Nerea Garmendia is a comedian and actress… and seven years ago she decided to present the show “Con Taras ya lo loco” for a reason that is particularly relevant to the world of comedy. Disability DayWhich will be celebrated on the third of next December. in … In this work that comes to Madrid for the first time on January 10, the artist talks about her illnesses with the idea of helping people above all else. “Because on the one hand they make me laugh, but on the other hand I also remove the stigma that exists around epilepsy or hearing loss or osteoporosis, of which I am an example.”
Garmendia, which already suffers from all three, decided to address this issue after receiving many comments like: “Okay, I see, cool.” “But I’m being treated, I’m wearing headphones, and my fingers are crooked. “I’m very upset, and thank God I’m hot,” she says, laughing. It is true that many people write to her and ask: “Aren’t you afraid to say that this is happening to you or that this is happening to you?” She answers in the negative: “I am what I am, with everything I have, for good and for evil.”
For all these reasons, this actress needed to do this show, so necessary, in every sense of the word, with which she is touring Spain. “We want people to laugh, but at the end of the event, many attendees come away very grateful for what they went through. Or they bring their daughter who has dyslexia or epilepsy, so they can see that there can be humor after all.
He continues, “Many teachers write to me across the networks to thank me for the insight I bring to these issues and tell me that after listening to me, they have been encouraged to tell their students, ‘It’s okay because you wear a hearing aid or because you have epilepsy.’ Look, this girl is famous and she realizes it.” “This is amazing and it feels so good,” he admits, smiling.
About to premiere in the capital, next January 10 at the Sofia Theater, this artist speaks, briefly, frankly about disability. “I get that, and I want teens or young adults who come to see me to know that whatever they have, they need to feel special.” In the end, he says: “Life is something else. We are alive and breathing, but here we are just passing through and the important thing is that we are happy with what we have to live.”
In all this, she was greatly helped by psycho-nutritionist Sonia Lucena, a close friend of hers. “I’ve contributed to the fact that, with everything I have, people tell me: ‘You’re great.’ But I achieved it because my head is in the right place, I eat a psychologically healthy diet, today I laugh at things I cried about years ago, and above all, I accept myself and take treatments. He continues, “Thanks to Lucina, I eat well and my osteoarthritis is much better than it would have been if I didn’t eat this way. I also did this while pregnant, and was able to have a baby through in vitro fertilization. My ovaries weren’t that good either, but that doesn’t make me any less of a mother. I talk about all this and more during my show.”
Share all of this in public “It’s a kind of cleansing and therapy for me,” Garmendia admits, “but it’s also medicine so that people who feel identified can see that they are not the only ones. I would love for young people to come forward because the point is not that adults just say: ‘Hey, you can move on in life,’ but that it is done by a teenager who has his whole life left and suffers from a chronic illness. Or for the older sibling of a child with a disability to see it. Because family support is essential and they see what they have to do.” Do what you shouldn’t do, but above all, they understand that we are all special and that you have to love yourself, and that is also part of the purpose of the show.
Break the stigma
In case of epilepsy, the actress admits that when she started writing the monologue she was overcome by the fear that it would happen to her in the middle of it. “What if suddenly I’m empty and I don’t know how to continue because I’m having an absence crisis?” I asked myself. Fortunately, I have it under control, I live a completely normal life, I’m stable, I’m getting along very well, and I’m working on improving myself, but just in case, I’ll let you know. Because when you have something and you say it out loud, it’s not a problem. However, if you want to hide it, you are living under such pressure that people will not find out.
She lifts a lock of her hair to reveal her headphones. “In my case, I don’t hear well either, and I might think that people don’t know that I don’t hear well, because they might not hire me for a job. On the other hand, if you said, “Hey, I have hearing problems, but with my hearing aids I hear perfectly,” you would have no problem hiring me. Realizing all these ‘flaws’ allows me to calmly go to job interviews, to casting…and if they hire me, I already know it’s because they love me 100 percent.”
He recalls that when he does photo campaigns, like the one he did with Jayce, “a lot of people called me or wrote to me to say, ‘Thank you, but I’m not as brave as you.’” This makes me angry, because it is not a matter of courage. You should know that if you say it, the problem you create in your head will be less. Otherwise, in addition to the disease or pathology, you then have to spend enormous energy to hide it so that people don’t know that you have it. On the other hand, if you introduce yourself as Lange, a friend and companion, or as Irene Vella, who are wonderful people, how do they spend their lives? Head forward. If you’re going to look at me differently, you’re the one with the problem, not me.
In her work, Garmendia talks not only about illnesses, but also about daily burdens, pressures, and motherhood… In the end, she points out: “I am a comedian, presenter, actress, and content creator on social media, and this must be added that I myself have just become a mother. That’s why I’m telling you how and what I do to deal with it well, because there are many fronts to overcome. It is essential that you work to be the best version of yourself. I take care of my mind, diet, and exercise. Above all, I love myself as I am».