Gabi Rivero. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/WireImage)
For many, ‘the teacher Jimena’ She was the most popular teacher, and we wouldn’t refuse entry to our house in the afternoon for anything in the world. His sweetness, kindness and infinite patience, his “carousel of love” with which he treated his students made us want to be one of them at the famous World School.
more than 30 years ago Gabi Rivero He made this character endearing, but the story would have been very different if he had let himself be carried away by two of Televisa’s most powerful men.
Before acting, Gaby Rivero began her career as a model and dancer, she participated in the program Fiebre del dos, where she took second place in her first participation and first place in her second performance. Her dancing skills caught the attention of Emilio Azcárraga the tiger, and he thought of making her the Televisa image in Channel 2 commercials after he announced his plans to send her to represent Mexico in a competition at Studio 54. had seen frustrated.
Being the face of Canal de Las Estrellas was rewarded: she became the presenter of the program XETU, alongside René Casados and after La hora del gane, in addition to her temptation in acting in the series Mujer, caso de la vida real, the soap opera El camino secreto and the theater The Wizard of Oz.
But In 1989, real success awaited him carouselchildren’s soap opera produced by Valentín Pimstein, an adaptation of Argentina’s Señorita maestra created by Abel Santa Cruz.
On the day of casting, Rivero took inspiration from Lady Di and her dungarees to give the character that air of innocence, something the producers liked, in addition to the fact that the child cast voted for her (via Lucero) to make Gear . “They told me I was the one left, but Mr. Azcárraga didn’t want me to do that, “it won’t be comfortable for you because working with children takes away the screen, children and animals are always very attractive and it won’t be comfortable for you.”“.
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How far from the truth was the tiger.
The soap opera, which portrayed the prankster, the prankster, the romantic, the injured child with themes of racism, classism, family relations, among others, soon became a success, magnified by its distribution in America, mainly Latina. and for which all individually shone. “When I arrived in Brazil, there were six thousand children at the airport, who are you waiting for, who was on the plane with me? I never thought it was because of me, I swear! I wanted to advertise, so I dressed up to go shopping and they recognized you,” Gaby told Mimi Contigo.
After almost 400 chapters in two years, “la maestra Jimena” returned in 1992 for a new school year with international students, Carrusel de las Américas, as part of the Cadena de las Américas project to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the meeting between Europe and America . “I didn’t want to do it but it was my turn because it was convenient for Televisa because they had stopped a satellite and they had to launch it because it was very difficult for them, but the spearhead was ‘the teacher’. , a carousel with children from all countries”.
However, it wasn’t enough for that Pimstein, who in his eagerness to further capitalize on the recognition, or to come full circle as he suggested to Rivero, put on a play, Magic carouselwith the child cast from the first season.
By then, the actress had already understood the importance of her role and that she would not be financially rewarded as she deserved She remembered being in charge of official merchandise, in a “I win, you win” sort of way, giving Televisa 10% for the rights. “Suddenly I was earning more than at the box office. It was my mother’s job, she put two wooden carousels in my house lobbywe sold everything until they took it away from me because Pimstein didn’t like that I was earning more And when the war started and he took it from me.”
Although this may have marred their relationship, Gaby remained a figure for the children’s market for a number of years: she used her popularity to form a group called El Club de Gaby, with whom she recorded the children’s album Imaginación. to then get hold of a program of the same name. He would return to the recording studio for a second job, El Club de Gaby. To the rescue.
However, her childhood phase ended shortly after 1994 with the film A Teacher with an Angel opposite Gonzalo Vega, in which she also plays a kind teacher, a Julie Andrews sort of thing, who teaches an ecologist’s children the piano and eventually empathizes with love. .
But beating Azcárraga Milmo and Pimstein didn’t prepare her for the comments she’s received since leaving the World School classrooms, asking why she doesn’t look like the young 24-year-old teacher anymore. “They look at me and say, ‘oh, but you’ve gained a little weight, haven’t you? You’re already a bit wrinkled’. I’m already 57! what do you want?”.
That hasn’t taken away his interest in maintaining a connection with child audiences and their parents.
Since 2022 shares with his daughter Maya Rivero the interactive concept Infinito infantilin which they tell stories with songs and children’s stories and try through dances to convey a message with family values and current issues such as bullying, self-esteem, fear and confidence, etc.
“I want to encourage the little ones to love nature, to know and respect it, to love family, but above all to give them tools so that when they are being bullied, they can turn the tables and make fun of them make. that they don’t get addicted,” Rivero said in his presentation to El Universal newspaper.
In the end, the teacher, like “Jimena” or Gaby, is still there.