He had loves and scandals. He rubbed shoulders with the world of football and rock. Actress, model, businesswoman, mother and grandmother, traveled and lived around the world. Lights and shadows of a woman who does not want anything.
Sandra Commisso
02/21/2020 - 7:00
- Clarín.com
- Shows
María del Carmen Villanueva, housewife, 69 years, three children and a granddaughter. Any form with this data would not reveal that behind it is Pata Villanueva . More than an actress, model or first generation of botinera, Pata is, above all, a concept in itself, someone who seems to have lived several lives and each one is the possibility of immersing yourself in a different adventure .
It is not easy to keep up, but she quickly shortens the distances and wants to throw herself in an armchair to listen to her anecdotes and laugh at everything. In recent months he suffered two falls, one down the stairs of his house in Punta del Este and another in Buenos Aires, while trying to lower the wings of an air conditioner, perched on a table. The consequences: two broken ribs and several blows to the head and body. "I broke my head and they had to sew me. It was horrible. I was very bad psychologically." But in spite of that, his mood is intact and he shows verbiage, friendly, hospitable, unstoppable .
She knows from the inside the world of television, football and rock. She was an entrepreneur, entrepreneur and singer and lived in France, England, Spain, Corsica and Mexico. He was a wife, girlfriend, lover, divorced, abandoned and widow. And death was also on the brink.
-What do you put in the "profession" box when you have to fill out a form?
-Housewife. Once in a while, in the hotels I put an actress to give me a little more ball.
Paw Villanueva. A girl from San Isidro who, without seeking notoriety, became famous. Photos: Martín Bonetto,
Chapter I: Catechist mother, rebel daughter
Pata was a girl from San Isidro, a Catholic family. At 18 he ran away from the house. "I was very transgressive since I was a little girl. I told my mother that I was going to Rosario and I went to Europe, alone, with 100 dollars. A barbarian frenzy was put together ."
-Were you always the black sheep of the family?
- I did not fit in that world, in the mental structure of my family, especially my mother, who was very Catholic Action. My dad was not so much, he was a very funny salteño, jodon, he got me better with him. We were eight brothers, very followed, because my old woman had one child per year, very traditional. He was a dentist and she, a doctor of Philosophy and Letters and gave catechesis at La Cava, but he wouldn't let me go. She was a friend of Che Guevara and Jorge Bergoglio and when Mother Teresa of Calcutta was visiting Argentina in 1982, she was there and I was also there. Mother Teresa held in my arms my daughter Bernadette, who was a baby.
-Your mom didn't approve of your way of being?
-It was a very strong woman, I could not approach, she never kissed me and for her I was a disaster. My old man was more relaxed. When I was 8 or 9 years old, he took me for tea and bought me some divine dresses from a place called Marilú Bragance , and that was the best plan in the world for me. He taught me to play the guitar, my brother the hype and we all sang together.
- Did you learn to play folklore?
-Obvious.
Chapter II: From France to La Pampa with "The Song Toad"
In a corner of the living room of his house in Recoleta, there is a guitar. It belongs to his son Robertino (the youngest of the two he had with the soccer player Alberto "Conejo" Tarantini, remembered defender of the Argentine World Champion in 1978). Upon request, Pata takes the guitar and starts singing. "You laugh, but when I was living in France, they didn't understand a doorknob, I sang The Song Toad and they loved it. I write songs, I like to write songs to my children, my granddaughter. When I was with David (Lebón ) I wrote several. "
And then he remembers a stage in which he made a living as a traveling singer. " I had a time, it will have been for a year that I was going to sing to small towns in La Pampa every weekend . I had three songs of mine and four covers. But sometimes they didn't even have the right tracks and they put on others and I sang Likewise, once, the owner of the disco where I was going to sing, it seems that he was a fan of mine, had a pre-infarct and was admitted just before my performance. Then the businessman who had hired me made me go to the clinic after show, like at three in the morning for the guy to see that I had really acted. So I appeared all dressed in silver and the guy was all piped and the lady, in the next bed, with rollers. that if I didn't believe him and I wasn't going to pay him, what do I know? It looked like a scene from Almodóvar. I fucked the businessman and said: how are you going to bring me here? "
Chapter III: The Paw and the Rabbit for the world
Pata Villanueva and Conejo Tarantini. They were one of the most famous couples during the '80s. They had two children. Photo: Clarín Archive
For many years, they were the couple that appeared in all the covers of the magazines. Alberto "Rabbit" Tarantini, soccer idol, world champion, and Pata Villanueva, famous model, recently separated from businessman Héctor Cavallero, with a daughter, Agostina. For years, they were an itinerant family, according to the clubs in Europe where he played. There were born his two children: Bernadette, in England, and Robertino, in Spain. Like so many other couples, one day they separated.
