tavis: good evening from los angeles. first of tonight, a conversation with the iranian-born journalist who spent 118 days in one of iran pose the toughest prisons. maziar bahari was captured in 2009. his book is called "then they came for me". and gabourey sidibe ishere. here. we are glad you have joined us. maziar bahari and actress "then gabourey sidibe.maziar

>> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: maziar bahari is an award winning journalist and filmmaker who was captured in iran while covering the presidential election for "newsweek". the story of his captivity as the basis for the claimed text, "then they came for me". a family story of love,

captivity, and survival. good to have you on this program. >> nice to be here. tavis: everyone of us knows what it's like to have your mother come into your room and we took on any given day but how you process your mother coming to wake you up to tell you there are five men at the door who have come to take you away? >> in the first instance, i felt guilt because it was the third time that my mother had to go through that. they first came for my father in the 1950's and for my sister in the 1980's and i tried to avoid being arrested and i tried to avoid -- i try to be a fair and balanced journalist but then they came for me in 2009. i felt guilt but then of course, my mother's strength also gave me strength and i was proud of her. tavis: how does one family go through this three times? >> it is difficult. of course.

storyily's story is the of thousands of families. even millions of families in iran have gone through what my family did. my father and my sister, they both fought for an ideal. they wanted to build a better iran, a better future for themselves in the country. they had to pay for it because they were living in a dictatorship. and i wanted to be a journalist. i wanted to inform people about what is going on in iran and in former robins about the outside world and the regime did not like that. i had to be punished. tavis: why did they tell you they had come for you? >> first they went through a series of really ridiculous charges. they charged me with espionage and told me that i was the mastermind of the western media in iran. and then they went through my

facebook contacts and my e-mail contact myself phone contacts, and they accuse me of having illicit sexual affairs with every woman on those lists. and then i realized later on that they wanted to incriminate me with espionage and they wanted me to connect to certain people who are reformists who want to reform the system in iran through me and that is why they kept asking about those people and they were telling me that if you just tell us these people are foreign spies, we will let you go tomorrow and i did not do it. as a result, i had to spend 118 days in prison. 107 in a solitary confinement. tavis: when you have captors that asking questions you do not know the answers to or keep trying to get you to admit to something you have no knowledge of, how do you process your answers?

how do you intellectually navigate an inquiry we do not have the answers they're looking for and you cannot make it out. how do you handle that? >> that is a good question. i was somehow prepared for because i grew up listening to stories about prison and interrogations' for my father. my father's friends and my sister and my sister's friends. one thing always, they always reminded me of one thing when i was in prison. i never paid attention to it that much before getting arrested and that was never name names. because if you name one name and they incriminate that person and you have to name others, it goes on and on. i always stuck with generalities whenever they wanted me to make confessions. i just talked about evil western media or whatever. i never named names. at the same time, i always capt.

to my inner resources. the things that i shielded from my interrogators. the things he did not know about my family and the love that i have for my parents, the love they had for me. more memories. also the more general things. culture. for example, i hummed the songs of leonard cohen, the canadian singer-songwriter to myself and my captors did not know about leonard cohen. that was my universe i could preserve it and he could not touch. that is really -- that kept me strong and allowed me to survive the ordeal for 118 days. tavis: how lumley were you treated in those 118 days? >> you see, i was in solitary confinement for 107 days. during those 118 days, but i was

in prison, 107 out of 118 in solitary confinement, i was almost beaten on a daily basis, slapped tomicah it, punched, -- slapped and kicked and punched and i was also psychologically mistreated but the worst part of torture was a solitary confinement itself. because human beings are social animals. human beings need to communicate. human beings need to express their feelings and need to be loved and need to touch people. need to speak to people and depriving people that, that was the worst torture. when people ask me ok, you spent 107 days in solitary confinement but did they torture you? it is like if you ask someone who has cancer, you feel sick, do you have any ellises? that solves her confinement is so horrible, it is so horrifying and people have to put themselves in a room and in a locked room and to have to ask

