“It didn’t soil or spatter me, but the intent was clear,” Isabel Preysler told Hello! on June 8, 1989, after Paloma Ruiz-Mateos attacked her by throwing a sponge cake, cream and cream from the Mallorca Pastry Shop. The daughter of businessman José María Ruiz-Mateos followed her down Calle de Velázquez in Madrid and attacked her with the cake as a sign of protest against the expropriation of Rumasa, an operation spearheaded a few years earlier by Miguel Boyer, Preysler’s husband he was Economy Minister in the government of Felipe González. The socialite emerged unscathed, as she has from all of the sentimental vicissitudes that have occurred in her 51-year media life: romances and infidelities, marriages and divorces. The phrase he said to his main magazine sums up his ability to manage his public image: Nothing soils or splatters it.
Three decades later, Tamara Falcó, the daughter Preysler had with the aristocrat Carlos Falcó, has just come from her first pie in the media, a soap opera of love and betrayal broadcast on social networks: Announcing her engagement to Íñigo Onieva by her Instagram account, airing engagement pictures of the boyfriend to another woman during prime time, the boyfriend denying guilt in front of the paparazzi, followed by an admission of guilt on Instagram, breaking the “engagement” and finally locking the non-believer on the digital world. “The long-ago exclusive concept rewarded with selling hundreds of copies is gone. Today they are all photographers and they are all journalists and the exclusive ones are on fire,” explains Santiago de Mollinedo, general director of Personality Media, an agency specializing in image analysis the Famous. “Now the networks are the spark that lights the gunpowder. When the gunpowder is good, it runs at speeds unthinkable years ago,” he adds.
More information
The case of the Margravine of Griñón is pure dynamite. His adventures have leapt from social media to traditional media and captivated the entire country. Just 72 hours after the scandal broke, he went live to Save me to confirm Onieva’s infidelity and split. Minutes later, he appeared at a promotional event for the real estate developer building its new and luxurious penthouse, where he gave a huge press conference. She is an influencer with 1.4 million followers on her Instagram but is aware of the importance of conventional mass media. “It’s like there isn’t a single character that’s known through their own medium. The most notorious, like them, owe this notoriety, presence or recognition to the endless news and impact they generate in the rest of the media that reflect what is happening on the network,” says Mollinedo.
Tamara Falcó, on Tuesday in her first public appearance after broadcasting the video of Íñigo Onieva’s fling SOPA Images (Atilano Garcia / SOPA Images / Sip / Cordon Press)
The Marquise left the apartment she shared with her partner and settled in her mother’s house in Puerta de Hierro. There he receives comfort and advice from the clan’s matriarch, an expert in dealing with these types of crises. At the age of her daughter (40), Isabel Preysler already had five children with three husbands: a singer star (Julio Iglesias), a marquis (Carlos Falcó) and a socialist super minister (Miguel Boyer). In addition, it was already a brand in its own right, generating significant economic revenue. The Queen of Hearts was an influencer long before there were social networks, a woman able to successfully manage her image, signing promotional and exclusive contracts without the need for agents or intermediaries.
A historic announcement
Tamara Falcó was born to be famous. His mother, on the other hand, became famous when he was 19 years old. Her first foray into the media was the day of her wedding to Julio Iglesias on January 29, 1971. By her own account, she had a bad time: she got married pregnant and without her father taking her to the altar, and invited in front of more journalists and photographers. Unable to hide her agony, she wept for much of the ceremony. Seven years and three children later, Preysler divorced Iglesias. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the artist’s 1978 American tour, during which the press linked him to an Argentinian actress. Tired of the rumors of infidelity and her husband’s long absence, the socialite looked for him at Barajas airport and said to him: “You have had to ask me to get married many times, but I will only tell you once that we are breaking up. Not wanting to leave any loose ends, he requested a joint statement announcing the split. Hi! published these 10 typewritten lines on the cover on July 22, 1978. “This shady site that was Isabel’s brainchild changed tabloid history forever. It was the first divorce notice in Spain,” recalls Jaime Peñafiel, creator of the exclusive magazine. “Before that, celebrities didn’t communicate. Then everyone started copying the formula.”
Tamara Falcó should have emulated her mother for Santiago de Mollinedo. “Your privacy should have prevailed. A sober statement would have served to try to clarify his position,” says the director of Personality Media. “But both she and her entourage have preferred to reward noise.” The truth is that the Preysler-Falcó-Boyer clan always knows what to say and how, when and where to do it. The Marquise’s mother treated the beginning of her courtship with Miguel Boyer with great discretion. In 1985, as the romance rumor was gaining strength, he gave an interview to his main magazine to forestall the media tsunami. Tico Medina asked him if he liked politicians. “What I love are hardworking, honest, genuine people who teach you something. If that’s the case in politics, then of course I’m interested,” he replied. The relationship was confirmed shortly thereafter. In July of the same year, Boyer resigned from his ministerial post. In return, she gave up any temptation to sell her wedding exclusively. On Saturday January 2, 1988, they married in a registry office in Madrid with no cameras in the room.
Isabel Preysler and Miguel Boyer on the day of their civil marriage in the Madrid courts on January 2, 1988.
Isabel Preysler was never financially dependent on her husbands. As early as 1986 he had his first and last name registered with the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. In 1988 he signed the deed on his behalf for what is still his home, the Puerta de Hierro mansion where his daughter now finds refuge. It is one of the most famous residential buildings in Spain: a neoclassical style house with a constructed area of 2,000 square meters that has a library and an indoor pool. The property has so many bathrooms that the press dubbed it “Villa Meona” in the 1980s. Boyer had to clarify that he didn’t have 16 bathrooms, as the media reported at the time, but 13.
Tamara Falcó will soon have her own house a few blocks away. From the terrace of his new penthouse you can see the roof of his mother’s villa. The marquise has also become a lively businesswoman. The vicissitudes of his life arouse the interest of the public and the press, which is reflected in new advertising contracts. Mollinedo predicts that her breakup with Íñigo Onieva will bring her numerous offers. “A lot of brands are looking for those moments to gain more exposure,” the executive concludes.
“I have too much self-confidence and always thought that I could and should get ahead on my own,” Isabel Preysler admitted in an interview. A lesson her daughter also learned.