"I'm at my best. I wish at 20 I would have been like now at 50. I feel complete and free."
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Photos Courtesy Enrique Vega
Styling Newheart Ohaian
Makeup Anneliese Tieck using JOUER
Hair Jenny Matos at Rita Hazan Salon
Set Designer Sara Foldenauer
Funny, unusual, strange, eccentric, but with her feet firmly on the ground, that's how Thalía defines herself who is about to turn five decades of life. And of course, these qualifying adjectives of her are perfectly reflected in her Instagram stories and in her TikToks, which have made her monopolize hundreds of fans from other generations.
Thalía turns 50 and in short, she is better than ever! She continues and will continue to be the queen of soap operas, but now she is also the queen of TikTok. To the fans who have accompanied her for many years, and to those of now, if something is clear to us, it is that Thalía has known how to reinvent herself.
From New York, Thalía receives CARAS that has been part of her career, her trajectory and her most important personal moments, to celebrate this significant birthday of the Mexican singer and actress, we recount the most difficult experiences and rewarding times that she has lived in this time, and although it has been a long time since she has lived her life in numbers, it is true that she has liked the years. "I wish at 20 she had been like in my 50", she tells us, confessing what Thalía is like today, and what she was like before.
Without a doubt, she has changed, she has become a more self-confident, stronger and fuller woman. She has gotten rid of so much straw and has focused on what is truly relevant. "Now with the pandemic, many people have focused on what is essentially important and I have been like this for 13 years, since I was detected of Lyme Disease," she confesses.
On August 26, the famous star blew out 50 candles on her cake, with the most anticipated birthday celebration, the one in which she was accompanied by her children, Sabrina, 13, and Matthew Alejandro, 10, and her husband, Tommy Mottola. And from the harmony of her home, with the joy that it characterizes her so much and with this energy that she has always caught the attention of her fans, Thalía infects us with her will to live through this intimate interview with CARAS magazine.
1992 - Although we had already seen her with her iconic lock in 1991, it was with the release of her album, Love in 1992, when Thalía was encouraged to do more and to exploit a look that was a reference for the generation in that decade.
2000 - New York City was the perfect setting for Thalía to experience her dream wedding at the hands of Tommy Mottola and a dress embroidered with pearls and diamonds, and a tail of more than 20 meters that paraded through St. Patrick's Cathedral, until reaching the altar.
2018 - What started as a video on social networks, ended up being a reference for Thalía, after recording the hit Me oyen, me escuchan, with an iconic pink fringed dress that was replicated in every possible way, until it became a piñata.
2019 - Under the "Camp: Notes On Fashion" of the Met Gala theme in 2019, Thalía chose a Tommy Hilfiger design to dazzle on the most important carpet in the fashion world. From 2013 to 2019, there were five times that Thalía wore Hilfiger designs for such an event.
I am in the best moment of my life. I wish at 20, I had been like in my 50. I feel complete and free, owner of my decisions, my thoughts and my actions. In a much more practical and simple way than when I was young, because before I depended a lot on public opinion and on people liking you, on always wanting to like you. Now I am who I am, I enjoy it and I celebrate it.
How are you going to celebrate?
They want to organize different celebrations and I love surprises, but what would make me happier is being with Tommy and my children in a place just us. That is the birthday celebration that I look forward to the most. The other celebrations are the cherry on the cake. Although some friends will surely have some more eccentric and extravagant plans for me.
You are 50 years old, how many (years) in your career?
Well, if you count since I was one year old and my mother put me in a Boeing commercial, it would be many, or also when I was only three years old and my father took me to the Televisa forums, as a student girl. Later, I was a model for Evelyn Lapuente's show, where I modeled little summer dresses and was seven years old. So it depends on when we start counting, but it's several decades in this.
What is the most satisfactory thing you have had in so many years of your career?
The love of my audience. Of the one with whom I started my career, with whom I grew up and who originally believed in my proposal, in my emotion for art and music. And thanks to them who have passed the voice, affection and love like a Mexican to different generations. And now with social networks, the new waves of guys who are getting to know me and who are discovering that Thalía the TikToker also sings. The answer to this question, without a doubt, is my fans.
