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It’s not every day that you have the chance to interview one of Brazil’s biggest popular phenomena – and at such a special moment in his life. On March 27, Xuxa Meneghel will turn 60 and shows that her voice reverberates in many other layers: in addition to TV, streaming and social networks, Xuxa lends her image and voice to the fight against animal cruelty and veganism and is sponsor of the Campaign for Vaccination from the Ministry of Health.
“I went to Janja and made myself available. I did this with all the former presidents of Brazil. Less for that individual. The drop in child vaccination is an absurd setback. They say that when they want to end a people, they end up with children. So not vaccinating them is the worst thing anyone can do. The greatest demonstration of love that a father or mother can give to their child is to vaccinate them”.
À , she talks about this political “activism”, about her diet as something aimed at her well-being and that of the planet, about body and skin care and about the maturity that comes with age.
– (/ photo: Blad Meneghel/)
AGING AND MATURITY
Do comments that point out that you’ve aged move you?
I know I’ve aged. I work with my image and I look in the mirror every day, you don’t have to say that.
Few people know, but how I started working with my image at 16, when I arrived at 26, I had already done, if I’m not mistaken, about 11 covers of Revista Nova. I remember that at 20, I told a director at the time that I was going to stop, because at 26 I was already feeling too old to do photography and that I was going to stop doing TV at 30.
You’re welcome? If I’ve already thought, I can’t judge the heads of these people who think I’m old. ‘Wow, so-and-so was so cute when she was young, look how old she is’. I’ve said this many times.
But there are things that bother me, yes, for example, talking about my age or pointing out the wrinkles I have, because I know very well!
Or when they say I’m bald. My mom started balding, so I knew she was going to lose her hair and many years ago I cut it short. Then there were people saying that I should let my hair grow and others complaining that I couldn’t shave my head. I already assumed that, it’s genetic. It’s your problem that you don’t accept it!
People have always thought they had the right to point out something about my appearance.
They don’t have to say I’m old because I see the collagen going away, I see the changes in my body. It sounds like they want to assault me in some way.
We say ‘that old man’ pejoratively, don’t we? Like ‘it’s not good for anything else’. I’m old, yes, but I’m not ‘that old’ because I still do a lot of things! No wonder so many projects have come up for me.
– (/ photo: Blad Meneghel/)
How do you feel, as a woman at 60, growing old in a society that worships youth?
It may even be cliché, but I feel very mature. What was the use of wearing a size 34, being a doll, and naive and immature in her early 20s. That head that so many people took advantage of, suffocated me, diminished me. That girl who believed in everything and everyone. How many things were not spoken by my side and I did not raise my voice? I didn’t express indignation, anger, whether in politics, with racist jokes, or against animals. I had no maturity and no experience.
But now with this 60-year-old body, I don’t accept it, I answer, I really fight. When that crazy individual said that nonsense about “painting a mood” with teenagers, I felt so disgusted. I really wanted to do a campaign called “Paintou um crime”. Against drooling old men who look at children of 12, 13, 14 years old… How I was looked at when I was a child. Children of that age do not prostitute themselves, they are exploited.
Wisdom and maturity come with experience too. It’s no use having a doctorate of this and that and being focused on your own navel, not listening to others, not putting yourself in the other’s shoes. I think the concern with a little fat or a wrinkle cannot be central, it’s more important to take care of your head, to do good. And that we only learn with maturity. I’m happy to have the body I have, with so much energy, at 60 years old.
I lived wonderful things, without a doubt. But I didn’t have the maturity to take advantage of it. I met Junno when I was 25 and we met again when I was 50 and we had a wonderful love. I make a point of saying how much I love him, of kissing him on the mouth every day. Give value, you know?
– (/ photo: Blad Meneghel/)
XUXA BEAUTY CARE
In addition to the shorter hair, what has beauty care been like at the moment?
I take care of myself, but no, I don’t do aesthetic treatments to pull here, pull there, put my mouth on – although I don’t criticize those who do.
As I wear a lot of makeup, I like to do skin cleansing every month. I take care of my skin a lot, I have a dermatologist in Rio and another in São Paulo. But I don’t like botox, for example. I complain about the lack of expression that people get. And I make faces a lot, it’s a feature of mine. I’ve already applied botox in the armpits to reduce sweating and not mark the costumes and recently Adriana recommended applying a little in that region of the neck and I accepted, it was fine.
I’ve already given up a little bit. But I’m not going to do anything because people are saying I should or because some treatment has become popular.
