The lado oscro de 14 genius, artistas and personalizations that we created intachables
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Teresa of Calcutta, Mick Jagger, Albert Einstein ... We know the admiration they provoke. What was not known so much is its cloudy side
The epic of many of their achievements, the magnetism that they gave off before the cameras or the beauty of the works that they came to create have helped the world to idealize the image of these characters. However, some of the most idolized names hide a dark side that should be remembered. Because as Billy Wilder wrote for the legendary final scene of In Skirts and Crazy, "Nobody is perfect." In their book El club de los execrables (Ediciones B), Malcolm Otero and Santi Giménez compile some cases. At ICON we have completed this list with other world-renowned figures whose role model leaves something to be desired.
- Teresa of Calcutta: the dark side of a Nobel Peace Prize winner
The achievements that conquered us. Teresa of Calcutta (Macedonia-India, 1919-1997), whose real name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, is probably the most famous nun in humanity. She went down in history as a woman who dedicated her life to helping those most in need and ended up becoming a metaphor for good. They gave him the Nobel Peace Prize.
The hidden face that we did not know. "Teresa of Calcutta believed that the suffering of the poor was necessary, she only accepted divorce in royal houses and worshiped the money of the rich," say Malcolm Otero and Santi Giménez in the book El club de los execrables (Ediciones B). A thesis developed between the universities of Ottawa and Montreal found that the missions of Mother Teresa were houses of death. "He asked the poor for resignation and helped them die, but without giving them professional care," he says in an article in EL PAÍS entitled The dark side of Mother Teresa of Calcutta Aroup Chatterjee, a doctor from Calcutta who lives in London. Chatterjee has written Mother Teresa the final verdict (Mother Teresa, the final verdict). "It is beautiful to see that the poor accept their fate. They suffer like Christ their passion. The world gains a lot from their suffering," said Teresa of Calcutta herself.
- Mick Jagger: "It's the height of machismo"
The achievements that conquered us. Singer, dancer, businessman, knight of the Order of the British Empire and cultural icon of the 20th century, Mick Jagger (United Kingdom, 1943) has dedicated 56 years of his life to the Rolling Stones, work that has earned him tons of fans and accolades. .
The hidden face that we did not know. Those who have crossed his path alternate compliments about his talent with reproaches about his changing personality, his irredeemable seduction and his vision of rock and roll as a business. Musicians in his band, artists who have encountered Jagger, and some of the women in his life refer to him through descriptions that give a less friendly view of the musician. "It is the height of machismo," said his ex-wife, actress and social activist Bianca Jagger. The Nicaraguan was married to Jagger between 1971 and 1979, but their marriage went awry when she began to hang out with Jerry Hall. Her partner Ron Wood, guitarist for the Rolling Stones, assures that Jagger stole ideas from her. According to Wood, in 1974 they composed some songs together that the singer appropriated: "Mick took some ideas and structures that later became a song signed by Jagger / Richards." Former Stones bassist Bill Wyman criticizes that the rocker continues in music just for the money. “His American tour is sponsored by a mortgage company for the elderly. The Stones have grown into a gigantic corporation. We are doing things that we said we would never do, like wearing a tuxedo and a bow tie to receive an award, ”he declared to EL PAÍS in 2006.
- Michael Jordan: able to perform miracles on the court and humiliate his teammates afterwards
The achievements that conquered us. Michael Jordan (USA, 1963) is considered by most fans and specialists as the best basketball player of all time. He has been an All-Star 14 times and, among other achievements, has two Olympic golds (1984 and 1992).
The hidden face that we did not know. During his last active years as a basketball player, Jordan was the picture of disappointment and dejection. But also an egocentric athlete, without mercy to his teammates ("we will never win if I don't play more minutes," he used to tell them privately) and his bosses. To this we must add that the basketball player was a compulsive gambler. The NBA repeatedly asked Jordan to drop betting. To which Jordan responded publicly: "I live life as I want. I have nothing to answer regarding betting. Off the court I want to live my life, although lately I have not chosen my friends well. I do not enjoy things like before. Don't ask me anything else. You are not my father. " Miguel Ángel Paniagua details in an article in EL PAÍS how Jordan once ordered his teammates not to pass the ball to pivot Cartwright. "He psychologically crushed young players like King or Scott Williams," says the journalist in the article published in 1993. The journalist Roland Lazenby, who has written several books about the player, agrees and confessed in an interview to Society magazine how complex it is. is Jordan's personality: "It's hard to define him as anything other than a tyrant. Here's what his coach Phil Jackson told me: 'It was great to have him on the court, because he was capable of working miracles to destroy a team. But he The problem was between games, when you had to live or go out with him. He literally humiliated [Bulls CEO] Krause. He was the worst side of Michael Jordan. This behavior created discomfort, frustrations and anger among his teammates. Ultimately, it ended personal relationships within the team. "
- John Belushi: An Explosive Cocktail of Drugs and Mood
The achievements that conquered us. "Lemmings [rock musical] find is John Belushi, a bearded clown in deceptively abrupt ways," read a review in The New York Times of the first play in which the comedian participated. John Belushi (USA, 1949-1982) became famous thanks to his impersonations of characters such as Joe Cocker or Marlon Brando and was part of the first generation of Saturday Night Live comedians. The scriptwriters of the program assure that they did not need to write the actor's lines of dialogue because they knew that his improvisation would be much funnier than what they could script. Belushi's transcendence as a comedian was such that his excessive style left its mark on the generation of comedians who succeeded him.