for people to go to the bathroom. you cannot have food or drink anything and all life is basically controlled by others. you start to hallucinate. you see the walls coming closer to each other. i cannot really describe it. that was the worst form of torture. tavis: how you keep track of the days? >> sometimes they transferred me from one cell to the other. sometimes they had windows and i could see. i always market on the wall. also, they placed the call to prayer three times a day. it is three times a day. that was how i tracked the time of the day. that was the morning call to prayer, noon, or evening. otherwise, i did not know what time of day it was or how it was, nothing. tavis: tell me about the relationship and i use that word advisedly. about the relationship you end

up establishing with one's captor. when you are in their face or they're in yours if you are blindfolded. about the relationship you developed with your captor, specifically mr. rosewater. >> i saw him only once when he came to arrest me. otherwise, for the rest of the time, during my interrogation, i was blindfolded or i was facing the wall so i could not see his face but i could smell him. that smell humanized me. i am often asked whether i think that my interrogator was a monster, was an animal and i always say no. he was not an animal or monster. if you called a torture and animal is an insult to animals because animals do not torture each other. no animal in nature interrogates another animal. no animal in the nature enjoys someone else suffering. that is an insult but also i do

not call my torture a monster because if he is a monster and not a human being, you can -- he can overpower me. i would be defeated, i would accept my defeat. i tried to regard him as a human being, as a flawed human being that i could have communication with. as a result, i could see the flaws in him. i could see his weaknesses. i could manipulate those weaknesses. in order to survive, not because of the altruistic reasons. for selfish reasons, just to survive. i think you can expand that to, i talk about the nations, when you say satanic or demonic or monstrous. then you cannot communicate with those nations, you have to regard nations as collective, a collection of different people and even that system as a collection of what people, people that you can communicate with nonetheless. tavis: is what you offered not advice on how we ought to check

our language with regard to iran? >> that is true. yes. in regards to iran or any other nation or any other group. when you are demonizing a nation, when you are demonizing a group, the same way that the iranian government is demonizing the u.s., then you are telling your people that you cannot have a conversation with them. i heard khomeini call the u.s. the great satan. that was the end of the conversation. it cannot have conversation with the great satan. he was indoctrinating his followers into hitting americans. for my torture when he called me an american even though i am not, i'm a canadian citizen, he called me an american, that was the worst insult. he did not regard america as a country like others. he regarded america as the great satan. americans are better than that. the u.s. hopefully is better

than the ayatollah khamenei. i do not think they should demonize the government. i see that president obama cleverly as not doing that. he always emphasizes on having a dialogue with the iranian people. even dialogue with the iranian government because you have to have dialogue even with the most flawed people. there are no evils. there are only four people we should have conversations with. tavis: obviously and think like you did make it out after 118 days. you were freed. one of the things that occurred that give you reason to believe that they would come is the day your captor referred to u.s. mr. hillary clinton. i ask you now, mr. hillary clinton, what did being called that due to, what did that inside give you? >> i remember the day they called me mr. hillary clinton. i had nothing to do so i was

doing a lot of exercises and was doing pushups and situps. at that point i was doing pushups and when they called me hillary clinton, i used to do 30 or 35 pushups and i do not know where i got the energy. i did 50 or 60 and i started doing situps and i was doing 300 situps and i was doing so many my stomach started to hurt. i was so overjoyed and empowered by saying that. calling someone mr. hillary clinton, meaning there is a campaign for you and people outside of the walls of the jail were supporting you, so it was imploring. that is why i am doing this interview and that is why i wrote the book. not all journalists in iran, not all prisoners in iran have the international profile that i luckily had. not all journalists were lucky enough to be working for