Paw Villanueva
Rebel,
adventurous and survivor
Youth
70/80
Youth
Pata was a model and almost unwittingly became famous.
Cap girl
People
1978
Cap girl
People
Pata Villanueva and Rabbit Tarantini, the romance of the World Cup.
Football
Paw and the "Rabbit"
Football
Pata Villanueva and Alberto Tarantini. They were together for 14 years, they had two children: Bernadette and Robertino.
Rock
The 90s
Rock
Pata Villanueva's romance with musician David Lebón lasted 5 years.
Cap girl
Playboy
1991
Cap girl
Playboy
December cover, has no problem in defining itself as one of the first Argentine botineras.
Actress
2017
Actress
In 2017, the work that José María Muscari directed and brought together 10 women was part of the "Extinguished" cast: Adriana Aguirre, Beatriz Salomón and Luisa Albinoni among others
Present
2020
Present
New stage: at this stage of his life he says that what he enjoys most is being with his granddaughter Joaquina, 8 years old.
- Do you identify yourself as a botinera?
- That is something that was invented 10 years ago and I was it 40 years ago. But the first was Carmen Yazalde ( NdR : married to Héctor "Chirola" Yazalde ) and then Marta González ( married to Chiche Sosa ). But maybe I was a little more popular because of Rabbit's fame. Three months after separating from Cavallero, I became a girlfriend with the Rabbit. He was 21 years old, and I, 26 and a daughter. They didn't give a mango for us.
-In fantasy, one imagines that life in Europe as a woman of a famous footballer is privileged. How was it in your case?
-It wasn't that easy. You always start from scratch, you never know where they are going to install you, you have to look for school for the boys. The social always solved it with the sport, as I played tennis well, I looked for the best tennis club, I signed up and put together a small group. But there were places where I didn't have such a good time, as in Corsica. England is also a difficult place, I knew some English, but I lived in Birmingham which is a city of the interior and if you don't speak like them, they don't understand you. Sometimes I bought anything at the supermarket, because it confused me. I also got together with the women of the English players, but they were going to take Martini at 7 in the morning !!
- Life with an athlete was not ideal for you.
-The athletes get up at six in the morning, they are going to train, they come back, they are tired, you have to wash their clothes, be aware of the gauze, the bandage, everything. Then they will play somewhere else and they are not there for four days and you will be alone with the boys. There comes a time when that makes you tired. As much as you are in love, love lasts for a while . He was leaving and I was grabbing the boys and going skiing. I had many opportunities, it was a beautiful mine and I took advantage of them. It wasn't bad, I felt alone. Sometimes the circumstances were like that.
Chapter IV: Rock & roll in the pool
Pata Villanueva and David Lebón, during their romance in the '90s. Photo: Clarín Archive
In one of his lives, Pata was in a couple years with the musician David Lebón . He went from knowing the world of football from within to fully immerse himself in the rock universe.
-How were those years with David?
-A completely opposite world, I went from day to night. At home there were always Pappo , El Flaco Spinetta , Charly García , who often stayed to sleep. They stayed running until 6 in the morning. The rockers are rockers among them, and forget, you are there because you serve to take them the gin and tonic and the fernet . With David, he took me barbaric, we were in love, he made me divine songs and I also loved him, but when they get together among the musicians, they don't give you five of the ball. And there came a time when I felt alone. And I decided to leave. When I saw them all singing down the water, in the pool, it overcame me and I left.
Pata Villanueva and a rock life like his idol, Keith Richards. Photos: Martín Bonetto.
Chapter V: Mexican Heaven and Hell
In addition to Cavallero, Tarantini and Lebón, Pata dated other men. Owner of his freedom, he never hid or denied his romances. "The men I dated were many, it's the truth. Now I shouldn't have any, because they already ran out of me," she says laughing at herself. And name some: the French tennis player Yannick Noah (" the cutest black I saw in my life "), another tennis player, Paraguayan, Victor Pecci ("it was a bomb "), Marcelo Tinelli (" when we left he was separating and me too " ). Also Phillipe Junot (former Carolina of Monaco), Carlos Monzón , Luciano Castro and Juan Martín del Potro .
