The death of Verónica Forqué shook the foundations of Spanish society and the performing world. The actress, one of the most talented and awarded in the country, took her life on December 13, 2021, after a long period of time suffering from depression and another previous suicide attempt. Her loss was a turning point in the treatment of mental health on television, film and theatre, especially after her last television appearance, on MasterChef Celebrity.
One of Verónica’s many friends and acquaintances in front of and behind the cameras is Pedro Almodóvar, who spoke about her on the podcast I don’t know what you’re talking about, presented by Mercedes Milá. There, the long-time film director gave a complete review of his career and other aspects of his life. During the conversation, Forqué’s death came up and Calzada de Calatrava left a reflection on her last days.
“Kika is one of the films that didn’t turn out well for me. They tell me she looks better now, but I haven’t seen her again. Rossy (de Palma) was wonderful and Verónica (Forqué), too. But it was the Peter Coyote part that didn’t go well for me,” commented Almodóvar, before Milá brought up the subject of her partner. “I have never understood it. I’m really telling you,” he commented, especially highlighting his last appearance on television.
Verónica Forqué’s suicide was even more shocking for her followers and closest circles after what happened on MasterChef Celebrity. Her voluntary abandonment of the contest was broadcast on La 1 de Televisión Española a few days before she was found dead in her house in Madrid. A participation full of controversies and scenes full of contrasts, which she ended herself after being overcome by everything.
“The truth is that I’m regular. I need to rest. In the last team cooking test I exhausted myself. I’m not one to throw in the towel. But this time you have to be humble and say ‘I can’t take it anymore’. You have to be consistent and I try to be. And if I can’t take it anymore, I can’t take it anymore. My body and the universe were telling me ‘you have to stop’”, she expressed, before leaving the set permanently. Almodóvar considers that this was “another version” of Forqué.
“I made three films with her, I knew her very much. I saw her in her last appearances on ‘Masterchef’ and I didn’t recognize her. She was not the person she had known, she was absolutely different in every way,” explained Pedro Almodóvar. For the man from La Mancha, the great lady of cinema, winner of four Goya awards, showed a totally different version of herself in the culinary ‘talent’ of Spanish Television,” he confessed.
“She neither spoke like that, nor responded like that (outside of the contest)… Verónica was a kind of angel. She was the opposite of that. And she completely baffled me. When I found out about her death, it was that other Veronica who must have been suffering a lot,” he concluded. A death that also caused a considerable stir within RTVE, deciding that they would not initially broadcast his cameos in MasterChef Junior and Maestros de la couture, filmed previously.
