The well-known vedette Bárbara Rey, who just turned 75 years old, has decided to tell her truth with candor. At an event filled with journalists at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid, the artist presented her memoir Yo, Bárbara, published on June 12 by Plaza & Janés.
Surrounded by her daughter Sofía Cristo and figures from the celebrity press such as Chelo García Cortés, Bárbara kept a reflective tone, without direct attacks, and emphasized that the absence of a lawsuit from the emeritus king is because she has never spoken ill of him; she simply acknowledges their relationship.
bárbara rey keeps making headlines
Although she admitted to having asked the monarch for money, she stressed that she did not receive the famous 600 million pesetas that were rumored. According to the vedette, Juan Carlos's excessive interest in her was almost relentless, and although there was attraction, the relationship was characterized by discretion and respect.
Regarding a possible lawsuit, Bárbara appears calm: "He has more to lose than I do," and she believes that any legal confrontation would be more damaging for the monarch than for her.
She also commented that the king is not prone to getting emotionally involved, but rather to "becoming infatuated." In her own words, "He was more in love with me than I was with him," although she acknowledged that she never asked him directly if he really felt love. Despite this, Bárbara preferred to keep her composure and avoid public entanglements: "I'm not picking on him, I'm simply telling what happened between us," she stated.
reactions to these new statements
During her speech, she stated that she has not been coerced or blackmailed by the emeritus or by third parties and stressed that many have profited financially from her story, but that she doesn't live off Spaniards' money, but from her own work. Chelo García Cortés pointed out, with some irony, that if the king had wanted to, he could have sued, to which Bárbara replied that nowadays everything is recorded and that she has not suffered any pressure.
She also shared intimate and painful passages: from episodes of gender-based violence in her marriage to Ángel Cristo to moments of vulnerability that led her to sleep in doorways instead of palaces, an anecdote she highlighted with a mix of humor and criticism of elitism.
She also revealed previously unknown details, such as insinuations from Encarna Sánchez, which never went any further, and uncomfortable episodes alongside figures such as Adolfo Suárez.
a book
The book Yo, Bárbara arises as a response to family comments, especially to publications by her son Ángel Cristo Jr. in recent years, and as a way to take control of her personal narrative. With a career that began in Totana and became a symbol of the destape during the transition, Bárbara has lived a public life intertwined with power, fame, and controversial episodes.
Her secret romantic relationship with King Juan Carlos I lasted approximately from 1976 to 1994, and involved suspicions about reserved funds managed through CESID.