Cecilia Bolocco
Cecilia Carolina Bolocco Fonck (Santiago, Chile, May 19, 1965) is a Chilean fashion designer, television presenter, model and actress. She became known for being elected Miss Universe in May 1987.
She participated in multiple programs in her country, the United States and Mexico, highlighting Viva el lunes and Cecilia's night. She also dabbled in acting. She was married to former Argentine president Carlos Menem, from whom she divorced in 2007.
Biography
Family and early years
She was born in the Santa María Clinic in Santiago, the daughter of businessman Enzo Bolocco Cintolesi and Rose Marie Fonck Assler, married in 1959. She is the third of five children, the eldest being Juan Pablo and Rodrigo (died in 1986), and the minors Verónica and Diana. His father owned Chilemotores, in partnership with Ford, and the Chilean industry of Televisores Bolocco, questioned for his illicit enrichment practices.
During her childhood and adolescence, her main pastime was classical ballet, an activity she did between the ages of four and 18.
She studied primary and secondary school at Santiago College and held the title of queen of her school at the age of 16. She was an average student, but with notorious aptitudes for mathematics. In 1982 she completed her secondary education and entered the University of Santiago de Chile (USACH) to study civil engineering, a career she abandoned due to vocational differences. She then decided to study costume design at the INCACEA institute, where she graduated as a costume designer.
Personal Life
She has caught the attention of the press due to her romantic relationships.
On March 3, 1990, she married American television producer Michael Young in the Palacio Cousiño in Santiago. The local media covered the event as if it were a royal wedding. In July 1995 the couple separated, and the marriage was annulled in 2001.
Back in Chile, she had a sentimental relationship with her partner in Viva el lunes, the television presenter Kike Morandé, who was married. The couple finally broke up in 1998, when Morandé decided to rebuild his family. After that, she was romantically linked to the singer-songwriter Keko Yunge and the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho.
On May 26, 2001, she married Carlos Menem, former president of Argentina, whom she met during an interview at the Casa Rosada in 1999, and with whom she had her first child, Máximo Saúl Menem Bolocco, born in Santiago on 19 November 2003. The couple began divorce proceedings in 2007.
In 2016, she began a romantic relationship with businessman José Patricio “Pepo” Daire Barrios. They announced their engagement in 2020 and married on October 8, 2022.
Public life
Miss Universe
Miss Chile was chosen for Miss Universe on April 20, 1987, when she declared to the press: «[I have won] because I am the best; I have personality, a nice physique and, most importantly, I want to do very well, to succeed. I have won because I deserve it."
She participated in the Miss South America pageant, held in Cartagena (Colombia) at the end of April. She won the 1987 Miss Universe beauty contest, held in the City of Singapore (Singapore) on the morning of May 27 (local time), becoming the first —and so far only— Chilean to do so. During her one-year reign, she settled in Los Angeles (California).
She was a co-host of Miss Universe 1993 and was part of the judging panel for Miss Universe 1996.
Television career
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In 1988 he began a career on Chilean television with the program Because today is Saturday on TVN. Between 1989 and 1990, she co-animated Tuesday 13 of Channel 13.
In June 1990, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia to work as a regular anchor for CNN en Español. CNN, which had an agreement with Telemundo, decided to send Cecilia to Miami (Florida). Later, on Telemundo she hosted La buena vida and Ocurrió así , programs for which she won two Emmy Awards. She debuted as an actress with the antagonistic role of Karina Lafontaine de Montero in the Mexican telenovela Morelia (1995-1996), produced by Televisa, which was a continental success and Broadcast in more than 70 countries, including Chile and European nations. In 1995, together with Antonio Vodanovic, he co-hosted the 36th edition of the Viña del Mar Festival. Back in Chile, in October of that same year, he co-hosted one of the most successful programs on Chilean television, Viva el lunes (1995-2001), along with Francisco Javier Morandé and humorist Álvaro Salas. During this time, she also had her own radio program and hosted two solo shows, Buenas noches, Cecilia and Cecilia's night , both on Channel 13.
In February 2000, she was the host of the 41st version of the Viña del Mar Festival. Later, she was invited by her friend, the Colombian screenwriter Fernando Gaitán, to participate in the Colombian telenovela I am Ugly Betty. In February 2001, she once again hosted the 42nd edition of the Viña del Mar Festival. In 2002 she hosted the program Aquí se pasa Mundial on Channel 13, together with Álvaro Salas, which was extended for two seasons, and hosted the closing night of the 43rd version of the Viña del Mar Song Festival, as well as participating in the closing of the Telethon at the National Stadium.
