Lisa Aybike biography 2022
Lisa Aybike biography
Lisa Aybike grew up in an apartment block in Nørresundby. The money in the family was small, and for Lisa, it was routine to keep an eye on account movements in the mother's bank account to ensure there was money for rent and dinner. She is a daydreamer who can feel the restlessness touching her early on, and already at a very young age, she knows that she will one day go out into the world.
The seed for the career that became her ticket out of the block was laid when she was spotted by a photographer, and her modeling career began when she was just 14 years old.
It was exciting but also insanely hard. I remember that I had made an advertisement for North Jutland, where I was wearing underwear, in an ad in the local newspaper. When I came to school the next day, these pages were pasted up everywhere in the class, and you can easily imagine what the atmosphere was like around that, says Lisa.
That's why Lisa always knew she had to travel one day. She can hardly come to terms with the desire for the modesty of the people of North Jutland, the people of Aalborg, and the Jantelov mentality that she believes is so ubiquitous in the streets. She hated that you weren't allowed to stand out and share your ambitions.
- I had dreams. I wanted to be something, and I knew I just had to get out of here. Sometimes I felt like I simply couldn't breathe in this mentality, says Lisa.
Dream life
She kept the dreams to herself, fearing the outside world's reaction. She went to Løvvangskolen in Nørresundby, a school she describes as socially burdened, and she recalls that even the teachers found it difficult to nurture the students' ambitions.
- No one believed that you could become something, not even the teachers - and if they contribute to knocking down your dreams, it's probably challenging to hold on to them yourself, she says. That's why I kept my mouth shut and continued dreaming to myself. But it annoys me that primary school teachers can represent that attitude. You must support all your students in their dreams and encourage them to go after them. It was not like that at my school, and it had consequences. If you get the feeling that you were born in this neighborhood and going to this school means you can't amount to anything, she says it will probably be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
When Lisa left school, she traveled to the United States with a good friend. They are going on holiday, and the plan is to return home after 14 days. But the dreams flare up in the streets of L.A., and Lisa goes to casting for a series that will later become all teenagers' favorite television, Beverly Hills 90210.
- I was cast and made it to the second round. After we had gone home, I was called to the third casting but could not afford the ticket and lost – probably – a rather crucial role on that account, says Lis
When she returns to Nørresundby, she admits that she only wants to return to the United States. She decides and informs the family that she is emigrating in the hope of fulfilling her dreams and developing her talent. She settled, aged 17, in the States and managed to establish a modeling and acting career that meant she could support herself.
Lisa lives life, even though it can be both harsh and brutal to get life together, but she enjoys that she can finally live out her dreams without having to deal with Jante's law and envy. She dates, and one of those dates where she suddenly finds herself in a restaurant with a man who is a little too old and boring becomes decisive for her future. She is on her way to Las Vegas to participate in the T.V. show Viva Las Vegas, and her date advises her to contact a man she knows in the state to have a local guide on hand when she takes on the gambling city.
- I contacted the man, James, when I arrived in Las Vegas, and we agreed to meet so he could show me Las Vegas. Immediately, when I enter his hotel room, I can feel that there is something special, not love at first sight, but the basis for something, says Lisa.
James feels the same way, and during Lisa's stay in town, their relationship develops into something that ends up being the start of a love affair. James courts Lisa in the most literal sense of the word. He picks her up in a Rolls Royce with an arm full of roses for their first date, and he introduces her to a world where money is a little more significant, and reality often has the character of a dream.
- I fell in love with James, but his world was foreign to me. Perhaps it was the North Jutland that came to mind, there in the middle of the city of millions and the opportunities, somehow, I got a little irritated by the grandeur. The mentality I hate so sincerely and remember so clearly from my childhood suddenly filled me, says Lisa.
But she got used to the idea. They find each other despite their different worlds, and James proposes to Lisa. She says yes, and then there will be a wedding. Maybe.
– On our wedding day – when I was in one hotel room and James in another, I got cold feet. To some degree, I eventually called James and told him I was having a hard time with the idea of marriage. He suggested that we drop the traditions and meet immediately. He came to pick me up, and then we drove out and stopped somewhere and shared a burger he had bought for us. He told me he couldn't promise me anything but his love, and then suddenly, it fell into place. Of course, we had to get married, and we did, smiles Lisa.
Today they live in Santa Monica, and it is based on life here that Lisa is portrayed in the series Danske Hollywoodfruer. She is cast as a housewife with expensive habits and a penchant for easy everyday life, but in reality, she is – mainly – something else.
