Thales Bretas says that children question Paulo Gustavo’s death: ‘They have difficulty processing’

Doctor Thales Bretas revealed that the children, Gael and Romeu, question the absence of their father, actor and comedian Paulo Gustavo. Participating in Conversa com Bial (Globo), he detailed the family’s grieving process and said that children do not understand what happened to their father. “I see they have a harder time processing that,” he said.

Paulo Gustavo died at the age of 42 in May 2021, after a month in hospital due to Covid-19. The children were only one year old at the time.

Bretas said that, in the beginning, he tried to keep the comedian alive in Gael and Romeu’s memory through photos and videos. “I realized that this was challenging for them. They left, changed the subject, they did not understand why this father was absent, if it was an abandonment. Although I always explained what happened: that he got sick, and went to heaven . I always played this little joke “, reported.

Now, the boys are older — Gael turned 4 on August 3rd and Romeu has a birthday ten days later, this Sunday (13th). “From time to time, now that they are older, we bring up the subject, they ask more and more, they are more curious about life,” said Bretas.

“One day Romeu asked me, ‘but why did papa Paulo go to heaven?’ wanted papa Paulo to go to heaven.'”, reported the doctor. “I see that they have a harder time processing that.”

Bretas said he also tries to explain family dynamics to boys. “They have sometimes asked: ‘where is the other father’ or ‘why does so-and-so have a father and a mother, the other has two fathers, the other has two mothers, where is ours’. And I always explain: you had two fathers, who really wanted to have you. We borrowed two bellies, because we are men and cannot have them. And they brought you with a lot of love.”