Subsequently, her television project, Cecilia's Night —a continuation of her old program, but now broadcast on the open television signal Mega—, was not accompanied by good reviews and averaged low audience during its short broadcast. In December 2006, he returned to Canal 13 to host the reality show Fama in January 2007. In February of that year, he arrived at the 48th edition gala of the Viña del Mar Festival with a transparent black suit by the designer Rubén Campos that revealed his physical attributes. On March 14, 2007, she kicked off her all-star wife swap Who Swaps Who?, based on the British show Wife Swap, which ran for 10 episodes..
As of April 23, 2015, and after an invitation from the production of Channel 13, she took over the leadership of the program Vértigo, replacing her sister Diana Bolocco, who left the star for her pre and postnatal. Once Diana's postnatal was over, she left the space.
Advertising face and ventures
She is the face of an exclusive campaign of beauty products for the Falabella department store, with the slogan "100% attitude", both in Chile and Peru. In 2008 she launched her first clothing line at Falabella.
In 2001, it launched its official website (isomos.com), which was closed a year and a half later due to lack of financial resources.
In 2012, BMW launched a limited edition of thirty X1 model cars with Cecilia Bolocco's stamp, as she chose the colors of the bodywork, the design of the wheels and the interior materials. In addition, in 2013 she designed a line of saucepans, pots and pans for Magefesa.
Filmography
TV presenter
| Programme | Year(s) | Emissora | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Because today is Saturday | 1988 | TVN |  Chile
|
| Tuesday 13 | 1989-1990 | Canal 13 | |
| Telemundo CNN | 1990-1991 | CNN in Spanish |  United States
|
| It happened like that. | 1992-1993 | Telemundo | |
| Good life | Telemundo | ||
| Tonight with Cecilia Bolocco | Telemundo | ||
| Miss Universe | 1993 | CBS |  Mexico
|
| Live on Monday | 1995-2001 | Canal 13 | Chile
|
| Good night, Cecilia. | 1997 | ||
| Cecilia's night | 1999 | ||
| Here we go World | 2002 | ||
| Cecilia's night | 2005 | Mega | |
| Fama | 2007 | Canal 13 | |
| Who changes who? | |||
| Vertigo | 2015 | ||
| Dance | 2016 |
Actress
| Programme | Year | Paper | Chapter(s) | Emissora | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morelia | 1995-1996 | "Karina Lafontaine de Montero" | 235 | Televisa | Mexico
|
| I'm Betty, the ugly one. | 2000 | Like herself. | 2 | RCN Televisión |  Colombia
|
| La Nany | 2005 | Like herself. | 1 | Mega | Chile
|
Disputes
Federici stoppage
Upon her arrival in Chile, after winning the world beauty scepter, on October 2, 1987, she gave a conference where she was asked her opinion about the conflict between students from the University of Chile during the Federici strike. She exclaimed that young people should "worry about studying, because that's why she goes to university!" In the midst of the tense political situation of the time as a result of the student demonstrations, the student María Paz Santibáñez had been shot at the hands of a police officer, about which she said: “Why are you getting into trouble, what for! What are you going to argue for? You know what... are you going to get something out of that? Did you know that this was going to happen to you? Maybe yes!» Her answers sparked the ire of critics of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship.
The Boloccazo
On February 16, 2000, during the opening show of the Viña del Mar Festival 2000, where she was a co-host, she performed a daring choreography together with a dance group. When she raised one of her legs, the white suit she was wearing, similar to a bathing suit, slipped more than it should have, revealing part of her genital area. The scene was captured by a photographer from the newspaper La Nación and the image appeared the following day in all the country's media, remaining in the public's memory as the Boloccazo.
The Argentine stole
In May 2001, she appeared on the cover of the Argentine weekly Para Ti sporting a hairstyle similar to that of Eva Perón, half-naked and covered only by a fur stole in the colors of the Argentine flag The photograph caused a good part of Argentines to criticize her negatively, and even the Argentine lawyer Juan Carlos Iglesias denounced her for "insulting the national flag." On May 17, at a party held in her honor In Santiago de Chile, Bolocco apologized to the Argentine people, arguing that the idea of the stole "was to give Argentina a hug".
Infidelity
On May 10, 2007, the defunct Chilean magazine, SQP, La Revista, published a set of photographs taken by Chilean paparazzo Ángel Mora, in which Bolocco appeared sunbathing topless, accompanied by the Italian businessman Luciano Marocchino, on the terrace of his residence in Miami.
The photographer confessed to the program Primer plano that the director of the magazine, Rodrigo Danús (who was also a representative of Bolocco in the past), had commissioned him to find out about the relationship between Bolocco and Marocchino in USA. She also assured that there was a sentimental relationship between her and the Italian, and that in three months she would be able to prove it with new photographs. The paparazzi managed to locate himself on an island located in front of Cecilia's, and after waiting three days, he was able to capture the images that he would later sell to the magazine for the sum of 24 million Chilean pesos.
