By Tomas Pont Vergés – @pontomaspont
Editor's note: We are friends and brothers of the people of NTD.la, (Not so different), a site based in Buenos Aires, with whom we share that feeling of believing that, despite the doubts of the times, the disasters caused by nefarious characters, and the natural distances, Latin America is our neighborhood. That's why when we meet virtually we laugh, criticize what we see, and laugh again., And, from time to time, we share articles., Since some articles deserve to be repeated and distributed to as many readers as possible across the continent, this time, to poke fun at everyone—at you and at us—, We published this chronicle about Xuxa, which we know you will love.
***********************************
I was a Menem-supporting kid who kissed Xuxa every afternoon when she said goodbye to her show. Those cathode ray kisses were the first ones I gave. The image of her kissing the camera was my first sexual fantasy, though I didn't understand it that way at the time. Like for an entire generation, her image accompanied my childhood as a symbol with ambiguous meaning: on one side, her angelic face and innocent kisses. And a flip side, with rumors of Satanism and sexual escapades.
Even before she was born, the Brazilian diva was surrounded by an aura of mystery. Maria da Graça Meneghel was born in Santa Rosa, in Rio Grande do Sul, in the rural interior of the gaucho countryside, on lands colonized during the 19th century by Germans. His mother, Alda, had a complicated pregnancy. According to the official biography, his father, the military officer Luiz Floriano Meneghel, He entrusted himself to Our Lady of Grace for the health of his wife and the little one to come.
The other side of the story says that Captain Meneghel traveled to the neighboring town of Cândido Godói to consult the town doctor, who was none other than Joseph Mengele, the fugitive Nazi scientist. Cândido Godói has the highest rate of multiple births in the world, and the "Twin Festival" is celebrated there every year. Whether it was the work of divine intervention by Nossa Senhora das Graças or the Angel of Death of Auschwitz, the baby girl was born healthy and incredibly beautiful. A magnet for any mortal.
The childhood of the Queen of the Little Ones Her life was marked by the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her godfather. But it wasn't just hard, it was also brief due to the breakneck pace imposed by her instant fame. At fourteen, while traveling by train, she was scouted by a talent agent. At just fifteen years old, she was put on the cover of the sexuality magazine "Carinho"., Only suitable for those over 18. That's how her modeling career took off. By sixteen, she was already working as a model in New York.
That's when he met Pelé. The soccer star had just gotten divorced and was twenty-three years older than the charming young woman. In a must-read interview with the Colombian sports magazine Nuevo Estadio –in which Pelé also confessed that he debuted with a kid- Edson Arantes do Nascimento provided details about the beginning of the relationship: “When I met her, she was 15 years old, a virgin, and had a boyfriend she was fighting with. Xuxa’s father gave me permission and we went out together.”. And he added: “I didn’t like virgins, so I told her to sort things out with her boyfriend. After that, we started dating frequently.”. Xuxa and O Rei's relationship lasted six years, which coincide with the wildest years of the myth surrounding Maria Meneghel.
In 1979, at only 17 years old, Xuxa made her film debut in a pornographic film, titled “Love, Strange Love”. She played a prostitute named Tamara whose mission was to sexually initiate Hugo… a 13-year-old boy. The film is part of that dark past which, once she achieved success as a child star, she would try to bury with an army of lawyers. Through an agreement with the production company Cinearte, Xuxa committed to paying an annual fee in exchange for the company not distributing the film. For nearly two decades the star paid $45,000 each year. Today, when all the barriers to exclusive distribution have collapsed, the film is available with a simple Google search.
At the age of twenty, an offer from producer Maurício Shermann changed his life. Maria da Graça stopped modeling and accompanying the rich and famous to participate in the children's program "Clube da Criança", on the now-defunct TV Manchete. But it wasn't really until 1986, when he signed with the media giant O Globo, that the doors to the Olympus of television opened for him with the “Xuxa's Show”.
The show aired on Saturday mornings. In its first broadcast, surrounded by colorful balloons and jumping children, a spaceship brought Xuxa to the TV set, where she descended looking stunning. Wearing a low-cut top, a tight miniskirt, and a leather collar, she arrived from outer space dancing to an eighties rhythm with catchy melodies. In five minutes he won the affection of the children, and the base instincts of their parents. A ratings-breaking, money-making machine was born. From a tower in Sao Paulo, O Globo executives toasted with champagne.