Hiba Abouk was 14 years old when she first went on stage.
She was studying at the Liceo Francés and had to play the role of Jimena in
Le Cid
, Pierre Corneille's tragicomedy based on the work of Guillén de Castro.
Abouk (Madrid, 37 years old), daughter of Tunisian immigrants and educated in Muslim culture, was amused by embodying the love of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the legend who fought against the Moors during the Reconquista.
“That day I realized that I could go through this world giving life to other lives, having more lives than mine,” she remembers.
“But at that time I didn't know that I could earn my living working as an actress,” she admits during the conversation, after a long photo session.
He continued with his theater classes at the Liceo de Madrid, playing roles by Molière and Genet.
And before graduating she starred in Jean Anouilh's
Antigone
.
Her Dramatic Arts teacher,
Madame
Truchet, encouraged her to take the tests to enter the Royal Higher School of Dramatic Arts (RESAD).
It didn't even occur to her to try.
Instead, she began studying Arabic Philology.
“In the afternoon I continued going to theater workshops.
He missed a lot of university classes.
“I ended up leaving my parents' house and started working at night as a waitress,” she recalls.
Finally, at the age of 20, she took the tests at the prestigious school.
“If they didn't catch me, it was clear that I was going to be an Arabist.”
But they caught her.
Her family did not like the idea of her being an actress.
Her father, a former broker, and her mother, a former employee of Tunisair, the Tunisian flag airline, had prepared her to be a university student and to get married “under certain customs,” not for her to be in front of the camera.
“They weren't very happy.
Then, they had to accept it.
They have no other choice,” she says.
Her beginnings in acting were not easy.
Her dark skin, almond-shaped green eyes, and her name baffled casting directors.
“Some told me that she was too pretty, others told me that she was too racial.
There was always a but.
At first I felt a little discriminated against for being Arab.
“They looked at me strangely when they heard my name,” she admits.
She changed her last name, Aboukhris, to a shorter and simpler one: Abouk.
When she is asked about the prejudices she may suffer for being Arab or for being an attractive woman, she is clear: “I have felt them more for being Arab.
I have always used the other to my advantage.
"If anyone has tried to prejudge me because of my appearance, they have not succeeded."
"It doesn't bother me that they remember me for 'The Prince' because it was a series that I am very fond of. But I want to break with that," says the actress. In the image, she is wearing a bodysuit with gradient sequin embroidery by Giorgio Armani. Pablo Saez
Abouk is always fighting against racial cliché.
Perhaps that is why she is so involved in activism on issues such as refugees and immigration.
“My father, of Libyan origin but born in Tunisia, came to Spain with a very good job.
He didn't come to make a living.
But I am of Arab origin and I suppose that has influenced my interest in migration processes,” she reflects.
“Today immigrants are a currency of exchange between countries.
When things go wrong between Spain and Morocco, the fence is raised and those lives are used as weapons.”
In February she traveled to Turkey with the NGO Save the Children to give visibility to the precarious situation in which thousands of children live after the earthquake of February 2023. “People forget about catastrophes very quickly,” she complains. .
“That's why we have to keep talking about Gaza.
I believe we are being complicit in one of the greatest atrocities of this century.
It is unbearable".
Little by little, the actress began to get small roles in television series such as The Island of the Nominees (2010) and Con el culo al aire (2012-2013).
Fame came to her with
The Prince
, the successful fiction by Aitor Gabilondo and César Benítez released in 2014. The role of Fátima Ben Barek, a Muslim teacher in the Ceuta neighborhood of Príncipe Alfonso, near the border with Morocco, made her a star and a reference for other Spanish women of North African origin.
A decade later, she is still remembered for that role of hers.
“It doesn't bother me that they remember me for
The Prince
because it was a series that I am very fond of and that has given me everything I have,” she clarifies.
“But I want to break away from that.”
Now she is going to star in the series
Eva y Nicole
alongside Belén Rueda.
The fiction, created by Daniel Écija (author of hits such as
Family Doctor
,
Los Serrano
,
El Internado
or
Cristo y Rey
), does not yet have a release date, but it will be broadcast in
prime time on Antena 3 and on the
streaming
platform
Atresplayer.
The series narrates the rivalry between two women to control the Marbella nightlife of the eighties.
“It's a great revenge story.
And my role is a protagonist with a lot of weight that I think will be more than enough to remove the stigma from me.
Let's see if this way I can make them forget about Fátima,” she says.
This project came to him at an opportune time.
She fell into his hands after separating from her husband, the Moroccan soccer player Achraf Hakimi, star of Paris Saint-Germain.
It was a traumatic divorce, high in the media and marked by controversy.
In February 2023, after five years of relationship, almost three years of marriage and two children together, Abouk was already in the process of divorcing her husband when the news broke that the Nanterre Prosecutor's Office, in France, was opening an investigation against the athlete for a rape complaint.
A month after the official indictment, she issued a statement.
“Who would have imagined that in addition to facing the well-known pain that comes with a separation, and accepting the grief that comes with the failure of a family project to which I had dedicated myself body and soul, I would have to face this ignominy,” he wrote.
“It goes without saying that in my life I have always been and will be on the side of the victims.”
Her words went viral in the media and social networks.
