Interview by CNBC's Tania Bryer to Premiere on 19 February at 10.00pm
LONDON, 7th February 2015 – The next episode of The CNBC Conversation, presenter Tania Bryer conducts a rare and personal interview with legendary designer and film director Tom Ford.
In this candid interview Ford talks to Tania about his childhood and growing up in Texas, why he dropped out of college and got into fashion, his breakthrough at Gucci and the pressures of running it as a public company. He speaks frankly about his departure from Gucci in 2004 and for the first time reveals his feelings towards Yves Saint Laurent, who wrote him 'harsh' letters at the time. He reveals the impact on his personal life and how he spiralled into depression and a mid-life crisis.
Ford also talks about his relationship with his partner Richard Buckley and how fatherhood has changed his life. He gives a few hints about his new screenplay and talks about the final preparations for his upcoming women's wear collection.
In the interview Ford explains, "I'm not great at letting go. I would say it's probably one of the things that's made me successful and one of the things that also torments me, and torments people in my life, because I don't let go. You know, I'm in a job where I'm looking for imperfection…. And so when you carry that over into your life a lot of times you're not really able to appreciate the wonderful things in your life because you're skewed to be looking for the imperfections and you try to fix them."
The 30 minute interview will premiere in the UK/Europe on 19th February 2015 at 10.00pm GMT and video excerpts will be available online at CNBC.com. The programme will also air on CNBC networks in the United States and Asia Pacific.
Select soundbites and photography from the interview are available upon request.
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Notes to Editors
About CNBC
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For more information or transcript, please contact:
Hugo Foulds
Director of Communications, EMEA, CNBC
+44 (0)20 7653 9398
hugo.foulds@cnbc.com