The photographs caused an international media outcry, as they further fueled the old rumor about the alleged separation of Bolocco and her husband, the former president of Argentina, Carlos Menem.
Two days after the images were published, Cecilia arrived in Chile and took advantage of the moment to publicly apologize to her husband, however, she did not agree to explain what happened, arguing that the photos had been taken illegally. He also clarified that he would not refer to the subject further, but hours later he gave an interview to the newspaper El Mercurio. There she declared that her husband, after learning about the photos, had told her "don't worry."
On May 15, 2007, Carlos Menem confessed that he and Cecilia were in fact separated, and that they were only united by love for their son, Máximo.
In its May 17, 2007 edition, the newspaper La Tercera assured that the authorities of the channel where Bolocco worked, Channel 13, were waiting for the publication of new photographs so that she would resign. According to the editor of the SQP magazine, Alejandra Valle, they did not intend to acquire or publish these images, since their editorial line did not allow the display of "risque" photographs, including the journalist and former panelist of the program SQP, José Miguel Villouta, ventured to ensure that in the enigmatic images it was possible to see scenes of oral sex between Bolocco and Marocchino.
Despite all the rumors about the content of the unpublished photos, paparazzi Ángel Mora told the program Juntos, el show de la mañana, on Channel 13, that no one had seen the photos yet. And he also apologized to anyone who might be affected by the situation.
On May 20, 2007, Carlos Menem announced that he would legally separate from Bolocco, after almost six years of marriage and three years apart.
Finally, the magazine TV Notas published on May 22, 2007 the photographs that revealed the romance between Cecilia Bolocco and Luciano Marocchino. They showed the couple kissing and "in a visibly sexual attitude". The images were taken in the same place as the previous photos and by the same photographer.
For its part, Channel 13 declared that Bolocco would keep his job, since "we are not going to refer to the photos, which otherwise have to do with his private life."
On February 5, 2008, the Argentine magazine Caras published three images on its website showing Cecilia topless, but this time accompanied by her son. The images were captured between February 2 and 3 by a paparazzi hired by the Uruguayan agency Southern-press. The photographer, who was on a motorized boat on the lake that overlooks Cecilia's terrace, managed to capture 31 photographs where Bolocco and Máximo were seen enjoying the sun and the pool.
On October 19, 2008, Bolocco attended the program Animal nocturno and spoke for the first time about Luciano Marrochino. Among other things, he stated that he always liked older men and that this was the only time they were both alone.
Money laundering accusation
Since June 2015, Cecilia Bolocco has faced a complaint for money laundering established by the Argentinean radical deputy Manuel Garrido. She is accused of having acted as an intermediary in partnership with Carlos Menem for the laundering of assets that correspond to a series of properties in Argentina.The case is in court in charge of María Servini de Cubría and prosecutor Jorge Di Lello; Evidence measures have been requested from the court for the advancement of the judicial investigation that covers the crimes of illicit enrichment, money laundering, and concealment.
Awards
- Heroes of La Concepción 1987 "Excellent Youth", given by Augusto Pinochet for his triumph in Miss Universe.
- Laurel de Oro 1989 to "Best Television Animator" by "Martes 13" (Canal 13).
- Emmy 1992 to "Best Producer", by "This Night with Cecilia Bolocco (Telemundo).
- Emmy 1992 to "Best Conductor", by "This Night with Cecilia Bolocco (Telemundo).
- Television Grama Award 1996 to "Animator of the Year", by Viva on Monday (Canal 13).
- Television Grama Award 1996 to "Best Entertainment Program", by Viva on Monday (Canal 13).
- Vitra-Punta del Este Award 1997, to "Chilean Figura most outstanding of the year".
- Television Grama Award 1997 to "Animator of the Year", by Viva on Monday (Canal 13).
- Television Grama Award 1997 to "Best Entertainment Program", by Viva on Monday (Canal 13).
- APES Award 1997 to "Best TV animator", by Viva on Monday (Canal 13).
- Caras Magazine Award 1998 to "11 most outstanding faces of the decade", by heading Animation of Television.
- Television Grama Award 1998 to "Animator of the Year", by Viva on Monday (Canal 13).
- Television Grama Award 1999 to "Gran figura de la Televisión Chilena".
- Women ' s Federation for World Peace Award 2005
Possession of title
| Predecessor: Mariana Villasante |  Miss Universe Chile 1987 | Successor: Maria Verónica Romero |
| Predecessor: Barbara Palacios  Venezuela | Miss Universe 1987 | Successor: Porntip Nakhirunkanok  Thailand |
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