If the life of Ester Expósito (Madrid, 23 years old) were a reality show, it would be one of the most watched television shows in the world. More than 27 million people follow her on Instagram every day, more than Penélope Cruz, Ana de Armas and Antonio Banderas combined. A video in which he dances to the remix of Rauw Alejandro’s hit “The Effect” is one of the most viewed in the history of this social network, with almost 100 million views and 11 million likes. Since her time on Élite, a Netflix series in which she played La Marquesita for three seasons, she has been one of the most searched Spanish actresses on the Internet. According to the streaming platform, more than 20 million households worldwide watched the first season in its first month on air. Expósito, who was virtually unknown at the time and only had 5,000 followers on Instagram, had hundreds of thousands of followers overnight. Today she has a legion that can only be compared to that of global stars like Rosalía.
“But everything has its moment,” notes the actress while speaking to El País Semanal, during a stopover in Madrid before leaving for Paris and Milan. In 2020, after playing at La Marquesita for three seasons, she decided to leave Elite. He was at the peak of his popularity, but he felt it was time to close the cycle. “There was no point in expanding my character any further. I was 20 years old and wanted to do new things,” he remembers. Three years later, they continue to ask him about the series. “It does not bother me. I love him very much and am very grateful. It gave me the opportunity to be seen around the world, to be here and do other projects that interest me,” he explains.
Exposito has just released the film “Lost in the Night” in France and completed filming the series “Bandidos” for Netflix in Mexico. In this photo she is wearing a Burberry check mohair sweater.Txema Yeste
Not only did they often ask him about elite. He has also been offered many roles in series very similar to Elite. “Since I left them, I have tried to choose the projects that are presented to me very carefully. “I like doing different things and exploring all my facets,” he says. He took part in the film Rainbow by Paco León; He played the lead role in Venus, a horror film directed by Jaume Balagueró; He has participated in the series Veneno by Los Javis and in the miniseries Someone has to die by Manolo Caro. Now he has just presented “Lost in the Night” in France, a film in which he stars, directed by the Mexican Amat Escalante. In the film, she plays an influencer who finds success on social networks by recording videos in which she simulates her own suicide. The character is in tune with these times when everyone seems obsessed with their 15 minutes of fame.
At first glance, it might seem that she is also comfortable with the attention she is receiving. But it’s just an illusion. “I never dreamed of being famous. I wanted to be an actress and make a living at it, but fame wasn’t an option. At first I managed it well with the help of my parents. But now it’s getting on my nerves,” he explains. She accompanied her to the screening of “Lost in the Night” in Cannes. “They came with me because I was fucked up. It scares me and I suffer from seeing myself on the screen. “I’m learning to be less obsessive, accept myself and have fun.”
The actress wears a Stella McCartney printed teddy coat.Txema Yeste
—Is she very strict with herself?
—I am very demanding, neurotic, almost compulsive. If I do something and I don’t like it, it’s hard for me to get out of the vicious circle. I punish myself a lot, more than I should…
—But people like it a lot…
—The opinions of others are of no use to me. I value them very much, but they are of no use to me. I may like it a lot, but if I’m not happy with a job, it doesn’t matter what anyone says. The directors I work with know what I’m talking about. Good or bad, the final word that calms me is mine.
She has spent the last five months in Mexico filming the action-adventure series Bandidos, set to premiere in 2024. In Bandidos she plays Lilí, a girl who sets out to find a Mayan treasure. It will be her return to the youth genre and to Netflix, the platform that made her famous five years ago. “I had my prejudices and doubts. “I didn’t want to do Elite again,” he admits. “But I started reading the story and loved it.”
“For me, social media is a game. It is neither my job nor my dream. “My dream is to become an actress,” she explains. Close-up of Expósito in a Blumarine knit dress. Txema Yeste
Expósito is only 23 years old and already misses his childhood. Lately she’s been thinking a lot about her life before she became famous. “This summer I returned to Viveiro, my mother’s town in Galicia. Going there is my fuel for the rest of the year. It’s my way of remembering that before all this there was an Ester, an Ester who enjoyed her bottles and her city parties,” she says during the conversation we have in her representative’s office. She was a spoiled girl with a privileged childhood. As the only daughter of a successful architect and a property manager, she never lacked for anything. However, she always dreamed of being an adult, independent and leaving home. “I saw kids working in movies and TV and said to my parents, ‘Why can’t that be me?’ They wanted me to go to school, study and have a normal childhood,” he remembers. In the end he got away with it. At the age of 13 he enrolled in an acting school and at 14 he already had a representative. At the age of 16 he made his first acting excursions. He was part of the film adaptation of “May God Forgive Us” by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, but disappeared from the film in the final cut and had small roles in the series “Centro Médico” and “Vis a Vis”. At 17 he tried out for the elite and by 19 he was already a world star.
—Is adulthood what you expected?
-NO. It is worse. I always wanted to be older, feel older and do older things. But I think I’ve idealized adulthood and now feel nostalgic for childhood. I’m slowly realizing that my life will no longer be what it was. I dedicate myself to what I like, but the pressure is very strong. I’m a person with a lot of anxiety, and exposure doesn’t help me deal with it.
—Did you need professional help?
-Yes. I started therapy two years ago and it went very well. I had to leave it because I was filming outside of Spain, but now I want to come back to it. It’s not easy to take this step: reaching out to a stranger, exposing yourself to them, and talking about what hurts you. But in the end it’s positive. I have to go back because I have to get the fear under control. I think I can do everything, but I can’t do everything.