But there was one, only one with whom he lived a love story as intense as tragic: Martín Bernt, the Argentine businessman with whom he spent almost 15 years in Mexico and who died in 2011.
-You always talk about him in a special way, was it your great love?
-I found Martin at 48, he had one less. It was a flash that lasted 14 years and I never dared with him, look how I tell you, I never dared to look at another guy . I had so much respect for him and I was afraid he would leave me, I was watching him and I was jealous. Martín was the prototype of a man I always wanted, with whom I dreamed all my life. I met him and got married the next day. He had blond hair, freckles on his back, blue eyes. I looked at him while he slept and said: this is what I wanted. That had never happened to me with anyone. His personality fascinated me, I knew how to do everything, I had lived much more life than me.
Martín Bernt, her last husband and great love.
- During the years in Mexico, you had a very low profile.
-It was another stage of my life, with the biggest children. In Mexico I lived almost 15 years, on vacation, we were together all day, we played golf, we went to the beach. That was a wonderful love story that will never happen again. I thank God for giving me that gift. But I also had three years that were terrible, to see him suffer, as he ended up because of his illness. I loved him and when he died, I suffered a lot. I accompanied him in his last three years of suffering. I took care of him and I gave a wave to that suffering, because I wanted him to have a good time. He had everything and always wanted something else. I told him, why don't you enjoy it ? There are people who find it hard to learn that and the day we learn it, we die .
- And there you started all over again?
- When Martín died, I didn't stay a single day in Mexico, I left. And I never came back, I left my house even with my clothes. I couldn't go back and it's been almost 10 years . I won't even go back, it would hurt me a lot. Maybe I would relive many beautiful years I spent with him, but as I forgot ... Well, you never really forgot ... But I digested them. Then returning to those places would torture my head. I prefer to change the environment and see new people. After that I had such a bad time that I got sick, I was hospitalized for a year, I went through intensive therapy due to septicemia, I almost died.
Chapter VI: Intuition to the extreme
-What are you afraid of?
- I am very afraid of loneliness. Bah, I don't know if fear. I do not like to be alone. It will be because I was always very close, surrounded by brothers, people, family. But I spent time alone when I lived as a couple, outside.
- Did you always play it for love?
-I'm a play. When I fall in love, I don't think of anything but what I feel at that moment. Because I believe that life is a passage and that tomorrow I can be shot in the street or I can die of a heart attack, as happened to my mother and father.
-Do you believe in fate?
- I think that everyone can overcome the place where they were born, socially, and overcome situations such as, for example, that your parents are screwed, as was my case, The relationship with my mother I recovered only when I went to live in Europe with Tarantini. When Agostina was 3 years old and Bernadette, months, my parents went to visit me in France, Toulouse. I had my house pretty, and my mother saw that we were a family, that Rabbit was a super good father. There it was like we started to make friends. They stayed three months, we toured Biarritz, San Sebastián where there were relatives, and they became happy. But the following Sunday I had a bad heartbeat and I had the need to come to Argentina. The Rabbit told me: But if they were three months and they just left . "But I felt something, I fought and I went the same way. When I arrived in Buenos Aires, my mother asked me , but what are you doing here? I don't know mommy, I wanted to see you, we organized a meal for everyone, but that night he died of a heart attack, and a week later my father died, everything was very strong, I had the perfect heartbeat.
-How awesome. Did something like this happen to you other times?
-Yes, with my grandmother, I was hospitalized while my mother was traveling. I remember calling my brother because he sensed something and when he attended to me he told me that he had died. I also remember that when I was with Héctor Cavallero, one day I sat him in bed and said, " Don't leave me for Valeria Lynch ." And he left me for Valeria Lynch . I have such strong premonitions and when I have them I panic. I am re intuitive, suddenly I feel and say something happened and happened. I get alone, it's ugly, but it's like that. When I meet a person, it is a look: if the first day I fell ill, I certainly won't get along later.
