Alicia Lardé and John Nash, a love that defied everything

John Nash’s name needs no introduction: his life story became famous through the film An amazing mind . On the contrary, almost no one knows who Alicia Lardé, his wife, was. This brave woman was not only fundamental in Nash’s life, but she also proved with actions that love is stronger than everything. .

Alicia Lardé is also responsible for a change in the perception of schizophrenia . Her relationship with Nash showed that the secrets to getting out of the abyss into which this disorder plunges people has more to do with affection and constructive relationships than with medicines and hospital treatments.

Although the film was faithful to reality in several aspects, it also introduced some fictional elements. The film did not reflect the brutal struggle that this couple, led by Alicia Lardé, had to face to overcome not only Nash’s disorder, but also that of their son.John Charles Martin Nash.

Who was Alice Lardé?

Alicia Lardé was born in San Salvador (El Salvador), in 1933. came from a family very active, full of intellectual figures of great prestige. Her father was a doctor and one of her aunts was a famous poet. The family settled in the United States when Alicia was just a child. She went to a very exclusive Catholic school in New York and then went on to study physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

It was the 50s and she was one of the few women who studied this science. At the institute where she advanced her career, John Nash was a professor of whom she spoke with particular admiration. . He had become famous for his feat of having obtained a doctorate at the age of 22, at the famous University of Princeton..

In several interviews, Alicia Lardé said that she found Nash very attractive from the first time she saw him in class. . He was young, blonde and cool in his area, which is why she was immediately attracted to him. Nash, for his part, was also attracted by the exotic beauty of the Salvadoran woman, who was also one of the few women to graduate in physics, at that time.

A marriage with vicissitudes

Alicia Lardé and John Nash married in 1957 and shortly after the first symptoms of the disease began to appear. schizophrenia that already afflicted the genius. She became pregnant very early, while Nash’s behavior became increasingly difficult. . At last, In 1959 the situation became so serious that he had to be admitted to McLean Hospital.

It was then that he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was subjected to the treatments of the time, including electroshock. Nash spent two months in the hospital and when he was discharged he resigned from his position as a professor at MIT; Likewise, he abandoned his wife and his newborn son and went to Europe.. There he starred in several extreme episodes, since he believed that there was a world plot directed by the Pope.

He then returned to the United States and for several years was in and out of various psychiatric institutions. Alicia Lardé felt that she could no longer handle this situation and the couple divorced in 1963. . Nash went to live with her mother until 1968, when she died.

A very strong love

After his mother’s death, Nash was left completely helpless. So Alicia welcomed him back into her house., because he knew that otherwise he would end up begging on the streets. There began a very difficult stage, but also exultant and full of revelations for the couple. Alicia Lardé thought that her husband needed, above all, love, understanding and acceptance. She wasn’t wrong.

For several years, she took charge of the home. . She worked to support the family in almost every way and assumed the enormous dependence on Jhon as his responsibility. Her work as a programmer and data analyst allowed them all to survive for about 30 years. Meanwhile, Nash alternated periods of lucidity with other more critical periods.

In the early ’90s, Nash slowly began to recover. . Then came the Nobel Prize in economics, in 1994. John became increasingly lucid and little by little he was able to stop taking the medications. The couple remarried in 2001. They lived several years of great happiness, until they had a traffic accident in 2015 and died together.

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