There is a new soap opera going on these days and it’s not on television. It’s a dramatic tale with a plebeian princess, interlaced loves and disgusted daughters. And, as in all good soap operas, there are torrents of tears, telephone threats and illegitimate children who add themselves as new heirs to a supposedly substantial fortune.
The action begins in the last years of glory for the ex-soccer player Diego Maradona. His life has all the touching stories and low blows that bring about the first set of tears for this story. Maradona suffered a childhood of bare feet, tramping through suburban mud and winter rains. Soon appeared his remarkable ability to play soccer which magically removed him from those deprivations propelling him to top worldwide consideration. Still, the worldwide soccer star dedicated time to enjoy some excesses alongside his career. You name it, drugs, eager for fame and women and a slew of fair-weather friends.
Diego Maradona, the imaginary film star
Nevertheless, Diego Maradona survived the hurricane of excesses stoically. He was then affected by a cardiac affection that put his life in serious danger. He also suffered from obesity and needed to rehabilitate. Off he went to spend some time in Cuba, becoming friends with the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, and later with Hugo Chavez and the late former Argentinean president Néstor Kirchner, among others. Still, there were at least three things that he could not leave behind: soccer, the eager women and his famous quotations. Without a doubt, Diego Maradona is the film star of his own Latin soap opera.
Supporting actors and actresses
Claudia Villafañe is Diego Maradona’s childhood girlfriend and ex-wife. To the eyes of the viewer, she is the underappreciated wife and applied mother who dedicates herself to quietly resolving her now ex-husband’s mistakes. She is presumed to act as administrator of the supposedly great fortune accumulated by the Argentine national hero. It is here that the plot begins to tangle and ambiguities of this soap opera begin. The actors behave like typical ones in soap operas: they are never defined, express their opinions through third persons and often leave intentions open for the paparazzi to interpret. Claudia Villafañe would be part of an affective threesome together with their daughters, Dalma and Giannina, that aggressively protect the family treasure.
The plot
The plot gets more and more complicated as it builds. There are a multitude of other supporting actors that come, remain or return constantly to the set that is Maradona’s life. Sergio “Kun” Agüero is also a notable, young Argentine soccer player who, at the moment, plays soccer in England with great success. Years ago, he became involved with Giannina Maradona, Maradona’s youngest daughter. This couple became parents to Banjamín in February 2009 and made Diego Armando a grandparent. But there was some extra “chili” to this story when “Kun” started listening to one of his wife’s favorite Argentinean popular music singer’s, “Princesita” (Eng: Princess) Karina. The young player liked the music and the singer. After typical and later denied rumors, Giannina and Sergio broke up. What was the reason for it? “Princesita” Karina.
In the meantime, Verónica Ojeda, who was Maradona’s girlfriend of eight years, announced her pregnancy. They apparently lived happily until that moment. Maradona didn’t want another child, nor did he want his daughters to have to share their father’s fortune with, plus they always hated Ojeda with passion. The result was Verónica Ojeda giving birth to Diego Fernando Maradona in solitude because Diego had flown to Dubai. The pregnancy had been a nightmare for this new mom. Months before, a judge had dictated a restriction against Claudia Villafañe and her daughters because of their terrible threats on Ojeda.
What is remarkable in this situation is that Don Diego, father of Diego Maradona, accompanied her as she was exiled from the rest of the family. Follow me? But there is something more, Diego Maradona acknowledged the arrival of his son weeks after his birth in the Argentine consulate of Dubai… thousands of miles away from Argentina, with a new controversial girlfriend by his side and without knowing his son but via Skype. Apparently, the new baby is inopportune in the calculations of the “affective threesome” as he will be forced to make a new division of goods.
No worthy soap opera stops without twisting the plot a little further, so there’s a new chapter in this one. Let’s go back to “Kun” Agüero and his romance with “Princesita” Karina. It seems that ex-girlfriend Giannina Maradona, aware of the romance between the singer and her ex, declared that “Princesita” Karina and her dad, Diego Armando Maradona, had a secret, previous affair. In response, Karina announced in tears that she would initiate legal actions against Giannina.
All this is disclosed via television programs through cell phone calls and text message transcriptions, tears on screen, recordings of voice and ferocious public verbal crossings. And, as with any great soap opera, this one is to be continued…
Originally published in VOXXI as Diego Maradona’s soap opera plays out in real life
Before You Go
