Holiday Habits: David Hasselhoff
The former Baywatch star, singer and America’s Got Talent judge talks travel.
Interview: Zoe Griffin
“Germany is my favourite country in the whole world. Why? Because I love the people. They have always been really warm and welcoming and shown me such support. In other countries you go in and out of favour, but that has never happened to me in Germany. The Germans have stuck by me through thick and thin. I appreciate that.
“They have a town called Hasselhoff in Germany and I have always wanted to buy a place there. How cool would that be for me to be able to say I am David Hasselhoff from Hasselhoff? I will buy a place there eventually but I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to house-hunt yet. Aside from Hasselhoff town, I like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich – I couldn’t even pick one German city that I love the most because I have truly special memories of gigs I’ve played in each city.
“I come to London quite a lot, and when I’m not working I love walking around the parks in the fresh air. I went to Henley Regatta at the weekend because I like celebrating local traditions – we’d never do anything like that in America. Being active is important. I also went to South Africa recently and swam with sharks. There’s an amazing place called Rocky Bay, near Durban. Normally you have to go down in a cage, but this place lets you go down freely. People thought I was mad, but I got such an adrenalin buzz. Obviously, because of Baywatch I am comfortable in the water.
“I have friends in most cities in the world, so I can just turn up somewhere and have someone to hang out with. I’m probably one of the only men in the world who keeps in touch with his ex-girlfriends – I recently played a charity gig with a lovely lady called Patricia Lewis, who was my ex-girlfriend from 20 years ago.
“When I’m on holiday I always try to see some culture. I recently appeared on a TV show in Ireland called Tubridy Tonight, and I had a day to do whatever I wanted – so I went to Dublin Castle. That place blew my mind because it’s so old. It’s from the 1200s! You don’t get stuff like that in America either.”
Check out the Hoff’s new reality show on living TV this September (title to be announced).
