She was speaking English, so perhaps there was a French accent...

"Everywhere she walks, Jeanne-Claude is followed by a constant stream of thank yous and butchered mercis. She smiles back, but won't sign autographs and stops for photographs only grudgingly. In a whisper, she explains that the gratefulness is misplaced. The whole project, all $21 million of it, was of, by and for themselves, Jeanne-Claude and Christo. If the public happens to like it, well, that's a bonus. Any artist would tell you the same, she says."

This according to the the NY Times, so maybe, how do you say in English, they paraphrased?