12/07/2023 and las 14:10 CEST
Jeannette Rodríguez, now 61 years old, had to leave Venezuela more than a decade ago
It was the year 1985 when Spain experienced a television earthquake that put 18 million viewers in the pocket and became a true social phenomenon: the soap opera Cristal.
The history it had the signature of Venezuela, a country that reigned in soap operas at that timeand catapulted its very young protagonists to fame: Jeannette Rodríguez and Carlos Mata.
He was already known for her work in other televised soap operas, but she, who was only 24 years old, He reached the top in a meteoric way and achieved triumph not only in his native country, but also in other places such as Spain or the United States.
Cristal, a social phenomenon in Spain
Cristal’s success was such that forced the production companies to create new products with the same actors and similar plots. La Dama de Rosa was one of the sequels to that soap opera, just like Topacio. Both were broadcast in Spain shortly after Cristal and garnered good audience data, although neither came to replicate the tremendous triumph of the first.
Jeannette Rodriguez became quite a star and even enjoyed his own television program in Spain, The nights of such and such, together with the disappeared Jesús Gil.
Luis Alfredo and Cristal, played by Carlos Mata and Jeannette Rodríguez.
Cristal, an indestructible love story
“My life is you and only you.” This is how Cristal began, with a melody by Rudy La Scala, the main theme of the soap opera and which also became a real success. There was no one who did not know the song; in fact, nothing else sounded at noon in that Spain of 1985.
Cristal developed in the world of high society and Venezuelan fashion. Jeannette Rodríguez gave life to Cristina Espósito, a peasant woman turned model who fell in love with Luis Alfredo, son of the owner of the fashion firm for which Cristal worked.
The couple had to face all kinds of misfortunes, conspiracies and evil to try to save their love, which always remained alive in the face of all the attempts to destroy it from the most evil characters.
Jeannette Rodríguez, now 61 years old, had to leave Venezuela more than a decade ago
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Her life seemed like a soap opera after many years of effort, dedicating herself to training as an actress at a well-known Venezuelan academy. However, Jeannette Rodríguez has admitted that not everything was good times in those yearsdespite the fact that his existence seemed to be rosy.
In fact, in an interview with a Venezuelan magazine, the protagonist of Cristal acknowledged that she was not always happy and that there were many people who tried to take advantage of her success. “More than a diva, I became a product,” said the interpreter. It was difficult to find out how my representatives robbed me and cheated me. Everyone wanted to eat the cake.”
Fame was also difficult for him to handle, especially in the United States and Spain, where the paparazzi harassed her day and night, as she explained to the newspaper ‘news’. “I felt drowned. I was quite withdrawn, shy and very disciplined,” said Jeannette Rodríguez. “The notoriety made it difficult for me to carry.”
What has become of the protagonist of Cristal
Today, at 61 years old, Jeannete Rodríguez lives alone in Miami with the only company of her dog and the memory of those successful days. The Venezuelan left her native country and moved to the United States in 2010, coinciding with the crisis that television experienced in Venezuela.
In Miami he took root and, although it is still linked to the artistic world through theater and music, he no longer enjoys the star status he once had.
However, he assures that now he is much happier. “At a professional level I have experienced many abuses, but I am still alive and I am a healthy and well-intentioned person,” stands out in ‘Vanitatis’. When she looks back, she tries to “forgive” those who “abused” her career or let her down when she needed them most.
About her loneliness, Jeannete Rodríguez, the unforgettable Cristal, states that she is single by choice and that she has not had children either because she did not want them. “I handle my loneliness well. I’m not afraid of it. I know how to live with it,” he admits, and sentences: “I didn’t need to get married to fulfill myself; I put on so many wedding dresses in novels that I don’t have that illusion.”