After two decades away from television hosting, Lía Salgado He returned to the small screen last July with “A safe place with Lía” (Fridays at 3pm on Somos AMBA, Flow channel 7), a program dedicated to mental health, which is a consequence of his long battle against depression. Symptoms that, along with anxiety, affect almost three out of every ten adult Argentines, according to a recent report from the Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA).
Remembered as the local queen of the talk show in the ’90s, the journalist and announcer talks about the reasons that led her to that picture and how she is today, her relationship with her son Santiago – the mentor of “A Safe Place…” and her extensive career in the media.
News: This is the first time you’ve talked so openly about your years of depression, right?
Lía Salgado: Yes, I wanted to start talking about the topic for two reasons. First, because we still do not really understand as a society that depression is an illness, and that as such, it must be treated, because one does not get out of it alone. And second, to let people know that depression can be cured and to help those who are going through a similar situation. I was locked up for around 20 years. My psychiatrist told me two years ago that I was already cured, but I continue doing therapy with him and I am still on medication. Above all, because I have a hard time sleeping.
News: What was the worst moment you had?
Salgado: There wasn’t a specific one, there were many bad moments. Of being lying in bed, without finding meaning in life, without knowing how to get out of there or why. Depression is something very violent, as if it were trapping you.
News: Did you ever think about suicide?
Salgado: Yes, but fortunately I never tried it. More than anything, I thought about dying, that there was no point in continuing to live like this.
News: How did it all start?
Salgado: Depression came to me in the early 2000s, after my great moment of success and exposure, but I always had a depressive thing. The psychiatrist explained to me that it has to do with the structural. To tell the truth, when I left the talk show I had on Channel 9, I think my head was already burned. Because despite my constant sleep problems, I also hosted a morning news program on Channel 7 and at the same time I was building a huge house that some architects had left half-finished. Seen from a distance, now I think that all of that surpassed me. Sometimes one does not measure stress.
News: You quit the talk show, right?
Salgado: Yes, because of the criticism of the program, which hurt me a lot. I found out that some stories had been made up by the production, that they were going over my head, and I quit. That was my big mistake, because successes are not left behind. I should have spoken to the channel’s management, but since it is sometimes difficult for me to speak, I left it outright.
News: How is it difficult for you to speak?
Salgado: That comes from my childhood, when I didn’t feel very listened to; above all, for my mother. And well, being at home all the time, without working, my head began to get busy and I ended up isolating myself more and more.
News: But didn’t you have other job offers?
Salgado: At first yes, but I didn’t like anything. Likewise, I did other programs on TV and radio, but almost nothing satisfied me because I felt that it didn’t turn out well.
News: Because?
Salgado: I don’t know. Obviously, although I didn’t quite realize it, I was already depressed. Because they also invited me to meetings and I always found some excuse not to go. I only did those last programs so that my son could see me well, but I couldn’t even handle myself anymore. So much so that I sent Santi, who was already a teenager, to live with his father, because I felt that he was not capable of setting limits for him.
News: How did you manage to turn the page?
Salgado: I always looked for treatment, but it took me many years to find the right professional. I only found it during the pandemic, when a doctor with whom I was on a diet for being overweight contacted me and my current psychiatrist. Who knew how to take me little by little and without judging, and in that little by little taking me, I also learned things.
News: In between, he also had several physical problems.
Salgado: Two. I fell on the street, my legs didn’t respond and the first doctor I saw told me it was a sprain. Until after nine months, when I lost a lot of muscle, a neurologist discovered that I had a synovial cyst attached to the sciatic nerve. I had surgery, they took it out and I’m still in rehabilitation. Then, in another fall, I blew out the rotator cuff in my shoulder, so I also do rehab. Bad luck…
News: The idea for “A Safe Place…” is your son’s, right?
Salgado: Yes, Santi, who also has a degree in communication, a film director and a drummer, told me: “Mom, why don’t we make a program that talks about mental problems, what no one talks about?” And he was right, because despite being a very current problem, mental health continues to be a taboo topic. My son, with his presence and affection, was fundamental in my recovery. Now I also have my grandson Giovanni, who keeps me quite company.
News: Santiago also did some interviews with you on the program.
Salgado: Yes. In the first program we interviewed Roberto Piazza together, who went through many difficult situations and always managed to overcome it. A great example of resilience. In “A Safe Place…”, life stories are very important. Among others, I also had Ginette Reynal, who spoke about addictions, and Aníbal Pachano, who is going through another cancer. Additionally, for each topic, we invite specialists. Everyone has problems: stress, some worry, some phobia, depression, anxiety; and I want to transmit experiences and information that help you get ahead.
News: How did your vocation for journalism come about?
Salgado: By chance. I started Law because my father was a lawyer, but when I entered the Aula Magna, I felt that it was not for me. Then, a friend from La Plata, where I’m from, told me that we should go see what was in Journalism. He left, but I loved it and stayed.
News: But were you no longer attracted to the news?
Salgado: Yes. I really liked Paloma Efron (“Blackie”) and Telenoche by Mónica Mihanovich and Andrés Percivale, but I didn’t associate it with me. Perhaps because of the family mandate that she should be a lawyer. Then I studied speech at the ISER, where around two thousand kids took the exam and only 40 of us entered.
News: She was the pioneer of the talk show in Argentina, she hosted news programs and was a promoter of political issues on the radio, where she also worked alongside figures such as Juan Alberto Badía, Jorge “Cacho” Fontana, Héctor Larrea, Juan Carlos Altavista and Rolando Hanglin. What are you left with from all that?
Salgado: What makes me most proud is having been able to start with a type of program that did not yet exist here, with the only history of having seen a few Cristina Saralegui talk shows in Miami. I hadn’t prepared for that, but I think my ease in driving helped me.
News: Any pending subjects?
Salgado: I still hope to do a solidarity contest program to help different organizations that need funds. Although it is not easy, because it is an expensive program. When I left the talk show, they offered me to do something like that on Channel 7, but I wasn’t feeling well anymore and I said no.
News: As a media figure, she was once offered to be a candidate for deputy. Why didn’t you accept?
Salgado: I had three offers. One from Domingo Cavallo, another from Eduardo Duhalde and one from Néstor Kirchner, whom I knew from my youth in La Plata. Politics interests me and more than once I have given my opinion on some topics, which generated the sympathy of many people, but also some problems. So in all cases I said no, because I didn’t feel qualified. For a position like this, I believe that one has to know at least the National Constitution and the different codes from end to end; and that was not my case.
News: Going back to “A Safe Place…”, I was wondering if this cycle isn’t part of your healing.
Salgado: Sometimes I think about it too. Not as clear as you say, but yes, I think so. Because as I present stories, I also review mine. To the point that when they tell me stories about children, I also think about my childhood, because some problems begin at that stage of life; And there – as I already told you – I had some problems. Nothing serious, nothing that could scare you, but the permanent occupation of my parents or the fact that I did not feel sufficiently listened to. “A safe place…” is stirring up a lot of things for me, but if it’s about healing, it’s welcome.
by Sergio Nuñez
