“My wife keeps me at bay with bread”

Padilla, whom many call the “pirate bullfighter”, has reinvented himself since “Marqués”, a morlaco from the Zaragoza bullring, assassination attemptcausing him to lose an eye. Seven years later, in the same bullring, he took off his light costume and said goodbye to the world of bullfighting, with an “I love you” to his wife.

From that day until today, the native of Jerez joined the “Patch Club”, created by the famous journalist Adriana Eslava when hitmen attempted to end his life in an attack and shot him in the eye. These teachings reached the bullfighter just as he depressed was, and Juan José, listening to the message of his precursor, became a member of this particular club like a thread of hope to hold on to life and reinvent yourself again.

“I have 39 gashes on my body, it looks like a map. But without a doubt, on the day of the capture of Zaragoza, I felt that God had given me another opportunity. When I looked in the mirror after the operation and saw my left eye stitched up, all shaved, my ear destroyed, it was a huge shock. Actually, I started putting the patch because I respect to my colleagues and my family. And over time, he became my best ally. You realize the value of imperfection. The patch always reminds us fragility physical beauty, compared to the greatness of the soul,” he explains.

Day after day, Juan José has built himself up to today, thanks to the love of Lidia Cabello, his wife, and his children Paloma and Martín, who helped him in this process of overcome: “Look, with the practice of the ‘Eye Patch Club’, we help a lot of people.”

“Adriana helped me, and I helped a child whose eye was gouged out by a rocket, then a policeman who was attacked and shrapnel destroyed his eye, and before that, my dear Maria Villotathe Formula 1 driver who wore her badge very proudly and who unfortunately left us. In fact, this club is already interpreted as a chain of favors. Eventually you get comfortable with the situation, and as a catharsis, I sometimes joke and say, “Being on the cover of the New York Times cost me an arm and a leg.” But there was the guy who seemed cool,’” he adds.

He fell in love with his wife who delivered him bread

When Juan José was asked what profession he would have chosen if he had not been a bullfighter, he replied: “Without a doubt, that of baker. My father was, and while helping him, I met the love of my life, Lidia, when she was 14 and I brought bread to her family in Jerez. “I liked it so much that I left him an extra bun for free.”

Lidia listens to him during the interview and smiles remembering that moment: “Look, I saw this little face outside the window and it was very clear to me that this man was going to be the father of my children and, from that moment on, until now.”

And despite the important place that bread plays in your life, there are also limits. “My wife makes me respect the bread because she says you have to keep the ‘little guy’ from the bullfighter, even if I don’t do bullfighting anymore,” Padilla explains.

In this interlude of confidences, Padilla confides to us that he has even become grateful to ‘Marqués’the bull that charged him, because thanks to this catch, he can now lead a more familiar life, knowing the essential: “I never wanted to go see him in the arena. My children went there whenever they could. But I never have. Of course, I never told him to leave this world, even though it broke me every afternoon at home waiting for him. It was his life and I knew it made him happy. Look at the last bull I fought, he honored me with an ‘I love you’ as a farewell.”

For Lidia and Juan José, it is a relief that his son Martin has not decided to opt for the world of bullfighting: “Thank God he studies marketing and he really likes football. It’s a respite,” says Juan José. He hopes that over time Martín will be able to help him in the real estate sector and in the businesses he now runs since leaving bullfighting.

Paloma, the apple of her eye

When we talk about PigeonThe apple of his eye is when the right-hander completely drools: “Paloma is in law school, we’re finally going to have a lawyer in the family. She combines her studies with the world of fashion. More precisely, flamenco, because he likes it a lot. Look, in January, she will show at SIMOF, the International Flamenco Fashion Week which is held in Seville. The young girl is a carbon copy of her mother and several times she and Lidia parade together. On other occasions I also joined them. “We are very proud of Paloma.”

Now, at Christmas, the whole family gets together: “We don’t leave the house,” Lidia tells us. We all live together on the farm during these holidays. We are very traditional. The Zambombas of Jerez, the Misa del Gallo and sing many Christmas carols to thank God.