Sister Cristina in a duet with Ricky Martin in 2014
Photo: Luca Bruno/ AP/dpa
In a talent show, the Sicilian nun Cristina Scuccia sang her way to victory.
Now she has left the order – after an “inner change”.
Cristina Scuccia caused a sensation with »The Voice of Italy« in 2014.
Because she could sing well - but also because she was a nun and performed in the appropriate habit.
At the casting show, the 34-year-old was on stage with world stars like Ricky Martin and Kylie Minogue.
Now Scuccia has left her order.
"It was a change in myself," said the 34-year-old on the talk show "Verissima" on the private television channel Canale 5. She now lives in Spain and works as a waitress, the Sicilian said in the program broadcast on Saturday.
"But I live with a smile."
Instead of wearing a nun's outfit, she sat opposite presenter Silvia Toffanin with a nose piercing and pants suit.
She assured her that she had not lost her faith.
Taking off the veil after 15 years of religious life was difficult, said the former Ursuline nun.
It took her a lot of courage.
In fact, nothing special happened.
"At a certain point I wasn't feeling well," she continued.
»It was as if the habit and the rules had become too restrictive for me after my personal maturation.«
»I no longer understood who I am«
With her success on the 2014 talent show, she felt a "huge responsibility" and fear of disappointing her supporters.
The corona pandemic also hit her hard.
She was no longer able to travel because her father was seriously ill.
"I had a crisis, I no longer understood who I am." According to her own statement, Scuccia got help from a psychologist and asked for a break in the order.
The former nun is a qualified accountant.
She comes from the Sicilian town of Comiso in the province of Ragusa, "from a modest background," as she once said.
"My big dream was to become a singer, I had my own band, I sang at parties and weddings," she said in an interview with the Catholic broadcaster TV2000.
She always felt joy in showing herself, in portraying herself.
There was a fiancé, but "at some point I missed love in my life, true love".
She felt an emptiness.
She disappeared when she was in a musical about the Ursuline Order.
Through this role she understood that God was calling her.
That call now appears to have temporarily faded.
Presenter Toffanin wanted to know how earthly love was, now that she was no longer a nun.
"I believe in love, but that's not my priority now," was the reply.
ala/dpa