Luiza Brunet

At the heart of Pantanal, more precisely at a humble blockhouse surrounded by an exuberant and wild nature, was born Luiza Brunet, on May 24, 1962. Daughter of Luiz da Silva, a farmer from the Brazilian northeastern state of Ceará, and Alzira Botelho da Silva, a homemaker from Rio de Janeiro, Luiza is the second daughter of six children: five women and one man. Granddaughter of an Indian, she was raised freely, in total harmony with the fauna and the flora of the region. She had a very poor but happy childhood. Luiza enjoyed playing with dolls and loved waiting at the kitchen, along with her siblings, for her mother's homemade cookies. Years later, she moved with her family to Itaporã, a village in the countryside of Mato Grosso do Sul, where she began attending a public school. When she was 8 years old, she moved with her family to Rio, where she lived in the suburb of Inhaúma. It took a long time for the country girl to get used to the big city. Neighbors made fun of her country girl attitude. Luiza was scared with modernity. When she was 12, she had to drop out of public school to work and help at home. She got to baby-sit two boys, but she also did laundry and cooked for their family. Then she was a packer at a tissue factory. Beauty, at the time, was a problem for her. She had to switch jobs to get rid of her boss' harassment and went to work at a boutique. The fascination she caused made her switch jobs two other times for the very same reason. At 16, she met a guy from the South Zone of Rio, Gumercindo Brunet, from whom she inherited her now famous last name, and eight months later, she married him. Luiza then left her life at the suburb to live at Jardim Botânico, a charming neighborhood inhabited by the high society of Rio de Janeiro. She started modeling by chance, right after the wedding. Since she was a fan of Rose de Primo, a friend managed to take her to watch a photo shoot with the model for a magazine. At the time, photographer Nilton Ricardo was charmed by the brunette's beauty and invited her to shoot a book. From that day on, Luiza's career took off. But her hectic schedules and thousands of invitations to work ended up leading her 7-year marriage to an end. But in 1984, Luiza met Argentinean antique dealer Armando Fernandez, with whom she is still married. On June 6, 1988, she had her first daughter, Yasmin. When Yasmin was born, Luiza dispensed with baby-sitters to dedicate herself to her daughter. Since she came from a very big family, Luiza always wanted to have many children. But her modeling career, and later her businesswoman career only allowed her to keep following that dream ten years later, when she got pregnant again, at age 36. Antônio's pregnancy was very tranquil. Luiza gained only 17 pounds and was getting compliments for her beauty until the ninth month. Then she had a scare and one of the worst moments of life. Little Antônio was born two weeks before he was due, in São Paulo, where she was working. He came to the world through a cesarian and had difficulty to breathe during his first instants of life. That's why he had to go straight to an incubator. Luckily, Antônio came around in two days.