Maggie Jenks Interview
PRODUCER: Thanks for agreeing to speak with us, Maggie. It took some convincing.
MJ: [Chuckles nervously.] It’s a little out of my comfort zone. But yeah, I want to do what’s best for Zanna in the end, so you and Paige convinced me.
PRODUCER: We’re so excited to pay homage to Zanna. She was clearly an amazing woman, and an important person in your life.
MJ: [Nods and begins to tear up.]
PRODUCER: [Holds out a tissue pulled from a box.] Oh hun, tissue?
MJ: Thank you. [Takes it and dabs her red eyes.]
PRODUCER: Can you talk me through how you met Zanna?
[Pause as MJ steadies her breathing.]
MJ: Zanna and I met at uni in our first year, during Freshers’ Week. In halls. Her room was two down from mine, and we shared a kitchen.
I was super nervous that first day, when I got dropped off, and I’d been crying, and I’d come out of my room to get a drink of water or something. My mum and dad, we’re a close family, so I just balled. Zanna came in too, and she must have seen my blotchy face because she left straight away. I thought she was giving me privacy, but then she came back a few minutes later with this huge sparkly pink bottle of prosecco, it must have been a magnum or something, and said: “You need something stronger than that, hun!”
It always makes me laugh thinking about it.
We got drunk, listened to music, screaming at the top of our lungs until a boy down the hall came and politely told us to shut the fuck up. [Laughs.] I ended up sleeping in her room and we were friends ever since.
I felt like I already knew her straight away. Zanna was like that — people gravitated to her. But she was kind, that’s what brought us all together. I had an on-and-off boyfriend who was basically a dick and Zanna was always really good at making me feel better, always there for me. For all of us. She went above and beyond for her friends, no denying that.
PRODUCER: How did the other girls come into your lives?
MJ: Zanna, she sort of collected people. First Sara, she was in our class on the first day. She was sitting in the front row, by herself, looking through her phone, and she looked so cool. Zanna sort of manoeuvred us down behind her and said, “Oh my gosh, I love your handbag, do you want to come for lunch with us?” She made friends easily, like that. Then Gianna, we met her at the student union, drinking Jägerbombs. Classic uni. [Laughs.] That was our first year, and the four of us were thick as thieves for a while, happy and loving life.
PRODUCER: And Paige, how did you meet Paige? Was she one of these people Zanna collected?
MJ: I’m not sure how Paige came along, but it was a few years later, when Zanna and I were finishing uni. One day she wasn’t there and the next she was, always with Zanna, stuck to her side, like a limpet.