Gloria Camila Ortega smiles before the flashes. She is quiet. Invited to the 33rd edition of Sicab, the horse fair that Seville hosts every year – the most important in the world dedicated to a specific breed and the fourth in general terms –, to attend the PRE (Spanish Purebred) awards awarded by ANCCE to outstanding personalities of social life. Gloria goes to the appointment accompanied by David García, soccer player, body combat instructor, English teacher and the boyfriend she needed to be happy: a young man completely alien to the media world and who, for the first time, puts himself before a photocall is because she has asked for it.
She feels safe again after a time away from the sets due to medical prescription. Having completed her studies in Fashion, which she interrupted to open her own store in Seville and resumed afterward, and a master’s degree in Digital Marketing, she is now studying Law at the Antonio Nebrija University and says that she fascinates her. He is already taking advantage of the first part of his training with Bakkus, his online clothing brand: “In February we will present the collection, which will highlight tailored jackets, vests with shoulder pads and our intention to reach large sizes 2XL, There will be many oversized garments that you can wear with both heels and sneakers. The website will begin operating the first week of March. Everything is going to be manufactured in Spain,” she adds proudly. Gloria is the majority partner of a project that she has created with her fellow students.
The young woman, currently a collaborator on Espejo Público (Antena 3), acknowledges that last year she returned to television (as a contestant on Nightmare in Paradise) somewhat hastily. “I was already in psychological treatment and when I entered the farm I thought I was more prepared and I was going to ventilate and clear my head but it turned out that the contest was not what I thought. When I left, October 2022, I saw everything that had happened during those two months and it affected me more than necessary. I decided to withdraw, also by medical prescription, and not attend the debates and collaborations that I had signed by contract. During these last twelve months I have worried about my health, about mine and about being well. As soon as I felt qualified again, I went back to studying, to television and to launching the brand.”
It took a long time for her spirit to break with everything she had to live through: she was orphaned before turning 20, her brother became the protagonist of the chronicle of events until he was admitted to a center, her father was tried and sentenced to prison and the one who should have behaved like an older sister left him aside. At 22 years old she had lived through much harsher experiences than most. But she continued forward, putting her family on her back and without making any financial gain, although there were many offers. Gloria Camila had to act as an adult woman when she was little more than a child: “I have never left my father and my brothers. I have never left them. In fact, I think that from giving myself so much I have sometimes forgotten about myself, to the point of neglecting my mental health or everything that had been affecting me since I was little. Like I’ve been pushing it away; I focused on positive things but there comes a time when you have to repair the damage.”
And that moment came in 2022. “I have gone to psychologists before but I ended up disenchanted because I always heard the typical motivational phrases that you can find on the internet and that everyone says. And that didn’t help me. Until now, I have found a wonderful psychologist who has treated me not from the present moment but going back to when she was little. I mean from the moment of adoption: living in an orphanage, then your mother dies, your father goes to prison, your brother is in a center… You are left alone at just over 18 years old and what do you do? Escape. That’s why I went to Seville to live, then I got married to that boy… I’ve always been attached but in an anxious way, when someone gives you affection you give yourself fully. And all this is a consequence of a trauma, abandonment disorder, which is born from emotional deficiencies and which produces many painful episodes throughout life. Fortunately, my psychologist is treating it from the beginning.”
David García, her boyfriend, has been with her for four years. “I’m glad you met him because it’s one of the first times I’ve brought him to a public event. With this I do not mean that I am now going to expose my private life; I already did it at the time and I regret it. These things always do more harm than good. I am lucky to have a partner who supports me a lot, I’m not saying that, you’re already seeing it. He is a normal and great guy at the same time, with his life on track, with aspirations: he does not live off anyone’s life nor does he cling to anyone to “live off.” He has his studies, a stable job, now he is taking the exam… he is a super humble, simple boy with a wonderful family. “David gives me peace of mind and stability.”
