The love story between Paola Barale and Raz Degan It was one of the most talked about of the 2000s. She is a successful showgirl and he is an Israeli model with a gypsy heart. They meet and passion arises immediately. Together they will travel the world, avoiding public curiosity and the paparazzi, until the crisis due to a betrayal that forever damaged the relationship that finally ended in 2015.
Meeting over dinner
The year is 2002 and Paola Barale and Raz Degan already know each other. They are no strangers and their fame precedes them. But the real meeting that will unite them for over a decade will take place in the spring of 2002. Paola is fresh from breaking up with her Gianni Sperti (to whom she was married for three years), but from a professional perspective, Barale is experiencing a golden moment. He supports Baudo in the show “Numero Uno”, hosts “Un disco per l’estate” and is in the cast of “Quelli che il calcio”. One evening she is invited Dinner from some friends and at the table he finds himself next to Raz Degan. The Israeli model spends the evening talking to her about an English DJ he’s madly in love with, and Paola listens to him. However, Raz remains fascinated by the showgirl and at the end of the evening they exchange numbers. It is the beginning of a relationship, which the two of them do not want to call a relationship.
Escape to Bali, away from gossip
Raz hates clichés and doesn’t like calling himself “friend.” He and Paola explain that they are Friends and they travel a lot. The couple decides to fly to Bali to embark on an adventurous journey through jungle, culture and sea, far from the prying attention of the press that nevertheless follows them. In the summer of 2002, the first photos of Paola and Raz making love under the palm trees were published Thailand and the case breaks out in Italy. As a guest of Mara Venier on “Domenica in”, Paola reveals immediately after the summer: “I had already separated from my husband, but I didn’t want to make these things public. I felt sorry for him, even though we parted amicably.
Cocaine and the allegations
However, during their first summer together, an unpleasant episode also occurs that puts them at the center of the news. The couple is on the islandElba in the house that the showgirl had rented with some friends, and a few grams of it were found in the house during a police check cocaine. The medication belongs to one person in the group. “I’m used to trusting people as much as possible because I knew one of them had it. The thing was completely exaggerated,” Paola told “Domenica in” months later. But the couple now stands trial and is only acquitted of the charges years later.
Away from television around the world
Paola Barale decides to follow Raz around the world and give up her job. In 2003 he only conducted “Un disco per l’estate” and then left Italy for months travel with Degan in the East and South America. During the long months outside Italy, Paola and Raz collect video footage to create their first docu-reality – “Private film“, which was broadcast by Italia Uno in 2004 – which wants to tell her life away from the spotlight between exotic travel and passion.
The return to Buona Domenica on television
Life as a gypsy does not suit Paola Barale, who after two years without television decides to return to the small screen and appears regularly in “Buona Domenica” on Canale 5. Between 2005 and 2006, Paola returns to cheer up audiences with his enthusiasm and professionalism, also starring in the short film “Broadcast” by Laura Chiossone. At the film’s premiere in Rome, the showgirl runs wild Red carpet with her boyfriend Raz Degan by her side in a rare public appearance.
Another escape from Italy
From 2007 to 2008, Paola and Raz leave Italy again to discover other mysterious places around the world. The Israeli model feels the need to travel and stay away from everything and everyone and Paola, despite the suggestions Work Of course he decides to give up everything once again to follow his companion on his adventures. But the idyll doesn’t last long.
Betrayal with Kasia Smutniak
The year is 2008 and Raz Degan is contacted to play Alberto da Giussano in Barbarossa, a film directed by Renzo Martinelli. The Israeli accepts his colleague and acts at his side Kasia Smutniak, who in the film is Eleonora, Alberto’s lover. The passion on set becomes concrete and the two flirt away from the cameras. But she is married to Pietro Taricone and Paola Barale is still Raz’s girlfriend. They both discover that it was them betrayed by the Pink Press, which publishes photos of the hot dances that the two actors exchange in the swimming pool of a villa rented by the film production. “I tied my hands to avoid looking for this guy who I’m going to meet on the street sooner or later and who’s going to break his nose,” Taricone said years later when discussing Kasia’s betrayal with Raz spoke. Paola Barale, on the other hand, does not make any statements but distances herself from Degan and returns to television to overcome the pain.
The crisis and the return to television
At the end of 2008, the showgirl returned to Italia1 as a correspondent in South Africa for the third edition of the reality show.The Mole” Moderated by Paola Prego and then filming the film “Colpo d’occhio” by Sergio Rubini. The following year, 2009, she was a judge on the reality show “Do you want to dance with me?” on Sky. Although they are not often seen together, Raz and Paola continue to see each other, even if the newspapers talk about it crisis and of betrayal that Barale could never overcome. In 2010, peace seems to have returned between the couple, as Paola disputes the end of her story with Degan, who is a competitor on “Dancing with the Stars”: “That’s not true, my story with Raz isn’t over yet .” “
The announcement on Facebook: “It’s over”
From 2010 to 2014, Raz Degan and Paola Barale had a special relationship full of ups and downs. Because they are not all together and the paparazzi have a hard time taking photos of them together. The two continue to lead separate lives, but at some social events they appear hand in hand. However, in 2015, the official press release about the end of their relationship arrived. Paola posted it on Facebook: “For now, Raz and I have decided to take different paths. It happens at a certain point in life. It’s not right to settle for one.” Feeling that has lost its vibrancy and color. Now I can brush my hair in front of my eyes. Anything can always happen.
The Island of the Famous and the Flashback
In 2017, Raz Degan agreed to take part in the twelfth edition of “The Island of the Famous”, and during the participation the production invited Paola Barale. The showgirl not only goes on the show, but also flies abroad to surprise her ex-boyfriend. Paola stays on the island for a few days and between kisses and caresses it seems as if there could be a flashback between the two former companions. Barale also seems to believe it, but as soon as he returns to Italy as the winner of the reality show, Raz will no longer contact her. “Never seen or heard from again” admits the guest showgirl from “Domenica In” in 2019. And that disappointment That is much. Years later, in 2020, Paola Barale reveals: “I made the decision, but I was tricked.” The showgirl makes it clear that she would have liked to marry Raz, but the “yes” never came. Today she declares herself single but happy, while Degan has been in a relationship with model Stuart for around three years.