The death of Verónica Forqué, the quintessential comic actress of Spanish cinema and one of the “Almodóvar girls”, convulsed the world of culture in Spain on Monday, with multiple signs of both sadness and astonishment at the fact that the actress of the everlasting smile has committed suicide at the age of 66.
The body of the actress was found by the health services that came to her home in Madrid, after receiving a telephone notice for a suicide attempt.
Shortly after, María, Forqué’s daughter, arrived, leaving her mother’s house visibly affected and without making any statements. And several hours later, the mortal remains of the actress were transferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine, where the autopsy must be carried out.
With mythical films in his career such as “La vida alegre”, “Be unfaithful and don’t look with whom”, “What have I done to deserve this?” or “Kika”, Forqué became the queen of comedy in the eighties, although her beginnings had been in drama.
And that image of laughter and fun continues in the minds of all movie lovers and their companions, who today wanted to remember their friendliness, their sweetness, their spirituality and their tenderness.
The director Pedro Almodóvar, with whom he worked on “What have I done to deserve this” (1984), “Matador” (1986) and “Kika” (1993), was one of the first to react, along with his production company’s team El Deseo, for the death of “an extraordinary actress and an irreplaceable person.”
“From the entire El Deseo family, we would like to send all our love to Verónica’s family in these painful moments. The void that it leaves in our lives and our cinema is irretrievable”, the brothers Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar pointed out in a note.
Verónica Forqué’s last public appearance was exactly two weeks ago, in a fashion show organized by Eduardo Navarrete, a friend and co-worker in the “Masterchef Celebrity” cooking contest in Spain, the program that restored her popularity to her best time, which showed the public a very different face from the actress and in which the artist Victoria Abril also participated.
Clashes with his peers, followed by affectionate reconciliations, outbursts of character and lots of laughter, made Forqué the undisputed star of this edition of the program.
Few knew before the contest began that the funny Verónica had suffered a serious depression in 2014, the year in which her brother Álvaro died, to whom she was very close, and in which she separated from her partner of more than 34 years, the film director Manuel Iborra.
His great support was his only daughter, María, also an artist.
Shortly before the end of the contest, Verónica Forqué abandoned it, exhausted by the effort. “You have to be consistent, I try to be, humble and, if I can’t take it anymore, I can’t take it anymore. My body and the universe were telling me you need to stop.”
Among his companions in that program was also the Cuban singer Yotuel Romero, interpreter and author of the song “Patria y vida”, the award-winning song that has become a hymn in favor of political change on the island, who wrote on Instagram a request: “God take care of her very, very much” .
Heartfelt words after an edition that raised controversy over Forqué’s erratic behavior and which, after his death, has led to requests on the networks for a space for reflection on mental illness.
And from the world of cinema, many messages of sadness. Like that of Antonio Banderas (she was “a sweet, spiritual woman and a good companion”), with whom she worked on “Get down to the moor” (1987), a film in which Juan Echanove also coincided (“Wait for me in heaven, heart” ) and Aitana Sánchez Gijón (“Your light will continue to warm our souls forever”).
“Bye, Veronica. I will always remember you like this, wonderful, sweet and in a state of grace, which was always your natural state”, wrote the actress Rossy de Palma along with a photograph of them on the set of the film “Kika”, where she also coincided with Bibiana Fernández, who expressed his “absolute desolation and sorrow.”
And together with her friends, anonymous admirers of the actress, who have turned her name into one of the trends of the day on Twitter with absolute unanimity in the word used to react: “Shock”.