It's dark in my favourite dream. Someone is after me. Don't know why. I got fear. Then, suddenly I lift off. I fly away. Far away. How do I feel now? It is like swimming in the air, free and without any weight. No-one can reach me. No-one can touch me. It' s a wonderful feeling.
Otherwise I am alarmed by this dream somehow. What does it mean? That I want to escape from the real life sometimes? But from what? From success or the pressure of show business? No. I enjoy every second of my fame. If I could rewind my life back to the start I wouldn't change a thing, honestly.

When I was a little girl I knew already: I want to become famous. I always worked hard for this dream, very hard. I took singing lessons and joined performances at school. I did everything to become a good entertainer because pretty looks won't make up a star, whether in the music business nor in the movie industry.
Retrospectively many people insinuate that I hadn't a real childhood. That's a lie! My parents always had taken care that I had enough time to play. I missed nothing. In general I grew up regularly. I was a normal girl, almost. Because not every girl had her first stage experience with the age of nine. I remember this day exactly. A great wish became true as I joined a concert given by my aunt Gladys Knight in Las Vegas but I was anxious. I was afraid of the audience and afraid to fail. My bashfulness obstructed me at that time. I loved to escape into my dreams.

Today I am still a dreamer, a daydreamer. In a conversation with friends often I digress from the original subject. I stare self-forgetful at remoteness. Were I am then? I have no idea. Probably in higher spheres. Sometimes I really don't know. I am somehow mysterious, that's it. Even my parents don't know sometimes, how I think. Likely they put up with the fact that I am an introverted person. No, introverted is the wrong term. I have a complex personality. Actually I am nice and open but often I seclude myself. Other people are afraid of being alone but I like it. At least from time to time. Sometimes I lay on my bed in my Manhattan apartment and look only out of the window. I dream.    
In my dream I am in Egypt, the land of my dreams. The culture and the pyramids - that fascinates me. You know, I'm sure, that I was an Egyptian in an earlier life. Only this way I can explain my fascination. This country casts a spell over me immediately although I knew it only from pictures. As I was very young my mother showed me holiday photos of friends. I saw hierogylphes, pyramids, masks, the people, strange ceremonies - I dived into another world. To explore this world is my greatest dream.

One day I will travel to Egypt. I will be there, were Cleopatra and the pharaoes lived. Unfortunately I can't meet them anymore. If I had a time machine I would visit the ancient Egypt. Who knows, perhaps Cleopatra and me would become very good friends. At least I would have a live experience of that ancient culture which I only know from books.
My books about Egypt are sacred. I use to read every story about Egyptian kings and queens. Sometimes I watch just the pictures. I dream to stand in front of these imposant buildings. Or I make a movie in Egypt. My favourite character to impersonate is Cleopatra. If there will be a remake of that movie I will apply for this character immediately!
But it hasn't to be this project. The main thing is to work in Egypt. I approached this wish by my participation in the making of The Queen of the Damned. In the sequel of Interview with the Vampire I impersonate the Egyptian queen Akasha. I admit it was like a fullfilled dream but unfortunately the movie wasn't produced in Egypt. Also my current involvement in the making of The Matrix II and III don't fullfill my dream. This time I am in Australia. It is a nice country, but even it's not Egypt.    
Otherwise I have a great partner on the set: Keanu Reeves. Surely many women envy me this but I find him just a nice person. He is reserved as me - I like it. The man of my dreams - no. I prefer masculines who let me feel safe and secure. He must be strong as an Egyptian warrior. If I find someone like this I will marry him. Like all little girls I have dreamed always of a traditional wedding ceremony with horse and carriage and wearing white wedding dress. I am hopelessly romantic. I want a man and children - a lucky family.
This wish has to take second place yet. Next I want to let come true another dream, no, two dreams. I will design clothes and accessories together with a friend. Perhaps next year already.
My second dream is not tangible yet. My movie career has priority at the moment but when I am fully established as an actress I want to have a break. Then I want to enrol on a college. My subject of studies will be egyptology, of course, nothing else I could imagine.

The interview on which this text is founded took place in Paris mid of July. An introverted young woman sat on a sofa at an expensive hotel. She needed time before words flow easily. The conversation lasted 40 minutes. It was one of the last Aaliyah had with a journalist. Not only she dreamed of flying, her greatest dream, she said, is to go to Egypt and to study egyptology.