Claudia Villafañe

Claudia Villafañe
Villafañe with her ex-husband Diego Maradona in 1987.
Born
Claudia Rosana Villafañe

(1962-01-22) January 22, 1962 (age 62)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupations
  • Businesswoman
  • producer
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1989; div. 2003)​
ChildrenDalma Maradona
Giannina Maradona

Claudia Rosana Villafañe (born January 22, 1962) is an Argentine businesswoman and producer, known for being Diego Maradona's wife and the winner of the first MasterChef Celebrity Argentina edition.

Biography

Villafañe was born in Buenos Aires, the daughter of Ana María Elía and Roque Nicolás Villafañe. She is known internationally for her marriage to Diego Maradona whom she met when she was 17 years old in Villa Fiorito, Buenos Aires. She got married in Estadio Luna Park on 7 November 1989 in a dress designed by Elsa Serrano.[1] From this intense and also stormy relationship and being pregnant with her first daughter, Dalma, she learned on television that Maradona had become the father of Diego Sinagra who was born to Cristiana Sinagra. But Maradona denied that paternity and although justice forced him to give the boy his surname, he continued to deny it for more than thirty years. He denied it to his wife, to his daughters, to his own son and to any journalist who would ask.

Villafañe filed for divorce from Maradona on 7 March 1998 for abandoning the home, after being married for 13 years,[2][3] claiming custody of their daughters, Dalma and Gianina, who at that time were 15 and 12 years old respectively.[4]

In 2017, after 10 years of dating, she announced her relationship with businessman and actor Jorge Taiana.[5]

Career

In 1999, Villafañe made a participation of herself in the telenovela Muñeca brava starring Natalia Oreiro and Facundo Arana. She was invited in several entertainment programs such as Sábado bus, Susana Giménez, Escape perfecto, La caula de la moda, Pasapalabra, Caiga Quien Caiga, Fútbol para todos, Morfi, todos a la mesa, Como ring al finger, among others.[6] She lived for several years in Naples, Italy, where she managed various Maradona businesses. In 2003, she produced the play "Pijamas" with Fabián Gianola, Mario Pasik, Victoria Onetto, Anita Martínez, Luciana Salazar and Jorge Taiana.[7] In 2005, she participated in Diego Maradona's program, La Noche del 10, on El Trece.[8] In 2008, she participated in the tribute documentary Maradona by Kusturica by Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica based on the life of Maradona.

In 2020, she was part of the group of contestants on the television program MasterChef Celebrity Argentina, where she became the winner of said reality show.[9]

Controversies

In 2015, Maradona sued Villafañe for alleged fraud, fraud and embezzlement. Due to the popularity of the Maradona v. Villafañe case and the development of its investigations in other countries, various Argentine and foreign media covered the issue.[10][11] In July 2020, after a court ruling, the dismissal of said case against her ex-husband was revoked.[12]

In 2020, the series Maradona: Blessed Dream was being made, where her character was played by actresses Laura Natalia Esquivel (as Claudia when she was young) and Julieta Cardinali (in her adult life). On that occasion, Villafañe provided a series of notes to say that she had sent a document letter to the producers of the series, Amazon Prime Video and BTF Media, because they did not ask her or her family for permission to use their identities.[13]

References

  1. ^ eva (17 September 2020). "Dos vestidos icónicos que diseñó Elsa Serrano y quedarán en el recuerdo de la moda argentina". Argentina. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  2. ^ Clarín (29 March 2003). "Claudia le pidió el divorcio a Diego". Argentina. Archived from the original on 17 September 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  3. ^ Cadena3 (28 December 2018). "Villafañe iniciará acciones contra la serie de Maradona". Argentina. Retrieved 25 January 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ fiestasdeboda. "Diego Maradona y Claudia Villafañe". Argentina. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  5. ^ infobae (5 September 2018). "Dos vestidos icónicos que diseñó Elsa Serrano y quedarán en el recuerdo de la moda argentina". Argentina. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  6. ^ Imdb. "Claudia Villafañe". IMDb. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  7. ^ infoveloz (26 October 2012). "Por qué Claudia esconde a su amor". Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  8. ^ EVA (26 March 2019). "El día que Claudia Villafañe dijo basta y le pidió el divorcio a Diego Maradona". Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  9. ^ haceinstantes (25 August 2020). "Claudia Villafañe debutará en un reality". Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  10. ^ purepople (26 August 2015). "Diego Maradona accuse son ex-femme Claudia de lui avoir volé des millions..." (in French). Francia. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  11. ^ El País (12 November 2015). "Congelan los bienes de la exmujer de Maradona por presunta estafa". Spain. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  12. ^ Ciudad (29 July 2020). "Duro fallo judicial contra Claudia Villafañe: le revocaron el sobreseimiento en una causa con Diego Maradona". Argentina. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  13. ^ lmneuquen (25 May 2020). "Julieta Cardinali habló de su interpretación de Claudia Villafañe en la serie de Maradona". Argentina. Retrieved 18 October 2020.