Esther of Burundi: From Royal to Run(a)way | 41
Even The Royals
Wondery
4.4 • 844 Ratings
🗓️ 16 September 2024
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Esther Kamatari is a Burundian princess – and one of France’s first Black supermodels. She was raised to be a devoted princess to her people, but when the monarchy falls and her family is blacklisted, Esther flees to Paris. She embraces her new life and makes history on the Parisian catwalks. But Esther can’t outrun her past. And eventually, she has to figure out if she can be both a world-class supermodel and a people’s princess.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wonderie Plus subscribers can listen to Even the Royals early and ad-free right now. |
| 0:04.1 | Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:08.1 | A quick note about our show. |
| 0:10.1 | We do a lot of research for our stories, but we also aren't your high school history class, |
| 0:14.8 | so some details and scenes are dramatized. |
| 0:17.9 | And today's episode may contain language that you probably shouldn't say at |
| 0:21.8 | Fashion Week. Please be advised. |
| 0:29.3 | All right, Brooke. So one of the shows we've been rewatching at our sleepovers is America's |
| 0:35.2 | Next Top Model. Yes. It's been one hell of a catwalk down memory lane. |
| 0:40.7 | Oh, it sure has. How old were you when you first started watching it? Do you remember? |
| 0:45.2 | I guess as soon as it came out, like teens-ish. Yeah. And, you know, thank God it wasn't at all |
| 0:50.7 | traumatizing for young women everywhere. Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Well, okay, |
| 0:56.6 | like what drew you to the show? Do you remember? Chaos. We do love our chaos. I love chaos. I love a |
| 1:03.3 | reality show. I love to watch people trying to like chase their dreams, I guess. But the messiness |
| 1:08.9 | made me stay. Yeah. But, you know, obviously you can't talk about America's next top model without talking about its creator, Tyra Banks. |
| 1:17.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:18.9 | Problematic as fuck. |
| 1:20.0 | But she did break all kinds of barriers as a black supermodel. |
| 1:24.6 | Like she was the first black cover girl for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Yeah, I remember that. But, you know, there were other black supermodel, like she was the first black cover girl for the Sports Illustrated |
| 1:27.7 | swimsuit issue. |
| 1:28.9 | Yeah, I remember that. |
| 1:30.0 | But, you know, there were other black supermodels who actually paved the way for women like Tyra Banks. |
... |
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