‘I’m not a feminist, I’m feminine’, says ex-Witch Joana Prado

Exactly 25 years ago, the model Joana Prado, then 21, debuted on TV Bandeirantes dancing sensually in a bikini and playing the Feiticeira of the show H, by Luciano Huck. At the time, she thought it would be temporary, a “little job” to help pay for business school. But it was not like that.

The seductive character whose face was covered by a veil became a landmark both on TV and in men’s magazines: the 1999 edition of Playboy magazine of which she was the cover is the absolute sales champion in the country to this day, with 1, 4 million copies acquired. Cut to 2023.

Two and a half decades later, Joana Prado, 46, says she is a new woman. She embraced religion and regrets being Enchantress, although she admits that, financially, the phase was great. “Today, it would not be appropriate to play a sensual character who shows her body”, says she, from Florida, where she lives with her husband, fighter Vitor Belfort, and their three teenage children. Read the interview below:

25 years ago Brazil met Feiticeira, a TV phenomenon. Do you have good memories?

It’s part of my story, we all have a past. It was a moment when I was a girl, today I am almost 47 years old. At that time I was studying business administration with an emphasis on foreign trade, that is, my goal was to be in the United States. I suddenly found myself a sex symbol, dancing in a bikini on nationally broadcast TV. At first it was very difficult.

Per what? Because I grew up in a conservative middle-class family, with a civil engineer father and an economist mother. For me to understand the character and be able to interpret it, I had to drop out of college and do theater. Only after that I was able to enjoy and understand who Joana was and who the Witch was.

Financially it was worth it, wasn’t it?

When I grabbed the opportunity, I thought: I’m going to capitalize on it to the fullest. I knew how to invest my money very well, I bought residential and commercial properties, invested in a bank, I was never one to spend and show off. At the time of Feiticeira, I had products, gum with my name, stamped notebook. It was to capitalize.

Do you regret being the Enchantress?

When it comes to repentance, I say that this word in Hebrew means a change of direction. In Greek, change of mind. When I understood this perspective, I say that I regretted it, because I changed my thoughts and direction. Today it would not be appropriate to play a sensual character who shows her body. I live another phase, I converted to Christianity, I have children.

What was life like as a sex symbol?

There was a lot of harassment, but it was different from today. It got to the point where I couldn’t have dinner, I was in a restaurant and I had to go out the back door because people were following me. But I took it in a good way, I was well resolved. The most dangerous harassment, on the other hand, did not exist, even though I was at my peak. It seemed that men were afraid of me. I never felt invaded.

You is the best-selling Playboy (1999) cover star in history. Any comments to make?

I don’t care about Playboy, these numbers, I don’t care about that. Being record sales was never a goal, just as posing nude was not. I made more money, but nothing has changed, it’s more of a fact. I even show photos of that time to my children, I’m well resolved. I see how much I’ve evolved, I’ve matured. It was all part of my growing up.

Do you consider yourself a feminist?

I’m not a feminist, I’m feminine. I am an independent woman, I started working at the age of 13. But I have my priorities, which are God first, my husband and children, home and work. I take care of a network of gyms here in Florida, I’m in management, in the daily operation. I have an NGO where I work actively with the issue of human trafficking. A very intense life as a mother, wife and businesswoman, more or less the same as the routine of most modern women.