“When I say I look wonderful, I’m lying wonderfully well. I see myself with all my flaws but also with all my virtues, my maturity which is beautiful but I need really good collagen.”
Xuxa’s speech shows nuances of the woman who took back the reins of her own life in the early 2000s after a difficult relationship with director Marlene Mattos. Between failures and successes, failures and glory, the presenter has written new chapters and is now experiencing the pains and joys of being a 60yearold woman.
That the “Queen of Little Ones” has built one of the most successful stories on television and secured a permanent place in the minds of generations of Brazilians like it or not dear readers, you already know it.
But who is Maria da Graça today? How does she deal with time (and the changes that come with it)? What made you name the characters and take a stand in front of a divided country?
The death of her mother Dona Alda in 2018 was perhaps the biggest break in the artist’s life in the last 20 years. Her “little bird,” to paraphrase the presenter, flew and went to “paint a beautiful sunset,” but also left a void that took patience (and why not love?) to heal.
At the same time, aesthetic care was pushed into the background and, according to her own statements, only recently resumed. “After my mother left, I gave up. But now I take care of myself a little bit more. I go to the dermatologist, try to do Pilates again, do massages, walk on a treadmill. [Tentando] take care of me a little.”
However, as the signs of the times came, the artist also began to experience full freedom to say (and do) whatever she wanted. But even with all the privilege surrounding her, Xuxa also encountered insecurity about her own image.
Xuxa has been a vagabond since 2018 Image: Disclosure
The use of aesthetic tools, although returned to her life, is now confronted with doses of an imposing reality. “Obviously it’s not enough because 60 years is 60 years, but when I look in the mirror I’m like ‘hmm’. Or someone comes along and says ‘Hi, hottie’. Everything will pass.”
In that moment, the woman behind the socialite gains a humanity, even if it is practically impossible for those who meet her in person not to be touched by her presence and all that she represents for so many people’s childhood permit.
Xuxa was born Maria da Graça in Santa Rosa (RS), saw how her mother would take care of her so that her children would not want for anything, and achieved a success that television today could no longer reproduce. The world is different.
Today, the presenter finally sees herself as a “victorious woman, very proud gaucho, in love with Rio de Janeiro and mother of an incredible person”. She also does not hide her increasingly latent desire to be a grandmother.
myth and politics
Xuxa is the new vaccination ambassador in Brazil Image: Reproduction/Instagram @xuxameneghel
The presenter, despite being born in the suburbs and having faced the challenges her own history has thrown at her has also enjoyed a life of privilege since her image was projected by the defunct TV Manchete in 1983, and, Years later, Globo reached its peak.
From this place, whether consciously or unconsciously, Xuxa gradually left the historical picture and showed more clearly some of the visions of society and the world. Positions that became clearer as he broke with old partnerships and began to dictate his career paths.
The “crystal moon,” which has a guaranteed place in childhood, was given an air of reality, and the “myth” also began to be questioned and criticized much of it fueled by the power of what’s happening on social media.
Feb 03, 2023 Janja and Xuxa ministerial meeting in Rio de Janeiro Picture: Feb 03, 2023 Claudio Kbene
But in recent years, she, who always claimed to be in “child politics” and shunned partisan positions, decided to come down from the wall and began publicly criticizing former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
According to the artist, the politician’s stance on diversity, the environment and children was what made him do the “L” in reference to President Lula (PT) in 2022.
“And he still has the guts to say loud and clear what he was looking at? He said it twice, in different places… He looked at a 13, 14 year old kid and drew an atmosphere. Then, really, if I could, I would do an L, I would do two Ls, I would do three, because I wanted this man to go away. Because that person doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as us.
The change, of course, moved even further from unanimity, but it also delighted sectors of society that were fundamental to its success: such as the LGBTQIA+ community.
Xuxa was the star of a television that no longer exists
Presenter commanded ‘Xou da Xuxa’, from 1986 to 1992 Image: Disclosure / TV Globo
Even if they tried, today’s broadcasters could not repeat the phenomenon achieved with the presenter. The internet has trampled on everything and changed the dynamic of success, including for the Queen. And she knows it.
“Of course I like to watch newspapers, of course I like to watch and listen to wellmade shows and stuff, but it’s a moment when I want to eat popcorn and cuddle with Ju [O namorado, Junno Andrade]with Sascha, with Doralice [cachorrinha de estimação]. Today I see TV as a moment for me, a moment of relaxation.”
Xuxa grew up under the eyes of Brazil. She started her career as a girl, earning a lot of money and becoming a woman while presenting some of the most watched and successful shows in television history (between Manchete and Globo). The artist also experimented with other formats on Record TV and in recent years has returned to Globo Studios, which bear little resemblance to those of yesteryear.
a shocking woman
Xuxa image: Disclosure/Blad Meneghel
The presenter went through decades of changes and still managed to keep a legion of fans alive. Overall, for 40 years now, he has admired and enchanted what is most playful and magical in human beings: childhood though he told Cláudia to “sit there” and step on a child’s foot on purpose.
For this reason, in today’s eyes, Xuxa’s children’s programs, which have made her her greatness, provoke debate and criticism. The main reason is the lack of representation and the difficulty for many children, especially black ones, to see themselves on TV among so many blonde Paquitas.
Even if this failure is not necessarily the moderator’s responsibility, but reflects a current social structure, it is important not to lose sight of this so that it does not repeat itself in the media today.
The “queen of the little ones” carries a lot of contradictions and does not agree. But nevertheless it has guaranteed a unique place in the history of Brazil between worships, questions and necessary problematizations for the world.
When asked how she sees herself in the future, it was said earlier that she wants to be a “shocking old woman”. Today, four decades after the interview, her answer is:
“Today, at the age of 60, I think I am shocking and I intend to continue to find myself shocking in the future. To shock or be shocking to others, to be delicious to my husband, to be great to my daughter, to be a person that people like and such . That’s what shocking means in my mind, in my knowledge.