- I can see what my role in Danske Hollywoodfruer should be and how they have cut my statements so that I fit into the template they have defined in advance, but the reality is a little different. I am working. I make money as a model and actor and am not the type to sit back and live off my husband's money. Besides, we both need to contribute, and it's just as often I who earns the cash as he does. He borrows money from me when necessary, and of course, I also use the money he makes, just like everyone else.
When season one of the series rolled across the screen and the women, and Lisa, thus, came on the press agenda, B.T. sent several articles to the streets, claiming that Lisa and James pretended to be something other than they really were. The newspaper found out that the house, the million-dollar villa they live in, is, in fact, owned by James and his three partners and ran the story big, under the headline "Poor Hollywood wife."
- Well, that's entirely true, says Lisa. It's not our house - and as far as that goes, the story is quite true. The remarkable thing is just that we have never claimed otherwise. She states that we didn't say it was our house; the production company just chose not to say anything else.
All in all, the press has been hard on Lisa and her colleagues in the series. The tabloid media has flown in to confront Lisa with stories from the past about her husband's business.
A journalist presented Lisa with year-old accounts from James' company and asked her to explain a tax issue; another wanted to play a Danish quiz and draw headlines on Lisa's not-so-up-to-date political knowledge.
- Those are probably the conditions, and I don't want to let myself be influenced by them. I somehow knew what I was getting into when I agreed to take part, and for me, it is an equally strategic move about nurturing my career, says Lisa. It annoys me - and I think my point about courtship and envy is emphasized in those headlines. She says that we have difficulty helping other people succeed in Denmark.
When Lisa is at home in Denmark and rarely is, she lives with her mother, who still lives in the apartment in Vangen where Lisa grew up. The Hollywood lady and her husband move into Lisa's old room, and although it may be a unique experience for James, Lisa enjoys being at home with the family.
- I miss my family. My sister, who I was once really close to, has had children, and I only saw my niece when she was a year old. I lost my grandmother and grandfather, who meant everything to me, while I was in the U.S., and I didn't have the opportunity to come home for the funeral. They were just gone when I came to Denmark again. I didn't have much of my family with me at my wedding - and in that way, it's a significant loss. Of course, I occasionally speak on the phone with my mother, but it's never very close, says Lisa. It seems to only be about the big things you get to talk about. That's why it's great to have the opportunity to live together for a few days and spend time with each other. Although it is hard when we have to repeat goodbye, she says.
Lisa and her husband, James, are looking for a new home. Preferably in New York, which has a better flight connection to Denmark. James, who earns his living by investing in various projects, is not dependent on being resident in a particular place and Lisa's jobs; she often travels anyway.
They have no plans to return to Denmark; in reality, Lisa doesn't feel at home.
L.A. is superficial, devoid of culture, and you must swear to a particular way of life if you want to make it there. I'm not a fan of plastic surgery and botox, but she says it's a condition if you want to be successful in L.A. at my age. That's why I can feel like a stranger, she says. Denmark is not really my home, either. When I am back in Aalborg, I can think that there has been a shift in mentality - it is not so cramped here, and you can allow yourself a little more, but still, not enough has happened. I couldn't thrive here, says Lisa.
Most people are waiting for a family increase, but Lisa is not interested in introducing children into the world that is hers right now.
- I would never let my children grow up in L.A. because there is no culture to pass on to them. In Denmark, we have a history and some culture on every street corner, and that is what I would want my future children to grow up with, she says. However, it is not relevant at all right now. We enjoy each other and our existence, which is enough for the time being.
Life in the USA is the opposite of what most viewers of Danish Hollywood wives might think other and more than manicures and common sense. Both Lisa and James work hard and long for their money, which, on the other hand, is more significant in Santa Monica than it is statistically in a suburb of Aalborg.
- Of course, we have created a life for ourselves where our financial basis is probably a little different from most people's. We have some options that others may not have, but we also work hard for the money, so it's not like I can just go into Gucci and order freely from the shelves in several colors, smiles Lisa. We live well, but we don't have staff standing by when we feel like a glass of juice. Then we'll pick it up ourselves, she laughs. If I have to be completely honest, it turns in my head that when you leave Denmark, you discover how spoiled people are in this country. It is for us as it is for all sorts of others. Sometimes it's me who earns money, and sometimes it's my husband. It wasn't that long ago that I was the one who lent him money, notes Lisa.
Lisa Aybike fled across the ocean to escape a mentality she found limiting. She lived her dreams and is true to the choices she has made. She emphasizes freedom as one of life's most basic needs and refuses to allow herself to be limited.
She is acceptable in a small apartment in one of Aalborg's busiest residential areas, but she is better off on the other side of the Atlantic. For now, there are no plans to return to Denmark, but there are plans for so much else.
last updated September 2022