The hidden face that we did not know. “Working with John Belushi was hell. The comedian constantly rivaled his fellow Saturday Night Live peers for grabbing the show's close-ups and using drugs excessively. He was addicted to everything. He ended up destroying his environment: co-workers, friends, family and, above all, his wife ”, confesses Santi Giménez, co-author of the book El club de los execrables.
- Mahatma Gandhi: pacifist, yes; Also racist?
The achievements that conquered us. The vital objective of Gandhi (India, 1869-1948) was to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve things and even protest peacefully. The Indian represents the head of the pacifist movement and his influence continues to this day. How? Preaching ahimsa, a spiritual concept that advocates non-violence and respect for life. "He has gone down in history as an admirable, almost holy type, who wanted to integrate the lowest castes of society and protest against injustices in a peaceful way," explain Malcolm Otero and Santi Giménez.
The hidden face that we did not know. Mahatma Gandhi made it clear during his youth that he was racist (at least with the black race) and classist. During his time as a lawyer in South Africa, Gandhi wrote things like this: “The white race in South Africa should be the predominant race” or “Europeans try to degrade the Indians to the level of the blacks, who are only engaged in hunting and whose only ambition is to have cattle to buy a woman ”. As an old man, he was accused of sleeping with naked young girls (even with his nephew's 17-year-old woman). Practice that he claimed to carry out solely for the purpose of testing his chastity. He himself refers to these episodes in a letter he sent in 1945 where he spoke of "women or girls who have been naked with me." The Times, in 1944, even asked Gandhi's followers in an article full of irony to buy a blanket for their spiritual leader. The newspaper did so in response to Gandhi's argument, who claimed to sleep with young girls, as well as to prove his celibacy, to warm himself.
- Steve McQueen: star for the public and a toothache in private
The achievements that conquered us. Steve McQueen (USA-Mexico, 1930-1980) established himself as an actor and as an alpha male par excellence thanks to films such as The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Great Escape (1963), work that earned him world fame.
The hidden face that we did not know. The actor was an insecure guy with delusions of grandeur. “McQueen wanted to succeed at any cost and came out of the shoot without friends. He had the ability to turn any movie into hell. But the worst was McQueen as a person. He was very hooked on peyote, marijuana and cocaine and was cheating on his first wife, Neile Adams ”, Malcolm Otero and Santi Giménez point out in the book El club de los execrables. For his part, McQueen did not feel remorse about his infidelities. “Why do I have to work hard to receive love at home if I have everything I want outside? They can tell me that I am macho. I am and I don't give a shit, "says Neile, who snapped at the interpreter.
According to Smoda in 2018, McQueen forced Neile to have an abortion, who had been beaten several times when he found out that she had been unfaithful to actor Maximilian Schell, because he was convinced that the child he was expecting was not his. His second wife, Love Story star Ali MacGraw, was banned from working as an actress. However, despite how difficult it was to deal with the interpreter, James Coburn, one of the friends he had, claimed his figure: "Thank God there are people like him, because life would be very boring without people like Steve" .
- James Joyce: humiliated his partner
The achievements that conquered us. James Joyce's Ulysses (Ireland-Switzerland, 1882-1941) is one of the most momentous revolutions in modern literature ... although not many finish it due to its complexity.
The hidden face that we did not know. "Joyce was extremely jealous and constantly humiliated his wife, Nora Barnacle," say Otero and Giménez. In the correspondence that the marriage maintained, the two faces of the writer can be seen. The love one represented by phrases like these: "dear girl, darling, my love, dear little Nora ...". And the other, which included pearls like these: "Good evening, my little fart Nora, my dirty little fucker bird", "my sweet and mischievous little bitch" or "you're a ridiculous person. The letters that evidenced the contempt with which the writer treated Nora were compiled and published in 1957 in the book Cartas picked.
