The true and sad story of the romance between ‘Ugly Betty’ and ‘Hugo Lombardi’

If there was one thing we loved about Ugly Betty, it was the stories that happened between the secondary characters. But one that we never knew was the romance between Betty and Hugo Lombardi in real life.

And during part of the filming of the soap opera Ana María Orozco was married to Julián Arango, who played the egocentric designer.

However, their relationship would last less than a year, which complicated the coexistence of these two actors on the set of Ugly Betty.

That is why in this note we will tell you the true love story of these ‘Betty’ and ‘Hugo Lombardi’ and how it was that from one day to the next the love between them ended.

How did the romance begin?

The truth is that Julián Arango and Ana María Orozco knew each other before Ugly Betty.

The two met for the first time in 1997 on the set of the telenovela Tiempos Difíciles, but did not fall in love until a year after the two met in 1998’s Perro amor.

By then Julián was already a renowned heartthrob and television actor, while Ana María was just beginning her career.

After only a few months of dating, the two actors got married in a beautiful but simple ceremony with their closest family and friends.

They both moved to a modest house in La Calera where they had a quiet life and away from the siege of the media.

‘Hugo Lombardi’ and ‘Ugly Betty’

At the end of ’98 Fernando Gaitán contacted the couple to invite them to be part of the cast of Ugly Betty, the story of a brilliant but unattractive woman who works in a fashion company.

He offered her the lead role, and Julián, the role of the homosexual designer Hugo Lombardi, which was initially intended to appear only as an extra.

Several friends told Arango that this character would ruin his reputation as a leading man on the small screen, however he accepted, got rid of his hair and learned everything he could about design.

Furthermore, Hugo Lombardi would allow him to be close to his beloved wife. But what he never imagined was that it would be this production that would put an end to his marriage.

The alleged infidelity of Ana María Orozco

As the spouses began to live together more on the set, the relationship deteriorated.

The more time they spent on set and learning lines, the less they devoted themselves to each other as a couple.

Added to this was an alleged infidelity on the part of Ana María who, according to several actors, was cheating on Juilán with one of the production’s photographers.

Thus, after only six months of marriage, the couple divorced, just when the novel was halfway through recording.

After the breakup, Ana María began to publicly date the photographer with whom she had a three-year relationship and this began to strain things on the set.

Julián, spiteful, took advantage of his role to express his anger against the actress. He asked the director to postpone the scenes that Hugo and Betty had; he even thought about giving up on the project.

But finally, their professionalism prevailed and, now divorced, both actors finished the soap opera and even participated in the staging that took place some time later.

What is your relationship like now?

Now their relationship remains cordial. She remarried twice and now lives in Argentina with her husband and her two daughters.

Julián Arango, for his part, has continued his successful career in theater and television in series such as El cartel de los sapos and Narcos México; and has even ventured into the stand-up genre.