Until a few weeks ago, most viewers had in their minds the image of an ingenious and smiling young man, Javi Martín, as a reporter and presenter together with Wyoming in Whoever that fails. But behind that facade that has been archived in many memories, there was a person who was undergoing a very complex mental process, which has now been known in all its magnitude. He went through both phases of bipolarity, the manic and the depressive, and in the latter his whole world was turned upside down. One day she decided to end her suffering in the worst possible way, but at the last moment she thought of her husband, the rest of her family, she took a step back and today she can tell the story of her A story that forces the reader to accept the word suicide.
STAFF
Age: 49 years old (November 28, 1972).
Place of birth: Madrid.
Trajectory: It started in the 90s in Night night and innocent, innocent, in addition to sporadic appearances in series such as Pharmacy on Duty, Girls today, Babysitters, Family doctor Y This is my neighborhood. Her greatest popularity was reached with Whoever that fails. She had small roles in movies like You will die in Chafarinas Y Open your eyes. He got more relevant characters in I will survive, Candy Heart either the king of the farm.
Present: In recent years he has turned his acting passion to the theater. She is currently promoting a very personal book, Bipolar and much honorabout this disease of the mind.
You have described in your book a very important chapter of your life that talks about bipolarity. What exactly is it to be bipolar? Because many times we use that term in a frivolous way for people with mood swings.
It is true that there are many kinds of bipolarities, some are milder and there are people who have certain mood swings, but in short, bipolarity is defined in two phases: one of them is mania and the other responds to depression.
And how do you live in those two phases?
In mania it is lived as a kind of alteration, with distorted realities and gives a lot for spirituality. It is a very pleasant state, very effusive, you have a lot of energy and you are able to sleep only three hours, get up and be so fresh.
“Bipolarity is defined in two phases: one of them is mania and the other responds to depression”
It even looks pretty…
It seems, but it is not, because your vision of reality is distorted. And if we talk about depression we have to say that they are states in which there is a lot of anxiety and anguish. You see everything black, you are afraid of the future, of what might happen to you, and you think that everything bad that might happen is going to happen to you. Depending on the severity of the depression, there may even be suicidal thoughts.
A thought you had at a given moment.
I had it and I was about to do it. In fact, I didn’t do it by millimeters. The suffering that you live is so deep, it is so intense, that you have the feeling that you will never get out of it in your life. It is very important to tell people that you can get out of depression.
Did he see no way out of his situation?
Of course not. The last way out for a person who takes his own life is to stop suffering, or that’s what I thought. Yes, my only way out was to take my own life.
But he stopped that momentum. What is it that made him back down and not throw himself into the void from the terrace of her house?
Climbing up on the railing of the terrace, I thought about everything that would happen next. I would throw myself off that seventh floor, someone would call the police, someone would call my husband and the people I love and tell them: Javier has taken his own life. I could see in my imagination the terrified faces of all the people I love and the impact that news like that would have. In Spain there are four thousand suicides a year and that act of a person who wants to stop suffering is a bomb in a family.
We live in a society that hardly talks about death, much less about suicide, and that hides mental illness.
We live in a society of happy flowers. We have to show that we are always good and we go out on social networks being great. In addition, the sadness of others makes us uncomfortable, we do not allow the other to be sad. We want to get him out of that state right away, tell him: No, if you’re okay. You have friends, you have family, you have a job, we love you… We do not understand that this person is like this because of external things. Other times there are no reasons, depression has simply come to you and you cannot avoid it. Do you feel uncomfortable talking to me about this topic?
I have to admit that it is not something we usually talk about and it is not comfortable. Despite the discomfort we may feel, what can we do with a person with depression?
Understand her, listen to her, recommend that she put herself in the hands of professionals and follow the medication that they say to take.
Was he diagnosed when he made the decision to commit suicide or was he caught by surprise?
No, not at that time. He wasn’t even going to a psychologist, or a psychiatrist, or anything like that.
Is there good care to treat mental illness?
There is much to do. There are fewer psychologists than in other countries. Suicide prevention plans are needed. We need emotional education. If you need a psychologist or a psychiatrist, you can’t wait for public health to attend to you, because the waiting lists are tremendous. When you have a soul ache, maybe they give you an appointment for three or five months. Then they attend to you, but the professionals are overwhelmed.
We know you from television, especially from Whoever that fails. How has his mental illness affected your work?
I am not aware of whether it has had an impact or not. Maybe, but I haven’t found out. We will see how it affects now that I am telling my story through the media.
Nena Daconte, Ángel Martín and you. Three well-known people who have told about their relationship with the mental illnesses they suffer or have suffered.
I think that in all three cases there is a need to help them get to know each other and to comment that it is not something as strange as it may seem from the outside. It must be said that it is a moment in your life in which you have a bad time, but then things calm down. We have a loudspeaker, small, medium or large, whatever, but we can reach people a little more.
What was the trigger that made you fall into bipolarity?
If we talk about hobby issues, it is very complex and you think that the world is as you see it. Above all it is in depression when I realized that I was not well and that I needed help.
“Suicide prevention plans are needed. We need emotional education”
However, looking back, there is always the image of a Javi Martín as a talkative reporter in Whoever that fails.
Ha, ha, ha… Well, this can happen to anyone. There may be a genetic issue, drug abuse, because I was also young and I took drugs and substances… All of that can degenerate and lead you to have mental problems. It is said that one in four people will suffer from a type of mental disorder throughout their lives, and that is 25% of the population.
Let’s talk about work. He has been a reporter, presenter and is an actor. What is he left with?
I stay with the theater. I have enjoyed everything I have done in my life. Whoever that fails It was a wonderful stage in my life and I enjoyed it very much, but what I really like is getting on stage, being in the theater, seeing the seats, listening to the audience and feeling that energy that is generated in the theater and that is not generated in other media. Everything I have done in my life has given me something.
Do you think that today we could see on television a Whoever that fails?
It’s more complicated. Politicians have learned a lot about how to talk to the media. When the program began, we had a cast of politicians that gave a lot of play: Aznar, Isabel Tocino, Esperanza Aguirre, Trillo, Álvarez Cascos… That generation has already been lost. Now there is another where they are smarter.
Are you sure they are smarter now?
Ha ha ha… I know where you’re going. I say that they are smarter in terms of relating to the media and knowing how to fight a reporter who puts them in a bind.
Ayuso will always remain, at least for the moment.
Yes indeed. Gives a lot of play. For a program Whoever that fails Isabel Ayuso would be great.
What is he doing now in theater?
Dreams of a seducer in Madrid with the Azorín company. It’s a Woody Allen comedy, I play his character and I have a lot of fun.