- Elvis Presley: immature, obsessive and with secret agent delusions
The achievements that conquered us. Cheeky, attractive and sexually provocative, Elvis Presley (USA, 1935-1977) was one of the most famous people of the 20th century. An icon nicknamed El Rey who sold millions of records, participated in dozens of films and amassed a great fortune. Presley did not create rock and roll, but he was in charge of the musical genre reaching all corners of the planet.
The hidden face that we did not know. "Elvis was an unstable being who spent the filming drugged. He was addicted to amphetamines and cocaine, which allowed him to keep up with work, and sleeping pills, which helped him fall asleep despite the cocktail he got into. the body, "Otero and Giménez explain. The musician even offered to President Nixon to act as a secret agent and thus fight against drugs, hippies and blacks." Concerned about a society in decline, a youth twisted by drugs and A country threatened by communism and by the racial tension generated by blacks when they demanded equal rights, Elvis Presley asked Nixon in 1970 for a federal agent badge ", Javier del Pino explains in an article published in EL PAÍS in 2007. "His personal life was not much more orderly than his political ideas. He was an immature and obsessive person. He fell in love with Priscilla Beaulieu when she was only 14 years old and the teenager, instead of going camping, spent the summer at Graceland c onsumiendo pills with El Rey ”, affirm the authors in El club de los execrables. Among Elvis's eccentricities stands out an episode that Priscilla recounted in her memoir Elvis and I. In the book, Priscilla tells of how Elvis took her on a tour of the Memphis morgue so he could see the dead. Priscilla ended up eloping with Mike Stone, her karate teacher.
- Albert Einstein: aggressive and despot with his family
The achievements that conquered us. Albert Einstein (Germany-USA, 1879-1955) is one of the most important scientists of all time. Among his achievements is his theory of Brownian motion, which explains the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid; his explanation of the photoelectric effect and, above all, his theories of relativity, which laid the foundation for the understanding of the essential characteristics of the universe ...
The hidden face that we did not know. "Behind that adorable grandfather's face there was a cold guy, an aggressive husband and a misogynist," say the authors of The Execrable Club. The scientist believed that science made women sour and phrases such as: "Very few women are creative. I would not send my daughter to study Physics. I am glad that my new wife does not know anything about science." According to a report in The New York Times, when her lover Mileva became pregnant without being married , sent her to Serbia with her family. Her daughter was born there, whom she never went to see. Against all odds, despite how she left Mileva when she became pregnant, the couple ended up getting married in 1903, but not before putting a series on her of conditions to his wife. Among all of them, are these: "Do not expect affection from me", "do not ask me to sit with you at home" and "you will leave my bedroom immediately when I ask."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of 'The Little Prince': “cruel, negligent, greedy and wasteful”
The achievements that conquered us. He was a French aviator who disappeared in the Mediterranean during a mission in World War II. But Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (France, 1900-1944) is known worldwide for being the author of The Little Prince, translated into more than 250 languages.
The hidden face that we did not know. The Guardian biographer and correspondent Paul Webster says that Saint-Exupéry's wife, Consuelo Suncín-Sandoval, a wealthy Salvadoran born in 1901, was the main inspiration for the writer in creating this classic of world literature. The Frenchman's family never accepted Consuelo because she was a divorced woman of foreign origin. The writer's sister, Simone de Saint-Exupéry, referred to her as "a slut." For his part, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry cheated on her with a good number of lovers without bothering to hide it from Consuelo. In the manuscript La memoria rosa, written by Consuelo herself, the Salvadoran woman laments her husband's absences and infidelities. Among other things, she accuses her of being a selfish and childish person. She refers to Saint-Exupéry as someone “cruel, negligent, greedy and wasteful”.
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy: "a moral politician who behaved immorally in private"
The achievements that conquered us. He was the president of the United States (the 35th in the country) with the best image in modern history. John F. Kennedy (USA, 1917-1963) was a young and charismatic leader who is credited with such merits as having avoided a nuclear war, focused on civil rights, and filled the country with optimism.