I undergo treatment with some devices that technology offers today that generate good results, without being invasive. I am accepting the process that is happening to me, but there are already machines that will help me to see myself better, why not?
It’s not that the collagen is going away, it’s gone from my body! At 30 it starts to decrease, at 40 it’s even less, at 50, ‘wow, where’s it’, and at 60, you say: love, now it’s here for you. So I have to accept the little body that I have here now in my 60s.
– (/ photo: Blad Meneghel/)
So plastic, no way?
The only place where the less invasive treatments didn’t give the result I wanted was in the belly. So I recently had lipo on the spot. But it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. One day, maybe, if I still have the guts, I’d like to have a more defined stomach.
And do you do physical activity often?
I do Pilates twice a week whenever the schedule allows.
I stayed in São Paulo for several days with Sasha , what I had just come back from Los Angeles, for example, and then I end up taking breaks, which is not cool. Because I feel really good when I do Pilates, I stretch a lot in class.
I already did gymnastics when I was young, I ran, I jumped more than the kids in the programs, I danced a lot without warming up and that left me with some injuries. So pilates and stretching is what I think is most important for me right now. For everything I do and still want to do.
And I eat well and have a healthy lifestyle since forever. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I sleep well. I only went out at night a couple of times in my life: once when I was dating Pelé and he loved clubs; and once, many years ago, in a little bar in São Paulo, to see Junno play – I was disguised, with a wig, and he kept looking for me.
What’s the use of working out from Monday to Friday and playing games and thinking that doing exercises zeros the account? It’s not like that.
– (/ photo: Blad Meneghel/)
VEGANISM AND IMPACT ON THE BODY (AND SEX)
Since 2018 you are vegan. What was your motivation and what was the adaptation process like?
At the age of 13, I no longer ate red meat, but even before that, I saw that ox, a pig, being roasted whole there in Rio Grande do Sul and I no longer understood why people ate a corpse.
I stopped eating eggs at 14 and chicken at 26.
I ate fish once a week because I thought protein only existed in animals. And I only ate Japanese food that you can’t smell fish otherwise you wouldn’t be able to.
It was then that I watched that documentary “Earthlings” and I felt like a horrible person. He talks not only about food, but also about fashion, about the entire animal exploitation chain. And maybe I’m the person who wore boots the most in this life! It was terrible. I remember calling Junno in tears, he calmed me down and said he was going to get into this with me.
On January 8, 2018, we became vegan and removed anything related to animals from our house. Ju also joined for health reasons, in addition to supporting me. His father passed away in his early 60s due to high triglycerides. He said ‘it was a ticking time bomb’.
I’ve had several phases: getting revolted and angry at the sight of people entering a steakhouse, and nowadays I tolerate it better. I think that if people were aware of the suffering of animals until it reaches the plate, they would rethink.
That’s why I support NGOs like Animal Equality and others, I lend my voice to videos, my image, whatever helps to broaden the cause’s voice. I feel ashamed of loving animals so much and being vegan for only five years sometimes. I want to believe that half a century from now, the world will divide into vegans and non-vegans alike, you know? Apart from the environmental impact of agriculture: 90% of deforestation in the Amazon is due to cattle.
– (/ photo: Blad Meneghel/)
And did you feel a difference in your body when you eliminated animal products from your menu?
Wow, my skin and nails have changed a lot after three months!
My mood also improved, although I always had a lot of energy. Today if I run for an hour on the treadmill, maybe I’ll start complaining about my foot hurting, but I don’t feel tired. Our exams were excellent after the initial three months, everything just got better in terms of health. And I credit the food for that.
There was another interview I gave that just came out like that, but let’s go: sex life has also improved a lot!
How has your sex life improved?
In terms of disposition, even. As Ju became vegan at the same time as I did, we felt together that things were paying off for much longer.
I think that in the Gladiator’s Diet documentary they mention a study they conducted with young people who ate a vegan diet for a period and another group ate meat and animal derivatives. Vegans had more than twice as many erections per night. I thought it was funny that teenagers said that when they date they will stop eating meat.
After three months we would look at each other and say “Whoa! Let’s go again?”.
– (/ photo: Blad Meneghel/)
CAREER (STILL) ON THE RISE
One of his new projects is the Navio da Xuxa, which will set sail from Santos on March 24 and return on the 27th, his birthday. How will this Ship project be?
The ship will have concerts, screenings and get-togethers with fans on board, which will be broadcast on Multishow in a special.
I’m followingwatching every detail of the execution up close. From the inclusion of vegan options on the menu at the ship’s seven restaurants to the 60 looks I promised to show.
