Belinda Carlisle: ‘No more rock and roll lifestyle. I get up at 3.30am to chant and do breathwork'
Born and raised in California, Belinda Carlisle, 66, was a founding member of the all-female new wave band The Go-Go's before striking out on her own in the mid-'80s. She achieved a number of hits including Heaven Is a Place on Earth, Leave a Light On and Circle in the Sand, and is heading to the UK to tour in September after the release of her latest album, Once Upon a Time in California. She's also the co-founder and ambassador of Animal People Alliance (APA), a non-profit that provides care to street animals in India and Thailand, and jobs with living wages to vulnerable people to improve their quality of life. She lives in Mexico City with her husband, the film producer Morgan Mason. They have a son.
3.30am
Every day I wake up at about 3.30am. I make myself a coffee, climb back into bed, close my eyes and listen to a spiritual leader like Eckhart Tolle or Ram Dass on Audible. It sounds really pretentious, but it's not. I've been studying these spiritual teachings for a long time. This sounds morbid, but I'm really interested in death and what happens after. A lot of these teachings deal with that, and reincarnation, and provide me with a lot of comfort. It changes your perspective on everything. I'll also do some chanting and breathwork. And transcendental meditation if I have any spare time.
6am
I'm out the door for a big walk around my local park, Bosque de Chapultepec, for an hour or 90 minutes. After that I'll come back and wake up my husband. And then it's time for my Pilates practice. I've been doing Pilates for 30 years. I have my own equipment so I'll just jump on the reformer and do stretching and a lot of whatever I think I need that day. Then I'm ready for the day. Breakfast follows. It's nothing elaborate, usually an egg with a piece of toast.
10am
I try not to spend too long on my emails over the weekend, but if I don't [do any] they pile up, so I try to do a little every day. After that I have an online Spanish lesson for an hour. I take Spanish lessons two or three times a week, and I also practise on Duolingo. I kind of had a head start as I speak French, although now I confuse the two. I love learning Spanish. It's hard but it's really good for your brain, and especially being an older person, it's kind of important. My goal is to be fluent in a couple of years.
11.30am
If it's just my husband and me, we'll go for an early lunch. There are so many restaurants nearby that it's hard to choose where to go. We usually walk unless we visit another neighbourhood like Condesa or Roma; then we'll take an Uber. I've been living in Mexico City for about five years but I don't really eat any Mexican food now, which is funny. I think I just kind of burned myself out on it. I'm vegetarian and there's amazing patisseries and bakeries near us. There's one place we like to go that serves locally grown salads and vegetables. If I'm with my Mexican friends, lunch will be later. After eating we always visit another park close to us that has an aviary. The birds recognise my husband because he always feeds them peanuts. So we'll just wander and sit there for a bit.
3pm
Now it's naptime. I like jumping into bed and watching movies and dozing. I never find any films on Netflix. I'm really out of touch with anything that's super-current. But I love an old post-war Italian film or a Japanese film. Actually, as part of my Spanish lessons I'm also watching a [reality TV] series called Love Is Blind in Spanish with English subtitles. I love it.
5.30pm
We usually stay in on Saturday night. I can count on two hands how many nights I go out a year. I don't even like going out for dinner. I just like staying in and being cosy, and either cooking or ordering food through Uber Eats. If we order in, we'll go for pizza or Indian. Sometimes we'll watch something afterwards. I did go off reading for a while but now I'll read at the end of the day, usually non-fiction like an autobiography or a travel book.
7.30pm
I'm usually asleep at about this time. I try to push it to 8pm, but I'm so tired because I'm up so early. My husband will stay up and watch the big screen in the TV room till about 11pm. My life is very different to how it used to be. I definitely enjoyed the rock and roll lifestyle and I'm happy that I had all these great experiences, but it wasn't sustainable. I'm happier now. I love not having any drama. I love really enjoying the daytime. I'm glad I'm at this point in my life.
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