In all these years you have lived incredible experiences, but you have also had very hard moments. What have been the hardest situations you have had in 50 years of life?
Several. Losing my father when I was just turning six, losing my mother a month before my son was born, and becoming ill with Lyme Disease. Fight every day against this disease, because it is already 13 years since I was diagnosed. I think these are the most difficult moments and, nevertheless, I feel that they are challenges to learn, grow and polish some aspect that we have come to perfect in this world, so it must be lived with gratitude.
In spite of these difficult moments you have always come out forward, what is your secret to be so positive all the time?
That is a daily mental exercise. That is something that one has to exercise and be predisposed to seek, to smile even if it does not come out, but once you connect your smile with your emotion that domino effect is created and everything begins to develop and move towards having a more positive day, I think if you focus on the bad, it is more difficult. You have to redirect the negative into something in which you can grow and learn.
You were talking about Lyme Disease designed as on of the most difficult trials of your life, were you reborn after this
Definitely. I have been struggling with this for 13 years and when I contracted this disease, it took me basically about two and a half years after being diagnosed, to diligently follow the treatments, the medicines, the antibiotics and the injections. In two and a half years when I came out of that, I definitely needed to live a life much more focused on the present, on my physical and mental health, on my diet. Trying to discard and put an energy barrier around my heart and my emotions, so as not to let anything external cannibalize my happiness and my peace; So from there, I started to take care of myself more, to make a life much more focused on the people I love and the important things in life. I see now that after this pandemic, many people are directing their lives to less is more. I've been like this for 13 years.
If you had to return to a time in your life, what would you return to and why?
But we would have to see for how long, because a little while yes, but never stay, because I love my present and what I'm living, I love knowing that every day is a new opportunity to reinvent myself, to know myself, change and improve, but if I had to go back to a moment in my life, it would be to a sunny afternoon in the house I grew up in Santa María la Ribera, which is called La Casa de los Perros, which is now part of the convent next door. One of those afternoons with my cat, with my mother and my sisters getting ready to go out, my father already ill but seeing and feeling him. I would return to that moment in my life, but only for a few hours.
I would sit and hug that Thalía because she was too empathetic and completely absorbed what other people felt and thought of her. She lived stressed and anguished, trapped in that moment in which they are judging you, they are criticizing you and they are telling you that you are not worth it. I think I would sit with her and say, "relax cannon", because nobody cares. I would tell her to relax, live longer, love and enjoy it.
How would you describe yourself now that you are 50 years old?
Energetic, hyperactive, curious, always wanting to learn. Funny, unusual, weird, eccentric, but down to earth.
Are you happier than ever?
Definitively. I am in the most productive moment of my life, I feel like I am being reborn. And that as I have been living it in my music, with a new album. Always productive and growing hand in hand with my followers, who always fascinate me with the social networks because it is the direct approach with my fans. And yes, always creating things.
Thalía, are you still watching TV?
I watch series. I love them.
Will there be a time when you return to the telenovelas?
The novelas I think had a golden age. Like the golden age of Mexican cinema, there was also the golden age of soap operas and, definitely, that was the time that I lived, with my Marías and the other novels that touched me. I think it was a very prolific time in the sense that this genre was internationalized. But now, with so many portals, platforms, streams and so much content at hand, I think there are already many new proposals, such as series, that suddenly become more fun alternatives. I think "been there, done that" with soap operas. Many are still cult novels and now they continue to be repeated once more, in different countries and they are catching euphoria again, and I am fascinated. Marimar, for example, who is in Indonesia, and in Brazil to the main television station and I think the Philippines was the same, grabbing the ratings again. That makes me happy for a new wave of Marimars. I love acting and at some point I will return but with something that fills me up.
Of your whole career as a leading telenovelas protagonist, could you say what was your favorite?
There are two of my favorites, and it's like the perfect remix for me, which would be María la del barrio and Marimar. Marimar because she was a character that was very me, physically. My hair is like that, and at the beach I wear a super tan, I am very free to walk in nature and that was very familiar to me. Besides speaking, I am very good at speaking from the coast because of my grandmother who was born in La Paz, Baja California. And María la del Barrio, it was that Thalía who was naughty, the one who was worth everything, the one who said things to the letter and I also loved that because she freed me and helped me foster my more neighborhood and wild side.
