Monique Evans, my mother. By Barbara Evans

“Me and my mom, Monique Evans, have always been best friends. Like my brother [Armando, 43] he’s much older, it was always a lot of me and her, stuck together. I remember that we lived in Rio, in Ipanema, and then we moved just the two of us to Alphaville, in São Paulo, full of plans.

As a child I loved going to work with her. Even on trips outside Brazil, my mother took me, even though she knew she would have to dedicate most of her time to her commitments. With us he never had a bad time.

As the years went by, our ties grew closer and closer. We were like sisters. I even wore her clothes hoping they would look good on me, but that was only possible when I started to grow up and invaded her closet (laughs).

We always had an open relationship, we talked about any subject without shame. I felt very comfortable and this brought us closer and closer. Even after my marriage to Gustavo, she remains close to me, supporting me and giving me advice like my best friend.

I’ve always dealt very well with her being a woman ahead of her time, talking openly about sex. At school all my friends wanted to go home to meet my famous mother. It didn’t bother me, on the contrary, I adored this idolatry.

She makes me proud. By coming out as gay, she once again showed the strong woman she is and went after happiness without worrying about people’s opinion.

Of course, a mother-daughter relationship isn’t just about good times. She suffers from depression and borderline personality disorder. I have followed her struggle to combat these problems since she was very young. I have moments in my head where I remember her crying or having panic attacks inside stores and me being small, next to her, trying to help.

But I also don’t forget her daily struggle to get back on her feet and overcome all this daily. I think it’s very beautiful how much she wants to live. As hard as it is, she fights, turns around. And it is in this way, with determination, that she has participated in the most important moment of my life: the arrival of my daughter, Ayla.

The moment of greatest love I felt was when my mother met her granddaughter. I saw love overflowing. The three of us together is a great emotion and a strong love. During pregnancy, which was difficult, she stayed by my side. There were a lot of hormones in the head, in the body, and her support was essential at all times. Also in the loss of Ayla’s twin, there was my best friend supporting me. There were difficult times, but with her support I got through.”

IN TESTIMONY TO LEONARDO VOLPATO