She leaves and is flattered by everyone, as she would have liked. María Teresa Campos, who died on Tuesday morning at the age of 82 after a life dedicated to the small screen, received the affection of family, friends and different personalities yesterday from the early hours of the morning.
The burning chapel of the veteran television presenter, who was admitted to the Fundación Jiménez Díaz hospital in Madrid last Sunday due to acute respiratory failure, was filled with familiar faces and professional colleagues, in addition to ‘friends and relatives.
Her daughters, Terelu and Carmen, who accompanied her until the moment of death, were in the burning chapel all day and received those who wished to say their last goodbye to the presenter. Iñaki Gabilondo, Pedro Piqueras, Fernando and Sonsoles Ónega, José Manuel Parada, Rocío Carrasco, Nieves Herrero, Mariló Montero and Irma Soriano are just some of the familiar faces that paraded through the Madrid funeral home in La Paz.
“We have lost our mother, it has been a very difficult and long road”, assured their daughters with obvious sadness. They also confirmed that the communicator will be cremated and that “she will rest in Malaga, as she wished”. “We were by her side at all times and we were able to say goodbye to her”, assured her granddaughter Alejandra, the only one of the Campos family who continues with her grandmother’s television vocation.
Her rival in the mornings during the decade of the 2000s, Ana Rosa Quintana, also dedicated a few words to her at the doors of the funeral home: “She is the first queen of the mornings and the one who has opened the way for us to many others. One of the big ones. The fastest woman I’ve ever met.” He emphasized that they maintained a healthy camaraderie that brought them together. “We have had our loves and our rivalries, but we have always been loyal”, he stressed.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, also went to the burning chapel, where he praised the figure of the communicator: “We are talking about a woman who transcends her time. She is one of the great communicators in the history of our country. She broke many glass ceilings and was always committed to the cause of equality between men and women.” And he remembered the interview that Campos gave him in 2015, and revealed that as a result they started a permanent contact. Kings Felipe and Letícia added their condolences with a statement in which they highlighted “the brilliant career that made her a pioneer and reference in radio and television in our country”.
Born on June 18, 1941 in Tetuan (then the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco), Campos moved shortly after her birth to Malaga, a city where she considered herself a native and which saw her evolve personally and professionally. The third of six siblings grew up in a wealthy family, without luxuries, but without the strictures of post-war Spain. From a very young age he became a regular voice on Málaga radio, which made him popular in the city.
On September 12, 1964, María Teresa Campos married the journalist José María Borrego Doblas in the cathedral of Malaga. With him, she formed a family, but the marriage “was not very happy”, as she herself acknowledged in her memoirs. He left with his daughters and without him to Madrid to broadcast the triumph on television. When she was about to become a brand new Hermit girl, the husband, from whom she was never legally separated, took his own life.
The promotion and coronation as the queen of the mornings happened at TVE between 1990 and 1991, when she replaced Hermida himself, who left the program to take charge of Telediario de la nite, and surpassed the indices of audience of the teacher. His last happy years on television came in charge of the weekend program ¡Qué tiempo tan feliz! , which recalled a bygone era.
It was in May 2017 when the then queen emerita of the mornings suffered a cerebral ischemia in the vertebrobasilar area that deteriorated her and eventually ended her career of audience success. In recent months, the communicator lived in seclusion at home, completely withdrawn from television and public life, while her family members expressed concern about her rapid cognitive decline.
In addition to his two daughters, Terelu and Carmen; María Teresa Campos had three grandchildren, Alejandra, José María and Carmen; and a great-grandson, Marc. Coincidentally, the presenter died on the same day of the year as her mother, Concepción Luque, who passed away on September 5, 2006.
Among the decorations and awards he received during his lifetime, there is the Gold Medal for Merit at Work, the Gold Medal of Andalusia and the Clara Campoamor award.