newsweek. i have to be the voice of the people who are languishing in iranian jails and people did not know their names and people -- they do not have an international profile. because of that, the iranian government putting more pressure on them and what i went through may be nothing compared to what some iranians -- yesterday i friend of mine died in prison as a result of a hunger strike. they did not care about his hunger strike and they took him to hospital. and he perished in prison. tavis: it is a powerful tax. not a story just about his own capture but that of his family, his sister, his father before him. the book is called "then they came for me". a family story of love, captivity and survival. maziar bahari is the author. i am glad that you had the opportunity to survive this ordeal and you and your family, you can spend talking -- time

talking about this ordeal. >> thank you. it was an honor to be here. tavis: next, oscar-nominated actorress gabourey sidibe. stay with us. gabourey sidibe was nominated for role in "precious". it can see her in "the big c". here is a scene from "the big c". >> i am bedazzling one haulingon costume. >> you still dress up? >> yes. i remember -- i love pauline. >> it was the first year he got halloween. we were done trecker trading in one hour. he came home and dumped his bad on the floor and tore into the candy. i found him waiting at the front door dressed out ready to go again.

>> he was pocahontas? paul was sure he was going to be gay. tavis: nice to have you on the program. >> thank you. tavis: for somebody who did not want to do this, who fought doing it, because your mother did it and you saw her struggles, for someone who did not want to do it using to be doing all right. >> yap. it is funny. -- yeah. it is funny. if you tell got your plants he will laugh in your face. tavis: are you enjoying it? will you admit that now? >> i admit that. i am really happy with what i do for living and that is what i consider work. being on set, bringing a character to life, and working with other actors and directors. that is what i consider to be worked and it is so much fun. there is all that other where fame stuff, that is not as fun and it is what i do to get to the work but that is what i do

for living and that is what fulfills me. tavis: what drew you to this character on "the big c"? >> shias fund. she is 17 years old and she is fun and she thinks she knows everything. -- she is fun. that is what draws me to her. the familiarity. tavis: how difficult is it to navigate past the hype and the nomination? how difficult when you come out in their first project and it gets all that a claimant to have to navigate the career beyond? >> i have a very different way of thinking. thinking,eople aren't are you scared, will be hard for you? the best thing about having my first addition leading to an oscar nomination means i do not have to struggle to be nominated

for an oscar to provide immigrate actress -- i am a great actress. i know so many who are chasing the statue because they think that is when the world will realize i am a great actor. i have done that already. tavis: it was liberating to be nominated so early on. >> exactly. taking that role, i never thought i would be -- i know what it meant to be nominated. i am glad that i am and i am glad i do not have to worry about it. tavis: if it happened again, you would not be worried. >> hellol, no. i love being nominated for stuff. tavis: what do you like about it? you had misgivings initially. what do like about acting? >> it is really fun to take on a roll as someone that reminds you

of someone else. when i did "precious", she reminded me of so many girls. i just did an action directed by brett ratner, i played a maid. i like taking a character i've seen in real life and wearing that suit. and pulling people into thinking that is who i am. with "precious", so many think i am her. it makes me laugh. it really does. ha, i will do. you think i am that i am this. confusionu find that conclusi laughable instead of being offended. >> is a tribute to the talent i did not know i had. yeah, i fool a lot of people and

i would get it all the time and people still that might have never seen me on a talk show or anything, expect my voice to sound like her. expect me to be a little dumb. and not so happy and they do not expect me to smile so when i do smile, there is that and it is funny to see their reaction and it changes their minds and lets them realize i am an actress and people are more than one dimensional. tavis: you said something that got my attention. i will ask you to unpack it. there is this notion that many of us have talent we are not aware of. we have a gift. how did you discover you were gifted? what do you say to people who have talents that they do not know are there? >> i think it is ok, a group and my mother was a singer -- i grew up and my mother was a singer and my dad was a cab driver.

