Wanda Nara: «I tell you the whole truth about my divorce with Mauro Icardi»

This article is published in issue 47 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until 23 November 2022

AndThey were the most beautiful couple in the world and they erupted in the worst way. In six years of marriage, the model and presenter Wanda Nara and the former Inter captain Mauro Icardi have never stopped making people talk about them. They caused a scandal when they got engaged, a short time after her divorce from Maxi Lopez, father of her first three children as well as his former teammate. They aroused tenderness with photos of their two daughters tweeted directly from the delivery room. They raised eyebrows when she became his proxy; warmed up the social atmosphere with shots bordering on soft porn; aroused envy with the image of the perfect family: all beautiful, rich, happy, talented and in love.

Then, last year the idyll gets dirty. Icardi is caught in a hotel with another woman, Nara makes everything public on social media and a long phase of mutual accusations and ugliness begins, where anyone feels entitled to have their say. The reconciliation in the spring does not have time to consolidate that in September she announces the end of love. Another wave of gossip follows and shows no sign of abating. Until now, when the 35-year-old Argentine decides, with this interview, to put a bank on the river full of insults and inferences. And to tell, for the first time, how things really are.

Where are you at with the divorce papers?
«We have signed the separation. Mauro didn’t want to and it was very difficult, because I still love him very much. But things weren’t going, the atmosphere was heavy at home and at one point I said to him: “Let’s stop”. Then I left for Argentina».

What did she go to do?
«I shot advertising campaigns and conducted TV programs. I’ve been away for two months. The distance didn’t help.”

Also because it has been rumored that he weaved there a new relationship with rapper L-Gantewith which he shot a video clip.
“This gossip infuriated Mauro, even though I explained to him that it was all fluff.”

But a paparazzi came out in which you kiss.
«Are you talking about the photo in which he is seen from behind? She’s not kissing me: she’s talking to me. The photo in which I am seen from behind was also found and it is clear that there is nothing there. But, as usual, the scoop, even if false, makes more noise than the denial”.

Last autumn she set off the scoop: she found messages from the Argentine model China Suarez in her husband’s cell phone and vented on Instagram.
«I didn’t expect it, Mauro had never given me reason to be jealous. It was bad, but then I realized that we don’t live in a Disney fairy tale and that certain things can happen. I met Mauro who was 18, hadn’t even had time to gain some experience».

Is he dismissing cheating as boyish nonsense?
“I think it was about that. In fact, after the fact, he realized even more how much he loved me. I forgave the mistake, the problem was another one».

Which?
“The woman in question is well known in Argentina for having broken up numerous famous families. She once dated an actor while his wife was pregnant, and she lost the baby. Another stole the husband of a mother whose daughter had died shortly before. Not only that: since I know her, while she was luring my husband, she also wrote to me as if we were friends. She told me she wanted to come and see me in Paris, she called me on FaceTime. I found it unbearable.’

So much so that it can be defined publicly «slut», tr…ia. Do you repent?
“I know certain terms shouldn’t be used between women. But I also know that one shouldn’t behave the way she did.’

It often happens to us women to take it out on each other, rather than on the husband.
«No, no, I know perfectly well that Mauro is to blame, he was the one who was married».

That said, he forgave him. Did you remain suspicious though?
«No, he was more the jealous one. Also because too many people have intervened on this story to cause discord. A small and solvable thing between us has become a huge bubble, magnified even more by TV and social networks”.

Well, you’ve given a nice hand to magnify the bubble: on Instagram you haven’t spared each other jabs.
«I vented at the beginning, but I never said anything bad about Mauro, I could never».

He, on the other hand, did it on a couple of occasions. He called her a “toxic” and “ridiculous” person.
“That hurt me more than the betrayal. He was too jealous of this rapper.”

When she broke up with ex-husband Maxi Lopez, she told the press it had been months since you had sex. Did it happen this time too?
“No, we made love right up to the end, then I left for Argentina.”

Something doesn’t add up: she says she loves him very much, there is still passion. Now that he has signed with Galatasaray, she has taken a house above her in Istanbul so they can continue to raise the children together. So why start divorce proceedings?
«The truth is that I had five children, I breastfed them all, raised them and dedicated myself to them for 10 years. I had recently expressed to Mauro the desire to go back to work, and he didn’t like it».

But she never stopped working: she was his attorney!
“Sure, I worked for him, and that was fine. It was Mauro years ago who asked me to be his manager: I’ve never had an agent, I’ve always managed the contracts by myself since I was a teenager. I’ve gotten pretty good at adding or removing clauses. I have character and picardy (cunning, ed.). When his former agent’s contract expired, I took over.”

So he trusted her completely.
«But no, we also discussed. It’s the complete opposite of what it seems: I’m the quiet one and he’s the one with the strong character».

Are you saying that many of the moves that the fans have criticized, attributing them to you, such as the decision to leave Inter for example, were actually the result of Mauro’s personal choices?
“He always and only did what he wanted. I limited myself to putting his wishes on paper. But, of course, it’s easier to blame the woman, especially in a male-dominated world like football.”

Can you tell me about an episode in which you felt discriminated against?
«Years ago, to sign a contract, I had to send a male replacement because the president of the team in question refused to deal with a woman. Sometimes I think that, yes, we are making progress on women’s empowerment, but in too many circles we are still way behind. That didn’t help my marriage.”

What do you mean?
“It is rare for a footballer’s wife to work. For a long time I only took care of my children and husband, but now I want to take back my time. And go back to my profession: in Argentina they keep offering me programs to host and I really like television. Also in Italy I have two projects that should start in March. This does not mean neglecting the children: Mauro trains two hours a day, the rest of the time he is at home. He can help me, can’t he?”

But he doesn’t want to.
“He doesn’t like the idea of ​​me taking attention away from the family. While for me independence is fundamental: it is the path to freedom. So every two for three he tries to win me back, the other day he came to pick me up at the airport with a car full of flowers, then he took me out to dinner and told me: “I’m not giving up”. Very well, but I already know that if we get back together and in two months I mention a new job offer, we’ll be back to square one.’

How did you talk about the separation to your children?
“I reassured them that nothing would change: I took an apartment above their father’s, I continue to work for him and we manage the children as if we were still a family”.

But what if he falls in love again and the new partner wants a child?
«To fall in love you have to be open and I’m not at this moment. And another child seems like a remote hypothesis to me. Mauro also would have liked a third, which for me would have been the sixth. But I should have said: “Hello, life! Bye, body!”

Body that exhibits on Instagram almost without veils. Don’t you ever fear that your children will come across those photos, now that maybe they’re starting to appear on social media?
“I don’t think they would be bothered by it. They would see me as they see me at home. And then I teach them that you should never judge a person by their appearance, dress or skin colour”.

Was her husband jealous when she posted a sexy picture?
“He was proud. Very often he accompanied me on the set».

Moral: he liked Wanda as wife, mother, prosecutor and also Wanda as the object of desire. Only the independent Wanda did not suit him.
“Already. But you see, my mother was an actress when she was young. She met my father and she stopped. And I, in 2022, cannot allow history to repeat itself”.\

– Wanda Nara talks on TV about the separation from Mauro Icardi: “I love him, but it’s over”

– Wanda Nara and Mauro Icardi separate: “It’s a painful moment”

– Wanda Nara forgives Mauro Icardi and lashes out at her lover (who confesses everything)

– Wanda Nara and Mauro Icardi, like a soap opera: love and betrayal live on social media

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