If you could make a wish on your birthday cake, what would it be?
If I blew out the candle with my eyes closed, I would ask that my mom be there smiling next to me and that we could talk all night.
Speaking of your mom, what did you inherit from her?
Good and bad things. My mother was always very positive, entrepreneurial, very empowered, although at that time that word did not exist, she was that woman of matriarchy with great strength and she saw situations as opportunities. She never gave up and she got on with it. As a mother, I with my children have seen some patterns that I immediately capture and say: "No. For that, break with that inheritance that is not yours because that message no longer belongs to you". So I learn a lot. I see things that I do with my children and I see my mother doing them with me and I think: "How wonderful to be alert today in all my senses", to try to stop something dysfunctional.
Boat in the sense that I am a naughty mom and that I can do mischief with them. We go for the ice cream and I like that it is overflowing with gummies and chocolate. I am a boat in that aspect, and in which we throw ourselves into the pool with clothes and it works for me. Encouraging them that side of not being afraid of adventure.
Regarding education, I am much more rigid and also in sports. My kids don't like sports, they like everything that is digital, everything that is creative and what is artistic. The challenge for me is to go out and do some sport like skating, playing tennis or something that moves them.
Do you see them in the future in the world of entertainment?
It shocks them, it is something they do not like at all. They are not in love or infected with what Mom or Dad does at work. They don't want to be singers, they are not interested, but they love music and they love discovering new singers, new musical styles and they comment a lot about the production. They are more digital and creative animation artists. They are to be behind the cameras.
And your husband, Tommy, how is it with your children?
Tommy is the best, he is the best man I have had the fortune to meet. He is a loving, funny man, very committed to me, to us and to our children. Tommy is one of the worrying dads, if Mateo is getting on the scooter he says: "You're going to fall. Watch out". I'm the one who relaxes on the matter.
And you, how are you as a girlfriend and how are you as a wife?
I don't even remember the list of boyfriends (laughs). I have always been very detailed, so I have invented things that have shown my emotions, or hidden letters or quotes on paper that suddenly find themselves in my pocket. When my children asked us how Tommy and I met, we told them that it was a blind date, and there we fell in love, but I had to return to Mexico to shoot the telenovela Rosalinda and the only way we had to communicate was that each at night we talked to each other on the phone, wrote letters to each other, and sent each other pictures. It was the time when we wrote long love letters and it was very romantic. Always as a girlfriend I have been very detailed and as a wife I have tried to ensure that this romanticism and that moment between us does not remain in the background.
How is your daily routine?
I like to get up early, have breakfast and start checking all my work emails, make calls and enjoy doing my exercise routine as early as possible, because after one in the afternoon I can't do it anymore. So in the morning I go to the gym. I am always working on projects and I am very active.
What do you miss in Mexico?
What I miss the most is the food, because the most delicious thing is to eat something that is made with the hands of Mexicans, with the smile with which they share you and transmit so many things. There is no way to be at home, like listening to a good mariachi or going to a good little beach. Whenever I go I do it incognito to very important places.
What are you missing to you want to achieve?
Sometimes I don't have time in the day. For me, I would be with a back pack in full adventure traveling everywhere. What is missing is that all this pothole that we are experiencing with the pandemic is accommodated, to continue knowing the world and looking for those experiences that continue to fill me with life in order to compose and inspire me.
It will bother you if someone says: "Thalía is fifty"?
No, it doesn't bother me at all when they call me fifty, because it's been years since I have lived my life in numbers. Not even a long time ago I weigh myself, for example. I am not interested in living in that, and I feel that everyone speaks from their own experience of it or from their own notion of it, but in my case I am happy to find myself at this stage of my life with so much joy, with health, with my family, doing what I love that it's entertaining my people, whether it's through music or acting when I get back to doing something. And I feel that doing what you like recharges you with yearnings and new dreams.
Do you regret about something in your life?
I do not regret anything, because everything, even the most absurd or what made me cry, or what broke my heart into a thousand pieces or what made my way difficult, even with all that, I got up, rebuilt myself and I dedicated myself to perfect myself and to know myself better. I have absolutely no regrets in my life.