Chapter VII: From Harley Davidson Motorcycles to Playboy Magazine
When Pata was a girl from San Isidro, she didn't imagine or dream of being famous. At twenty-something, the fun was to do stunts on Harley Davidson motorcycles with the group of friends . "We were like ten and we got together in the Bajo de San Isidro. I was El Flecha's girlfriend, who had one of the motorcycles, and one day Enrique Caride saw us, who was a filmmaker and offered to advertise for 43/70 cigarettes. "
Knowing Pata's charisma, the group sent her to negotiate. "They offered us a thousand dollars, which was enough. I told the boys, but we doubted because we had no idea. When I spoke to Caride again, he clarified that they were a thousand dollars for each one. We became the ones who thought whether to accept or not and we took a trip, obviously. And there we were all dressed in leather, we were all pretty. I don't smoke and I never smoked, but I ended up saying: "If you want to be in the smoke, smoke 43/70 ". And after that My name is Chiche Gelblung to make the cover of Gente magazine, the first one, on top of the motorcycle, smoking.I made about eight covers and had not done anything more than that, hence they called me for parades.
Paw Villanueva. In the 43/70 advertising with which he began his career, in 1968.
- Did you invent a character or were you lucky?
-It is very crazy, because I never did anything to figure . I made some movies, some theater, then I went to Europe and lived 30 years outside. But nobody remembers those jobs. It is seen that there is something in me that prevails over that, because they keep calling me.
-Why do you think it happens?
-I do not know. Maybe because I say truths even when they are sad and say things that maybe people think but don't say . I laugh at my bullshit, or I say that I am a disaster or I am telling things in a funny way. I realize that people like that. I have a very sarcastic humor, rather black. When we were doing Extinguished , the work of José María Muscari, we performed functions for four years in every corner of the country, there were ten of us and when we left the theaters, the last ones we were always were Mimí Pons and me. People came to ask us things: how was Monzón? Many women told me that they would have liked to be my friend.
Chapter VIII: Love in several languages
-You always lived your relationships with a lot of freedom. What place do sex and love occupy in your life?
- Both have weight. There are relationships of pure physical attraction, which happen, are touch and go . When love meets sex, it is the best, the best. But it doesn't always happen .
-What attracts you men?
- I don't know, they never told me the same things. I guess I have fun, I'm cool. I am not absorbent. It is always two, do not choose alone. Sometimes it went well and sometimes it didn't go so well, like everything. But I do not regret it, but perhaps I did not think a little more or have lived a little longer and not be so sad when a relationship ended. But life came to me like that, I'm hyperkinetic, I have that way of thinking and I'm not going to change it anymore. I always tried not to hurt anyone, but obviously when you separate there is always something you leave and the other is hurt. I think there are ways and ways to leave. I think it is important to be able to continue with a dialogue and not speak badly to your children about your ex.
Pata Villanueva, in his time as a model. "I'm cool, I'm not absorbent," he says. Photo: Clarín Archive.
-Did you feel that you gave a lot when you were in a couple?
-No, but I followed each one in his own. Rabbit loved watching him play, I was excited, it was wonderful. And when I was with David, that happened to me when I saw him play.
- Just as you send yourself to start a relationship, with the same momentum do you also leave if you feel it is over?
-Yes it is. With Héctor when I heard about Valeria, I left him. But in reality, it was already over. Maybe if I shut my mouth, I would have continued. But I do not know.
- And now how are you doing with love?
-Now I am much more interested in intelligence and power in a man, the power of one who is planted in his own and who knows how to have fun . I have friends , I have a good time, but I'm at another stage, I'm already a grandmother. I prefer face to face, look into the eyes, feel the skin. Look if I'm going to meet a guy by Tinder, what do I know who he is? There are people who do and it's fine, but I'm not going to get into that or crazy, it would be a burn. If I find a partner, it would be great to die hand in hand with someone. It's what we said with Martin and when he died it almost took me too.
How do you get along with age and the passage of time?
- At 69, I don't consider myself an old woman . I feel big, obvious, but I feel full, funny, that nobody else judges me. I feel that I am not old, I am a little Mrs. Fulgencia. Age is not a quantity of existence, but a quality of essence. You are not older or younger for the number of years you are, but for the quality of what you are, for the ability to connect with others. I don't know how old people are, whether you connect or not.
-Do you really care about your freedom?
