A family and hardworking woman. Simple, close, cunning, persevering, with a lot of common sense. A strong and transparent woman. A woman who always knew what she wanted to do with her life. A specific woman. This is defined María Belén Ludueñatelevision host, lawyer and wife of Jorge Macri, head of government of the City of Buenos Aires.
The talk with news happens at the couple’s house. A 20th floor on Avenida del Libertador, in Palermo, set with very good taste, for the most part by Macri, and with a great view. The driver of “Argentine women”a magazine that goes from Monday to Friday by El Trece, is pleasant, close and receptive.
News: What implies being simple?
María Belén Ludueña: I am a woman like any other. I have my laburo, everything cost me, I received a lawyer, but I didn’t finish convincing my career, then, at the same time I worked in the media in Mar del Plata. Then I defined to move here to be able to exercise and grow in this race. I am a simple woman, that’s what I mean when I say simple.
News: And cunning how?
Ludueña: When I was born my grandfather said I had very lively eyes. I am Ariana and I think I have a cunning, I know how to read people a lot. I would tell you more than cunning, intuitive. I have a lot of intuition, in addition, I studied, I have street, I worked from a very young age, since the 19 that I am working. All that gave me experience and read people well, I can realize things very easy. I have a sixth sense.
News: Your strengths?
Ludueña: I am very tenacious, persevering, strong, brave, determined. I have values that instilled me as a girl, I have a big heart and I am a good daughter. It is horrible to be so self -referential.
News: Well, we are talking about you. And its most complicated aspects?
Ludueña: I am impulsive, distrustful, I have temperament, but they are things that I am working on. I am reaching my forty years and I think I’m maturing for good.
News: Do you weigh the passage of time or take it as something natural?
Ludueña: I am very satisfied with these 39 years. I did not imagine that I was going to get to my almost 40 doing everything I am doing. Driving a television program was always my dream, my north, and today I am doing it, and I try to enjoy it and challenge myself permanently. I am reaching 40 complete, with a husband that I love, with a family that I will form and with a base family that is the best thing that happened to me. When I crossed with Jorge, he gave me a lot of balance in life, I could plant myself differently. I was already happy, but he finished completing me as a woman.
News: What falls in love with him?
Ludueña: First, I admire it. The basis of my love for Jorge is the admiration I have for him as a person. He is an extremely intelligent man and also captivated me for being very gentleman, for respecting and waiting for me. But, above all, because it is a guide for me. He has become a reference, he is a partner. Something good or bad happens to me and I always want to get to my house to tell it. It helps me think, to reflect, to grow. He is generous with me, he wants him to grow, to accompany him, but he also wants me to develop. I hadn’t known people like that. He got the best of me. My best version is enjoyed by Mr. Jorge Macri.
News: It’s not little. It’s a lot, rather.
Ludueña: Yes, because it helped me grow, to modify things, this being impulsive. He gave me that peace of mind and that temperance that until that moment I did not have. Maybe it has to do with our age difference, he takes me twenty years.
News: That difference can play in favor or against. In this case it seems to play in favor.
Ludueña: At first, I had certain prejudices with that, but when I dedicated myself to knowing it in depth, the age became absolutely subjective. I didn’t repair that. In fact, that difference does not seem and I don’t feel a person twenty years younger than him. In addition, it is not noticeable.
News: How does his journalist’s role and his role as wife of the head of the Buenos Aires government compatible?
Ludueña: Separating things well. Taking into account what my role is on television, which is to inform, to be objective, and knowing that from the doors inside I am the woman of the head of government. I am very aware of the place I have, of the place that I occupy and I do not make militancy. When you see me on television you do not see the woman of the head of government, you see Bethlehem, independent, journalist, woman. I separate the roles very well and that’s why I am also in now relevant places, because I could do it, but I would not have given me this opportunity. It was difficult for me.
News: Did it cost you to reach that balance?
Ludueña: No, I was always clear what my role was, because I got to television before I met Jorge. I arranged at 19 on Channel 2 in Mar del Plata. And I met Jorge just a year after being here, when I was on Channel 26. Then I went through A24, America, I went through news, I know what it is to inform. Obviously, now I have a long way for Jorge with much more visibility and another relevance. Today my greatest recognition in my work is that I do not make noise. I am very clear who I am and that they did not hire me for a military for a political party or, in that case, for Jorge. Simply because I have to do journalism and journalism has to do with having objectivity. That is my greatest challenge, I do it and I fulfill it. Maybe I don’t make so many criticisms, but I only dedicate myself to inform. After people take their own conclusions. And when I feel that my opinion is relevant, I think. So I gain ground and have my opportunities. In addition, this is transitory. My career, what holds me, will continue. Jorge’s success is going to depend on people. So, I have to continue defining me as a woman who won her opportunities, who has her career, I am a lawyer, and and exercise what I like, which is driving.
News: Do you think about politics and government issues at home?
Ludueña: More than anything I think about what I think Jorge has to do or give him my contribution regarding the proximity to people. When working in a media and being informed, I am very aware of what happens, of the needs that people have and I give my contribution to Jorge from that place. We complement ourselves well in that, as I have that extra sensitivity. I am even very connected on social networks and the city’s same neighbors write to me. So, I talk to him. It seems to me that this is also what nourishes a couple. I encourage myself to tell him everything because, first, I am his wife. He listens to me a lot and values my opinion. Today society needs to be heard, the politician has to be on the street and listen to people, especially when there are results that perhaps did not accompany.
News: I know he doesn’t like to call her first lady. But what does it do in that role?
Ludueña: A lot of things, more than I show. I found the role, listening and seeing what the people of me intended. I am very Catholic, I go many churches and help through the churches of all religions. I accompany, for example, the evangelicals because they have a community that has long done people in a street situation. I help women entrepreneurs, I like to go to the neighborhoods. In the San José de Flores parish I helped condition a place for forty men in street situation, and with Father Martín we changed reality to a lot of people. Then, in my social networks, if someone has any problem or necessity, I transmit the order and someone executes it, because I am not official. They help me help. And in that the road facilitates me quite because I know that I want to give a hand and the channel I already have it armed.
News: What was your biggest challenge in life?
Ludueña: My marriage, marry me, move from singleness to be a wife. I didn’t know if I was going to be a very good wife and I think I exceeded all expectations. I feel that I am a very good Jorge companion. I say it and I get excited. I think that motherhood will be even more challenging for me, because it is coming to me when I have already come with a very traveling path and also took that decision. We are already determined, it’s a way, I don’t want to go into details, but yes. I leave it to the will of God. Hopefully it is completed because the family is extremely important.
News: How do you take with Jorge’s three children?
Ludueña: I get along very well, I love them. I always knew that to advance with Jorge in our relationship I had to get along with his children because of how important they are for him. I met him when I had been divorced for eight years and I am the first woman who presented them.
News: Is happiness …?
Ludueña: Be as a family. My family is my safe place.
News: A phrase that identifies it?
Ludueña: Patience is a bitter root tree, but of very sweet fruits. I don’t know who they told me, they told me when things didn’t come out. They had thrown me out of a job and a person who worked with me told me that phrase. I was always very patient and waited for my opportunities. And the opportunities when you expect them and strive, they arrive.
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