i did not realize he was an amazing artist until i was 21. i saw him drop picture and it was fantastic and it turns out he always wanted to be an architect and he can play the guitar because he has perfect pitch, and he plays by year and i had no idea but that is nothing he ever shared with me. also nothing that he thought was important. i think all we need to do is pay attention to ourselves and pay attention when somebody gives you a compliment. based on something that you do naturally. that lets you know that that is your talent. i think talent comes in so many different sizes and colors. so many different ways. doing that, that is a talent. people make a career snapping. i cannot snap. i can't. other people can. any little bit of talent that you find in yourself, you must

nurture it. and nurture it. even if it only means something to you, it is special. tavis: we have a couple things in common. you cannot snap and i cannot whistle. >> i cannot be there. >tavis: it is something i cannot do. no matter how hard i try. what was it that attracted you to psychology? i have always been curious. >> it is the dumbest story. you will be able to tell the was raised by television. -- that i was raised by television. , the fatherns" was a psychologist and had his office downstairs. how awesome it would be of i could have people come to my house and pay me to listen. i thought that was amazing. wire.

-- why are people not doing this? i wanted to be a psychologist and i have a cousin who was an actress and she listened to me and she gave me a psychology books at a young age. i started to read and i read "sybil" when i was 8 years old. it is about multiple personality disorder. tavis: it is a heavy book for an eight year old. >> when those movies were coming out, my mom would not let me go unless i read the novel first. which is good. probably something i will do with my own kids so i have a love for reading that most kids did not have. and so in reading this one person who spreads into 15 something characters and she does it without knowing, thought it was fastening saar read more

and more psychology books -- it was fascinating so i read more and more psychology books. tavis: that was a way to make robin thick known. what does your cousin who is an actress who turned you want to these books think of your acting and a claim? >> she is proud of me. she is 18 years older than me. i have always been her baby. she is my favorite cousin and so she is varied and artistic. she can do anything. she is a jazz singer and a designer, she does so many things. any little bit of talent, she wanted to nurture. she is proud of me which is a blessing because sometimes when you hit in a certain way, the people that have your back and want it seem to disappear once

you got it. she is a blessing. tavis: that is a beautiful thing. gabourey sidibe, can i say gabby? >> i am surprised you said gabby. tavis: gabourey sidibe in "the big c". it is on showtime. that is our show for tonight. thanks for watching and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, abhisit vejjajiva pbs.com. conversation about secret sites. that is next time.

[captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. >> be more.

i took it into a shop once and they said-- they thought it was probably worth perhaps £100 but i ought to get it looked at by such as yourself to get a value on it. so you really would like to know the value? well, i think it is for me something that really appeals. this reminds me of when i wake up in the morning, i have a big fig tree in my garden full of birds. but of course i don't see little things like these parakeets which are absolutely, beautifully done, with their little pink cheeks. and what's so nice about this is you've got all the shading in the leaf, which is extraordinary when you think this is actually made of bronze. it's bronze, bronze birds, bronze leaf,

- cold painted. - yeah. and there's one factory that really comes to mind when you look at something like this, which is the bergman factory. now normally things like this you'd expect it to be marked. if you turn it upside down, there is a mark. and many people fall into the trap here. and all this says is "patent applied for." - oh, right. - so that's not the mark. and bergman things are very collectible. - yes. - this is-- has got all that appeal, it's got real sex appeal in my view. well, i think there are many people who would like something like this-- the vibrancy, the sheer delight of it. and a conservative estimate for this would be somewhere in the region of £1,200 to 1,500. really? gosh. that's a bit more than £100, isn't it? yes. my husband thought it was the top of a walking stick. - what do you think it's made of? - i don't know. horn, a horn of some kind.

you're right. it is a horn. that's absolutely spot-on. it looks a bit like plastic, doesn't it? but it is horn. this is actually inlaid in ivory, those pieces and stained. and it's in the form of a cicada, i think. and it's japanese. and it dates from probably the middle of the 19th century. and those two holes are the clue as to what it is. it's actually a netsuke. it's worn at the waistband like that. i think it's a very unusual and rare object. i think you wouldn't have much trouble getting around £1,000 for it. good heavens. - bit of a shock? - good heavens. well, it is a big shock. good. - thank you. - i'll look at it with different eyes. well done.