By Janelle Ash , Larry Fink Fox News
Ian Somerhalder found success and fame on “Vampire Diaries” and “Lost,” which wasn’t the norm for the Louisiana native.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, the “Common Ground” star said his father is from the Bayou in Louisiana and his accent is so thick he has to translate the English he speaks to other English-native speakers. On the other hand, his mother comes from a long line of Mississippi farmers who “understood the aspect of farming in a holistic regenerative way.”
The Brothers Bond Bourbon co-founder explained that he was raised “super poor” and wasn’t introduced to the finer things in life until he became the face of Versace at 16.
“My dad taught me about the wetlands in Louisiana. When you take more than you give back, there’s an imbalance. And guess who loses? We do. Nature will always find a way to regenerate. It’s us who loses because, look man, we were super poor, but we were so rich. We had, I’m talking freezers full. We had a shed of boxes of Louisiana blue crab, Gulf shrimp, red fish, speckled trout, Amberjack.
‘VAMPIRE DIARIES’ STAR IAN SOMERHALDER SAYS FARM LIFE GIVES HIM BALANCE HE CAN’T FIND IN HOLLYWOOD
“I’m talking fresh tuna. I’m talking all the good stuff. And it wasn’t until I was 16 as a model – I was the face of Versace when I was 16 – and you walk into a restaurant, even in 1994, and you order a dozen Louisiana blue crabs or oysters, and it was $100. And I thought… I have a thousand of these things in freezers. I was like, ‘Oh.’ So while we didn’t have a lot of money, we were rich in culture and the things that we needed,” Somerhalder said.