Gianna Nannini was a force to be reckoned with, but somewhere down the line, she lost her way. Gianna was going through a very bad phase in her life; her drug abuse caused a lot of health issues; things were not going great on the professional front either; she was unable to focus and produce a hit album; and most of all, the people who once trusted her were eventually losing faith in her capabilities. Amidst all the chaos, there were a few people who stood by Gianna, and Carla was one of those people. It is to be noted here that Carla’s character is inspired by a real-life person, Carla Accardi, though Cinzia TH Torrini and her team of writers have taken certain creative liberties to dramatize the narrative.
Nannini first saw Carla when she was performing at a bar, and strangely, she felt a really strong attraction towards her. Nannini looked for her after her performance was over, but Carla was nowhere to be found. Nannini didn’t think about her until one day, out of nowhere, Carla appeared at a get-together party that was organized by their common friends. Nannini didn’t want to miss that opportunity, and so she went and talked to her. Nannini learned that Carla was a hairstylist and a really private person. It could also be said that she took her time to open up in front of everybody. There was this unexplainable chemistry between them, and Nannini couldn’t understand why she felt so attracted to her. There were other people in Nannini’s life, too, and she had this habit of leaving them and vanishing from their lives without any sort of warning. Nannini did that with Carla, too, but somehow, she always found herself going back to her.
Carla, one day, even asked Nannini why she disappeared from a person’s life without giving any sort of prior intimation to them, as the generally perceived notion would be that the latter might be scared of commitment. Nannini accepted that she probably did that with others, but with Carla, she was just not able to do that. Whatever was happening in Nannini’s personal life had an adverse impact on her relationship, too. Nannini was going through a very bad phase in her career, and her drug addiction was making things even worse. Mara, the manager at Ricordi, was unhappy with Nannini, as she had never expected that the musician would deal with things so casually and act in such an unprofessional manner. Around the same time in Beautiful Rebel, Nannini saw Carla getting intimate with another girl. Nannini did confront Carla about it, and the latter very clearly said that she didn’t get any sort of certainty from her that’d make her wait. Carla had a lot of feelings for Nannini and she knew that seeing her with another girl would have hurt her quite a bit.
But Nannini vanished for prolonged periods of time, and Carla didn’t know if she was expected to wait or just forget about her and move on with her life. Carla didn’t want to complicate things so much that it became difficult for her to take a step back. Carla was obviously quite attached to Nannini, but the latter’s unpredictable behavior made her take precautions because she wanted to fend for herself before anything else.
Carla told Nannini time and again that she had to take charge of things, act more diligently, and be more responsible if she didn’t want to spoil everything. Also, Carla made it very clear that she was not going to validate whatever wrong Nannini was doing in her life. Probably, that was the reason why Nannini created this fictional guy in her mind who validated her dysfunctional and self-destructive actions.
Carla was there for Nannini when she started her rehabilitation therapy. Carla was not the kind of woman who shied away from facing challenges, be it in her professional life or her private life. She stood alongside Nannini throughout her treatment, and the best thing was that she did it out of her own will and not to prove anything to anybody. When Nannini was going to make a comeback, Carla made sure she motivated her and reminded her of her capabilities. At times, in Beautiful Rebel, it felt like Carla was more nervous about everything than her partner, and that spoke volumes about the kind of bond they shared.
Carla and Nannini moved to London in 2017 as the latter felt that the laws in the United Kingdom gave her surety about the safe future of her daughter, Penelope Jane, in case anything happened to her. Also, same-sex marriages are not allowed in Italy and that’s why both women decided to opt for civil union, majorly because they wanted to secure their future. Carla and Nannini lead an extremely private life, and the latter, in an interview, said that it is a conscious choice from her end, as she doesn’t want people to have unwarranted opinions about their lives and create unnecessary hassle that could otherwise be avoided.