- Many things always happened to me, don't ask me why. Now I don't go out as before, I'm calmer, I enjoy my garden more in Uruguay. I am a little lonely and I share more with friends. I don't like being alone, but when I'm with a lot of people, my balls start to swell, I need my space, my time. I am a nomadic woman, the only thing in my life that was constant were the suitcases . Children grow up and have their life. Now the only one that has pending is my granddaughter, Joaquina.
Pata Villanueva. "I am a nomadic woman," he says. Photo: Clarín Archive
Chapter IX: Controversial Memories
-Are you writing an autobiography?
-Yes, I'm with the book. I was offered to do it a long time ago. I had started it, but Martin read it at the time, told me it was very strong and I left it for a while. But someone published some parts in a magazine, all wrong. So I started again. I tell funny anecdotes, lots of travel,
-Just the fun?
-I will also tell things that nobody knows. For example, sexual issues, of harassment that I suffered.
- When did that happen?
- I lived in harassment situations when I was old and I could solve it, but I was really screwed by the attitude of the person who was relocated. He was a well-known person, he has already died but I will still send him to the front. There were many who threw casts, I went through ugly situations. Once, one locked me up and I had to kick him in the balls . That came to me, but if you're younger, you can get petrified. I lost a lot of laburos for that.
-Surely the book will generate controversy.
- Yes, some will come out to say that I am a liar, but I have witnesses. I want you to know that women have always suffered these things. When we were working with the Extinguished girls , we told each other a lot of tremendous things. You don't have a clue what the bastards were, many humorists. I couldn't believe it, but you couldn't say anything. Surely it will raise controversy, but it is my life and my reality.
- And of the world of soccer also you are going to count things?
- Yes, do you know all the things I know about purchased games, things that were negotiated? But that was not talked about either. The book is like a review of everything. At this age I can tell everything from a very serious approach.
How is it going to be called?
-"I do not regret anything".
Paw Villanueva. In a quieter stage but full of projects. "I would die for making a soap opera," he says. Photos: Martín Bonetto.
-There was an episode in your life, when you were accused of robbing the Harrods store in London, how was it?
- I lived there because Rabbit played in England and a friend came to visit me. He arrived with a friend of Guillermo Coppola, which I did not know. They wanted to go shopping and I took them to the store. We had already bought a lot of things and my friend puts a hat in the house and we started to fuck by passing the hat. But when we went down to another floor, the kid is wearing his hat and had to pay it there. We were laughing and they filmed us with the cameras. They stopped us on another floor and wouldn't let us out. The next day we had to go to the Court to testify. The judge asked me: Why was it stolen, Mrs Tarantini's wife? I tried to explain to him that it had been a joke, that we were not going to take it, that it was a joke. And we had to pay a fine. It cost us about $ 5,000 each.
-Your name was stuck to the episode.
- Yeah right. The Rabbit was well known there and my name was famous, I was Tarantini's wife . And it came out in all media. On that day they played Argentina-England, worse still. It was a piece of paper. That was the worst time I had in my life. The worst part is that it wasn't me. I regretted not telling the guy to leave the hat instead of laughing. But hey, it happened.
Chapter X: The bad soap opera lives with the loving grandmother
-How do you feel being a grandmother?
As a grandmother I am a genius . With Joaquina, who is 8 years old and is the daughter of Agostina, we love each other. I think she has much more to do with me than my daughters. As a mom I was quite selfish, because I always did what I wanted. The boys followed me and not me. But if I was fine, my children were fine.
Amid the whirlwind of memories that appear as a waterfall, Pata also has other projects that excite her now. "With my brother I am on a project to work orchards with Down boys in San Isidro. And also with another animal therapy project for children with autism. I had never gotten into issues like that, like my old woman, who was so busy. But Now I want to do it. "
-You lived a lot of things. Do you have something pending?
-What I would die to do because I never did and all my life I wanted is a soap opera. I would love to participate in one of the Ortega. But I don't want to play Pata, I want a very dramatic role or a well-screwed mine or a very suffered one. I recently went to the United States and got into a casting on Netflix , for a Latin role, a woman my age. I have to go in a month to try, I would love to.
-And outside the workplace?
- I'd like to go to India, but it always scared me, that's why I didn't go. But now I would like to go and stay a few months. I don't dare yet. I would also like to make a trip that I never did, to Australia or New Zealand.
-You are not of the people who are left wanting something, right?
- Stay with the desire? No. For what? To take it to the grave?
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