“When children are small, we spend a lot of time scolding them and little time talking calmly and conveying deeper messages to them. That’s why I wanted to leave Dylan and Alma an emotional testament in the form of a book”, explains Raquel Perera (Madrid, 1975). The author studied Psychology “not to dedicate myself to it, but because I have always been interested in exposing human behavior”. He worked in communication and marketing, first in Formula 1 and then for artists such as Marlango and Alejandro Sanz. With the latter, the professional relationship also became sentimental and they were together for 13 years. In 2018 they separated and a year later signed the divorce. Now Raquel publishes this “emotional testament” for her children, which is titled Para que no te olvides -Cómo afrante la vida con valores y autoestima- (Espasa).
“I’ve been writing reflections and poems since I was very young, I even collaborated on the lyrics of Alejandro’s song Sin que se note. When my children were born I intensified my writing and wrote down their achievements, what they talked about, or described their reactions to my teachingsâ€. And adds Raquel Perera in an interview with the newspaper: “When my children ask me what to do with a problem they have had at school, I always answer them: ‘Life is not perfect, it does not have instructions, but it does have tools. or resources, which I will try to give you’â€. It is the basis of the book, which went on sale on May 31.
All the advice that Raquel shares comes from personal experiences with her children and her ex-husband. And now that the alarms have gone off about the mental health of Alejandro Sanz after confessing that he is not well emotionally, the opinion of the one who was the wife and mother of his two young children takes on great importance: “I didn’t know that I was going through this bad personal time, and that we have a very good relationship and we talk almost daily about the children”, he begins by saying. “My perception is that he is a person who wanted to express his state of mind, of sadness and tiredness and, at a time when mental health is so visible, Alejandro wanted to tell others who are like him ‘I want that you know you are not alone, that you are like me’. But I stay with the message that he is working to be well and I have no doubt about it, because I have seen him overcome himself”.
He applauds that the singer has made his situation visible through the networks, because “he feels that he has a responsibility for the good for the impact that all his actions have. In addition, writing down feelings is liberating.”
Raquel Perera does not want to talk about whether the emotional crisis has to do with the breakup and says that the singer has been working very intensively for a year, which may have taken its toll, “but it will be a passenger”, she says.
He acknowledges that the life of an internationally famous artist like Sanz is complicated, but they achieved a balance: “My children’s education has always worried me, but I had no reason to because at home we were a normal family, even though that it is true that because of their father’s profession they have experienced unique situations that we did not want to deny them either, but I have always told them to use all this generously”. Raquel comments that sometimes it has been the people around them who have given the children more gifts or privileges than the parents. And he assures that neither Dylan (11) nor Alma (8) have a mobile phone: “When Dylan tells me that he is the only one in the class without a mobile phone, I answer him ‘you have many more things that your classmates don’t have'”. When the couple lived in Miami, Raquel created a multicultural school for children from 0 to 5 years old, with the coincidence that the children were that age, and closed it when they started compulsory education and moved to Madrid.
In the book, he explains to his children the relationship with their father and the separation: “Maybe I took the hardest part, but it was sad for both of us.” He even confesses that “it took me down to hell. I almost go crazy.” But that, over time, the love relationship has transformed into friendship.
