for who I really am”

Anyone who has had the misfortune of suffering an injury, dislocation or physical trauma of any kind knows well how a thing as simple as walking can get tiring overnight, cursing us for not having given enough thanks to that faculty so obvious. and within reach that we didn’t realize we had. Benjamin Mascolo experienced that sensation on his skin seven years ago. When the pulmonary histiocytosis that led to hospitalization in the ICU prevented him from talking and walking at the same time because he could not manage his breath and breathe continuously. Going up a flight of stairs involved superhuman effort and fatigue, which is why, for so long, Benjamin’s main fear had been one: running. Following the principle of the so-called shock therapy, the one that leads us to face openly what terrifies us, Benjamin decided that, after six years, it was time to put himself to the test in the most extreme way possible: registering for the New York Marathon to defeat his greatest fear once and for all.

Me: Respira, the Amazon Original documentary film available November 12 on Prime Video, tells of that undertaking, but also of the emotions and imperfections of a boy who understood that life should be savored to the full, living every day as if it were the last. “I think a man finds out who he really is when he faces his fears. The thing I hated most was running, because if I tried, I risked failing, “says Benjamin in connection with Zoom from Los Angeles, where he lives with his girlfriend and future wife. Bella Thorne, which in Me: Respira it follows her emotional and spiritual growth with a truly moving delicacy. “All my life I have tried to look better than I was, but it was only when I met Bella that I learned to accept myself more.. Because she loved me for who I really was. I found the courage to cultivate the sides of myself that I didn’t want to face and I went on ”, resumes Mascolo who, especially at the beginning of his artistic career together with Federico Rossi, was convinced that he was cut out to be a singer. «I always confronted myself with others, I belittled my talent. Then I realized that the important thing was not the voice, but the feeling I put into it “, says the artist who, together with music, has recently given himself a break as an actor alongside Bella in Time is Up: a career that could lead him to play new roles in the future.

What was decisive in Mascolo’s life, however, was not success, but failure. «When I met Fede we took music as a hobby, but the episode that changed our career was when we were excluded from Sanremo Giovani. It hadn’t even taken us Friends and ad X Factor, so I told him: from tomorrow, we’ll see you every day at your house and let’s work on music. We did it for a year: that’s where the most important growth took place ». It is precisely the imperfections that are one of the most beautiful parts told by Me: Respira, together with closure of the project by Benji and Fede in an incredible setting like the Verona Arena (“There the most important chapter of my life ended. From the next day, I would have had one less certainty: I would have been alone. With Faith we are brothers, and we always will be. But the fact that we are now alone at work is a bit scary because we have to get involved again “) e the marriage proposal to Bella. «Before meeting Bella, I used to dedicate my time to work, but now the priorities have changed. I want to build a family, have children. I have a lot to learn as a human being, but I would really like to commit myself to be a father and a husband to be proud of “. After the many trials he passed in his life – not only the illness, but also the bullying he suffered at school for being half Australian and not having designer clothes – now Benjamin, also thanks to the documentary directed by Gianluigi Carella , he has learned three things: to be himself for better or for worse, to shape his future on evolution and to break out of the mold. “With Me: Respira I didn’t mean to have challenged myself and to have won, but to have tried to the end ».