Hiba Abouk wears a Christian Dior blazer and shirt, and a Cartier necklace. Pablo Sáez
—It couldn't have been easy to write a statement like that about the father of your children.
Did anyone blame him?
—There are people who applauded him and others who criticized him.
—Did people around you criticize you?
—That's where we're going to get into trouble.
—How is your relationship with your ex-husband now?
—He is quite cordial and I hope he continues to be so because we have two children in common who will be eternally linked to him and me.
The only thing I wish is that we have a very good relationship for them.
I just wish we always had the emotional intelligence to think of them before ourselves.
—It was not a typical breakup.
I need help?
—Of course I needed help.
Dealing with a separation is very hard, it breaks you in two.
Add to that two children, add media pressure and add everything else.
It was very unpleasant.
I had been doing therapy for a while and it is what helped me the most to carry things with a certain serenity.
I have learned to be resilient, to endure like a reed: I bend, but I don't break.
—How did your family take your divorce?
—The truth is, they haven't given much opinion.
-What did they tell him?
-I'd rather not talk about that.
Abouk is wearing a dress and pumps, all by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, Reflection earrings in white gold and diamonds, and a ring in white gold and diamonds, all by Cartier.Pablo Sáez
She does not feel comfortable talking about her family or her breakup with the PSG defender.
At no point does she utter Hakimi's name.
And when she hears it, she fixes her eyes on one and makes a silence.
She measures every word.
The divorce process is still open, although it is already in its final phase.
The case of alleged rape against the footballer is also ongoing.
He has denied the allegations, but has been under judicial control since his indictment.
“This last year I have felt very supported, although I have also felt a lot of machismo.
Unfortunately there will still be it and I will continue fighting it,” says the actress.
The rehearsals and filming of
Eva and Nicole
have helped her cope better with the separation.
She spent a month filming in Marbella and then another three in Madrid.
“This job was very good for me, landing a role of this caliber, and with Belén, who is a wonderful actress,” she explains.
The series not only means her return to television with a leading role, but also her return to Spain.
During her relationship with Hakimi, she was further away from the screens and from Spain.
In recent years she has lived in Dortmund, Milan and Paris, following her husband.
“I took that break voluntarily to raise my two children consciously.
I didn't want to leave them with anyone.
Now they are four and two years old, they are already going to school, and I can go back to work,” she says.
"I do not regret.
When I was eight or nine years old, my dream was to start a family.
"If you give me the choice between five Oscars, four Golden Globes, four Goyas and three César Awards and my children, I choose my children."
—During that professional break, did you feel like you were losing control of your life or your career?
—I didn't feel like I lost control, but I did miss things.
In fact, I lost two very good job opportunities.
But it was clear to me that, as soon as I wanted, I could return to work.
I have studied a lot, I have worked hard... I am not afraid of not finding a job.
A few days ago
Eva and Nicole
presented at the Malaga Festival along with the rest of the cast.
She has also once again walked the red carpet at the Goya Awards, where the topic of conversation this year has been the collective complaint by several women against the filmmaker Carlos Vermut for alleged sexual violence.
The news, published by EL PAÍS, resonated in the sector to such an extent that the Film Academy changed the script of the ceremony to make visible its rejection of abuses of power in the film industry and the Ministry of Culture announced the creation of a unit of care and prevention of sexist violence in the cultural sector in order to accompany the victims.
“My relationship with my ex-husband [footballer Achraf Hakimi] is quite cordial and I hope it continues to be so because we have two children in common,” explains the actress.
Abouk wears a bodysuit by Alaïa and a ribbed dress by Khaite, all via Yoox;
and dancers by Stella McCartney.Pablo Sáez
—Have you ever suffered harassment at work?
—I have never suffered harassment at work.
I had an awkward situation, slightly uncomfortable, but then he apologized to me.
I'm not going to say who it was because nothing happened and he apologized to me immediately afterwards.
She tried to steal a kiss from me.
I said, “What are you doing?”
And he quickly apologized to me.
She's already there.
—Was he a person with power?
-Yeah.
But it was not violent and he apologized to me.
That didn't bother me.
I think that's the important thing.
—Why hasn't a #MeToo occurred in Spain?
-Don't know.
Only this little thing that I told you has happened to me.
—Do you have a friend or acquaintance in the profession to whom something more serious has happened?
—No, I don't have any partner who has told me something important.
I believe that #MeToo happened in the United States because there was that piece of Harvey Weinstein who was mentally ill.
I think that in Spain there is no one like Weinstein or I have not met him.
Fortunately I haven't come across anyone like him.
Then he fixes his gaze again and makes another silence.
It's her way of saying it's time to finish.
She is assertive.
“Yes, I have character,” she admits as she laughs.
She relaxes again.
“It has been one of the most difficult years of my life because I have made one of the hardest decisions, but I have realized that I have a lot of strength.
I have learned a lot about myself, about my ability to adapt, love and forgive,” she concludes.
“If anyone has tried to prejudge me because of my appearance, they have not succeeded.
I have felt more prejudice for being Arab,” says Hiba Abouk.
On this page, he is wearing a slip dress, bra, shorts and stockings, all from Dolce & Gabbana.Pablo Sáez
—Who do you have to forgive?
—Oh, with that last sentence I said, the interview was already complete for you.
—Then you're not going to tell me...
—I keep it to myself.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I am already a subscriber
_