“I never dreamed of being famous. I wanted to be an actress and make a living at it, but fame wasn’t an option. At first I managed it well with the help of my parents. Now it’s a lot of fun for me,” says Ester Expósito. The actress wears a deconstructed coat and pants, all from Balenciaga.Txema Yeste
Elite’s success caught her in the middle of the transition from adolescence to adulthood, doing what she liked best but with enormous attention. He remembers it as “a bomb,” “a whirlwind of good and bad things.”
— From what he says, it was difficult for him to have so much success so suddenly…
—After the success of Elite, I lived surrounded by constant noise: social networks, job offers, people on the street… I received a million stimuli that didn’t make me falter or go on an introspective journey. I was so distracted that I couldn’t stop and think. When the noise died down a bit, as it did after Elite, I suddenly realized that she was alone with me. And facing loneliness is hard. Then you come across the things that hurt you in life again: unresolved problems, insecurities, doubts. Then trust begins to waver.
– Did it disappoint you?
“Yeah… I don’t know if I should call it a downturn, but I was left alone with myself and started to question who I am and who I was before all this. It was a necessary existential crisis. Before Elite, I never doubted myself. I always had great confidence in what I could do and achieve anything I wanted. I think it was a way to encourage myself to achieve my goal. After the series, the insecurities began. It’s not easy to escape success. When you stop and are alone with yourself, you feel dizzy. It is a sacrifice in many ways. You sacrifice money, you sacrifice projects, notoriety…
There aren’t that many Spanish actresses who can afford that. Even less when they are as young as Expósito. In a country like Spain, where the average age of emancipation is already over 30, she is independent at 23. “Although I still live with my parents because I want to,” he clarifies. In an audiovisual industry like the Spanish one, where only 8.17% of actors can make a living from their profession, she belongs to this minority. “I feel privileged because it is a tough job. “It’s lucky for me to be able to make a living from it so early,” he admits. Spanish actresses earn up to 40% less than actors and only 20% of roles are female. She compensates for these inequalities through her work with fashion brands. “Sometimes you can make more money on social networks, but there are acting projects that fulfill me and I don’t care what I earn because I do them for the love of the profession,” he says.
Hardly a day goes by when the media – television, women’s magazines and gossip magazines – don’t publish a story about her. Exposito wears a t-shirt, earrings and a yellow gold heart necklace, all from Prada.Txema Yeste
— You recently asked him about Luis Rubiales and he said he was unimaginable. Have you ever experienced such machismo at work?
—Things are better than they were years ago. But yes, I felt it. I see that it is still difficult to give women control and power in everything, including film and television. The majority of directors, screenwriters and technicians are still men and most stories and main characters revolve around men. Women continue to be companions who decorate men’s stories… It’s not bad that there are stories in which men play the main roles, the problem is that they are in the majority. That’s why you have to keep going, you don’t have to relax. I’ve been very lucky, but I see that it’s still difficult to take a woman’s ideas seriously.
—First she said that she had very high standards for herself. Also in your role as an influencer?
—No, this is a game for me. It is neither my job nor my dream. I don’t consider myself an influencer either. I neither show my life nor dedicate myself to being a style reference. Social networks must be used for what they are, otherwise they can be very toxic and dangerous. For me they are a showcase. I only show a very small part of my life, neither the best nor the worst. We like being told lies, and so do the networks.
“You don’t have to get attached to fame or fall in love with it because it can disappear at any moment. But I don’t know how I would feel if success came,” he admits. In this photo he is wearing a jacket, leather pants and a shirt, all from Sportmax, as well as sunglasses from Balenciaga.Txema Yeste
Hardly a day goes by when the media doesn’t publish a story about her. This summer there has been a lot of talk about her relationship with Uruguayan actor Nico Furtado. They also linked her to the singer Rauw Alejandro, Rosalía’s ex. “A lot of things are made up, a lot of lies are told about me. “I try to look away, but it makes me angry when something that’s a lie is taken as true, like saying I’m dating a soccer player,” he laments. “That’s the tricky part of this job. The press can be very intrusive. I can’t meet anyone quietly because the paparazzi are behind them and are already forcing a boyfriend on you. “Besides, I can’t cry quietly after a breakup because I read about it in the press before I can tell a friend.”
His life is not a reality show, but at times it resembles one. The paparazzi, the incessant information, the 27 million fans… “Some of this revelation scares me. “Sometimes I think: How lazy it is to have to think so much about everything I do, say or publish in my networks,” he complains. Fame is tiring but also captivating.
Ester Expósito wears a three-dimensional velvet strapless dress and a black belt, all from Louis Vuitton.Txema Yeste
—Are you afraid that success will pass?
—I’m afraid that no more interesting projects will come my way. I think you shouldn’t cling to fame or fall in love with it because it can disappear at any moment. But I also don’t know how I would feel if success came.
—Does fame make you feel lonelier?
-Yes. Nobody around you lives like you and a distance arises, an abyss that separates you from the rest. Fame isolates you, it makes you feel alone.
“The majority of directors, screenwriters and technicians are still men, and most stories and main characters revolve around men. Women continue to be companions who decorate male stories,” denounces Expósito. She’s wearing a cotton dress, knit pants and mules, all from Acne Studios. Txema Yeste
Proof of production
Photography Txema Yeste
Styling by Juan Cebrián
Makeup Rubén Mármol (Kasteel Artist Management) for Charlotte Tilbury Beauty
Jesús de Paula Hair Salon (Cool) for Kérastase
Produced by Cristina Serrano
Photo assistants Nano Hernández and Juan Martínez
Digital Assistant Jessica Rodríguez
Styling assistant Paula Alcalde
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