Interview: Tania Llasera: «The more you have to say, the more invisible they make you»

“I’m 43 years old and I’m delighted to be getting old,” says Tania Llasera, almost by way of introduction. Spontaneous and lively as when she was a teenager in her hometown of Las Arenas, the Biscayan presenter says she has found meaning in life from the age of forty. “I finally know who I am, I know what I want, I know what I’m looking for, I know how I can help, I know my purpose in life.” This week she has stopped the hectic promotion of her book ‘Mujer tú tú ser’, which is now in its second edition, to participate in the podcast of the food brand ‘Krissia’ under the motto: ‘If you do what you can, you’re already doing well’.

After attending a workshop on the ancient technique of surimi, Llasera declares herself a good cook thanks to her mother’s teachings. «The important thing is to eat in a balanced way, without going overboard, although sometimes I fail. I start a chocolate bar and eat it whole. However, she has learned not to obsess. “I don’t weigh myself anymore. There is no scale in my house. My own clothes let me know when I’ve gone a bit too far. And there you try to balance or not, because there are times in my life when I don’t give a damn. And now I’m in one of them. The important thing is to be healthy. Weight right now for me is secondary, if not last in line.”

Tania Llasera thinks that in social networks there is a hunger for authenticity. “They have become a highly edited showcase that ends up generating frustration, but posturing does not go with me.” A few weeks ago, she starred in a controversy with Adriana Abenia about an overweight model. «Adriana is a friend, she has come to my house, we have talked. We settled it privately and quietly. She was talking about the ends of the scale being unhealthy, and I’m not advocating otherwise. What happens is that she was ignoring the fact that there is inclusion of people in advertising of all sizes, something that seems very healthy to me ».

‘Woman had to be: for all those who are up to the pussy’. It is the full title of the new essay by Tania Llasera. “It may seem vulgar, but it is an elegant and very brave book,” defends the author. She in particular is… «add up to the nose of carrying the agenda of minister of anxiety without time to enjoy mine». The presenter claims to have written the most generous book of her life. “Because in him I have emptied myself completely.”

Tania is the mother of six-year-old Pepe Bowie and four-year-old Lulu Lennox. She and she for the first time has publicly recounted that she suffered two abortions, both at eight weeks of gestation. “I felt like my body wasn’t doing her job and the world came crashing down on me, because I had put on weight and I was losing a baby. Then it came a second time. I have convinced my husband to tell about it because it seemed very important to me that people understand that no one can be judged by his physical appearance. You never know what is behind, what loss or what moment they are going through.

Change of boyfriend… and hair

She has never hidden that she frequently goes to therapy. “I have been with my psychologist for 13 years. I went when I was 18 due to an identity crisis and when I was thirty, when she was presenting ‘Fama’. At the peak of my television success I began to take popularity very badly and that people recognized me on the street. I got agoraphobia. But I have worked, sweated and cried. And I’ve gotten over it. Mental health needs to be de-stigmatized.

The eldest of three siblings, Tania tells with a laugh that as a young girl she was nicknamed ‘the hairdresser’ “because every time I changed boyfriends, I changed my hair.” She remembers herself as a perky and very curious girl, who gave way to a difficult teenager, “a total hooligan who ran away from home.” Being the daughter of a British mother gave her wings. “We spent every summer in England and that opens your mind.” Growing up in Las Arenas trained her, she says, for social media. You know, small town, big hell. When you go to buy bread they look at you from top to bottom. You have to be very careful aesthetically speaking and very thick skin for the number of things they are going to tell you. However, she always comes back. “Every month and a half I try to find an excuse. Despite everything, I love my town.

Llasera has no television projects on the horizon. “And I don’t know if this book is going to help or make it worse because it is a feminist essay that can close many doors for you. The more you have to say, the more invisible they make you,” she denounces. But I am still alive and fully active, I am not a broken toy on TV.