The hidden face that we did not know. The personal life of John F. Kennedy, who constantly cheated on his wife and was associated with prominent members of organized crime such as Sam Giancana, was much less sophisticated than his public face. As Francisco G. Basterra explains in an article published in EL PAÍS in 1988, Judith Campbell, former lover of John F. Kennedy, confessed to People that she regularly delivered Kennedy envelopes to Giancana. "Kennedy was able to behave that way with so many women because at the beginning of the sixties journalists did not write about the private lives of political figures. It seemed that it was a matter of male etiquette," Jed Mercurio, author of the book, told EL PAÍS An American adulterer. In the writer's opinion, Kennedy was fascinating because it was full of contradictions. "He was a moral politician who behaved in a personal immoral way," concludes Mercurio. "Both he and his brother ignored civil liberties to enter into an infamous alliance with the director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover," says the political scientist Larry Sabato.
- Sam Shepard: an intellectual with a very bad character
The achievements that conquered us. Sam Shepard (USA, 1943-2017) has been one of the most prolific American playwrights of the second half of the 20th century. He wrote more than 40 plays, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 with The Buried Boy and even opted for the Oscar, as a performer, as best supporting actor for Chosen for Glory, in 1983. He also worked with Terrence in film Malick, Volker Schlöndorff, Ridley Scott ...
The hidden face that we did not know. The actor Eduardo Noriega confessed to ICON that Sam Shepard made life impossible for everyone during the filming of the movie Blackthorn (2011). "Every time we made an effort and showed him our kindness, it was worse. What he was crying out for was a conflict. He is an intellectually interesting guy, but bitter. Since they told me he liked Machado, I bought him a book with his poems and the English translation. He looked at it with disdain and said: 'I already have it', and threw it into a corner. I admired Shepard as a writer, but since then I have not read anything of his. It does not interest me, "Noriega said during the interview he gave to ICON.
- Matthew Broderick: from model actor to reckless driver with two deaths behind him
The achievements that conquered us. At the beginning of the eighties, Matthew Broderick (USA, 1962) starred in Lady Falcon or War Games, films with which he soon won the favor of the public. The actor definitely put the audience in the pocket with the comedy All in one day (1987). In the film, Broderick played Ferris Bueller, a high school student who sang Twist & shout in the middle of the streets of Chicago with whom it was impossible not to sympathize.
The hidden face that we did not know. In 1987, the actor caused a car accident in which the two women - Margareth Doherty, 63, and Anna Gallagher, her 30-year-old daughter - died from the vehicle he collided head-on. The press went wild. Broderick was not only the fashionable teenage star, but also the accident, which took place during a vacation in Northern Ireland, revealed his courtship with Jennifer Gray (famous for starring in Dirty dancing), who was co-pilot. Broderick broke his leg and suffered several broken ribs. Jennifer Gray only suffered a few minor injuries. The cause of the accident was never clarified and the actor was charged with reckless driving. However, the absence of witnesses and other evidence meant that Broderick, to the stupor and indignation of the victims' families, only fined $ 175 (about 150 euros). "I don't remember the day. I don't even remember getting up in the morning. I don't remember making the bed. The first thing I remember is waking up in the hospital, with a feeling that something strange was happening to my leg," he told authorities . After the accident, the sister and daughter of the deceased tried to meet with Broderick to forgive him in person, but he rejected the proposal repeatedly.
- Charles Dickens: a man who wanted to lock his wife (perfectly sane) in a madhouse
The achievements that conquered us. Author of classics such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol or Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (United Kingdom, 1812-1870) is one of the most prominent novelists in English literature.
The hidden face that we did not know. For 20 years Charles Dickens was married to Catherine Hogarth. Together they had 10 children. An amount that today may be excessive, but that at that time was within the canons of normality. However, going through such a large number of deliveries ended up modifying Catherine's physique, something that the writer could not accept. "Dickens discovered that she was no longer to his liking. She had given birth to 10 children and lost much of her beauty. She had grown old ... Charles even tried to lock her up in a madhouse, poor woman! But despite how dire our laws are when it comes to proving insanity, it didn't get its purpose, "confessed Edward Dutton Cook, a friend of Catherine's who knew the turmoil of marriage. It was in 1858 when Charles Dickens decided to destroy his marriage by trying to lock his wife in an asylum. His goal was to start a relationship with his lover, actress Ellen Ternan. He failed to lock her up, but he did destroy his wife's reputation. "For years there was a suspicion that he had tried, but no definitive proof. And of course it is something very difficult to assimilate. He did admirable things, but in his marital breakup he had a horrible behavior and injured many people," he assured EL COUNTRY John Bowen, Professor of 19th Century Literature at York University. Dickens took great care to protect his image and managed to ensure that, facing the gallery, Catherine's supposed mental disorders, who according to him did not care for her children, were the culprits of the marital failure.
