Lucy Mendez. (Photo by Adrian Monroy/Media and Media/Getty Images)
A Spanish proverb says: “You can’t be a gold coin for everyone to like you”. And if there’s anyone who can attest to that, it’s Mexican actress, singer, and businesswoman Lucía Méndez, who caused quite a stir by appearing on Netflix reality show Siempre Queens.
The show, which brings together four important and emblematic female figures of Mexican show business, has caught people’s attention not because of the content as such, but because of Méndez’s attitude. Laura Zapata, Lorena Herrera and Sylvia Pasquel, who make up the rest of the cast, endured the constant rudeness of the winner of 1972’s The Face of El Heraldo de México.
The series, which has only 6 episodes, was enough for Méndez to generate all kinds of discord. For example, regarding the inclusion of the musical theme that the four members of the show would sing together and that was specially composed by José Luis from Río Roma, she rejected the rhythm, saying that she preferred the ranchero genre to cumbia, and asked to match your tone of voice. Likewise, he always tried to come out on top and be the main character.
Citing his long musical career, Méndez constantly criticized the choices surrounding the song, as he did throughout the light-themed program, demanding to always be impeccably lit in order to look good. Surprisingly, Méndez practically declared that there was a conspiracy against him. “They get along, but they caught her against me,” she told Pepillo Origel, who reiterated the idea that she was the only diva on the show.
One of the biggest problems was around a table that the four artists shared. Lucía, speaking of the greatness of her career, said to her partner: “I have a million 575,000 monthly listeners and you have 122 monthly listeners Laura.” To which Zapata replied: “I’m an artist and I don’t measure how many I have have or how many you have. It seemed like an absurd ego competition.” And that wasn’t the only thing. Méndez claimed to have more important commitments than any of her companions and presenting at the best places in the United States.
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Sylvia Pasquel seems to have been the one who took her colleague’s comments less seriously, even correcting them with humor and mockery in pronunciation questions.
The disagreements — particularly with Laura Zapata — not only added necessary controversial content to the show, but have also tarnished Méndez’s image. Social media has served as a showcase to show people’s opinion of her and the resentment her attitude has provoked in public. Hateful, arrogant and haughty were some of the qualifications given to the actress who gave birth to Diana Salazar.
For her part, Laura Zapata avoided going into details on the subject in meetings with the media, she explained. “I got along very well with Silvia, with Lorena, and Lucía got along badly with me, not with me,” he said. Méndez agreed with her when discussing a show, pointing out that “she’s definitely not my girlfriend, she’s known; we greet each other, we work, we hold that we don’t agree, but she’s not my girlfriend and I’m not interested in her being my girlfriend,” she said.
And it wasn’t just about new situations that arose during the recording of the show. Méndez took the opportunity to rekindle old controversies, such as the alleged argument he had with Madonna when Méndez failed to stand up during a Queen of Pop concert and the American team came to her position to demand that she stand up and applaud the performer of “Like a Virgin”. The famous “I’ll call my lawyer” was all the rage on social media in a mocking tone.
Likewise, Méndez never missed an opportunity to constantly talk about the important people he had met throughout his career and how they had fallen at his feet. So did the Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar Gaviria. According to the actress, after a presentation, the criminal asked to meet her and went to her dressing room, where she was with her mother. There Escobar offered him his unconditional friendship and made him available should he ever need protection.
Méndez’s disagreements with the team were so great and frequent that once production was completed, it was decided to keep them at bay. Since the show’s premiere was just around the corner, a special dinner was held to celebrate the event. Sylvia Pasquel, Lorena Herrera and Laura Zapata were invited. He was joined by members of the technical team, makeup artists, and costume designers, but not by Méndez, who was uninvited.
character or person? Nothing is clear at the moment. There are those who talk about fame being a lonely place, but they should definitely be referring to something else.