It is the first day that she has put on tight jeans, with her shirt tucked in, since she returned to presenting. After two years of disappearing from the Telecinco screen, Carme Chaparro (Salamanca, 51 years old) had postponed this moment out of fear. Fear that the viewers would notice her differently for having gained a few kilos. The menopause that is so rarely talked about. But, many times, it is she who scrutinizes herself, criticizes herself and unfairly boycotts herself. Consequences of the bullying she suffered when she was the age of her daughters. Up since three in the morning to prepare the morning news and with her laptop always under her arm, she pours these and other fears into the protagonists of her soap operas. The latest, the thriller Punishment (Espasa, 2024).
Ask. Journalist, bestselling author, mother… And now, as if that weren’t enough, she has just finished a master’s degree in generative artificial intelligence.
Answer. I really wanted to do it because I’m fascinated by science, space, physics… What bothers me most about dying is not knowing what the future holds for humanity. The master’s degree has given me lots of ideas for my next novel. I think I need to understand the world because otherwise I’ll drown. I’m very anxious, I get very overwhelmed, but to the point where I feel like throwing up and everything.
P. Do you have so many fears?
R. Not so many anymore, but I regret not having been able to spend these last few years without fear. Statistically, I have less to live than I have already lived, but since I have a dog, I am happier. It forces me to go out without a purpose. Walking just for the sake of walking. Pleasure for the sake of pleasure. Resting for the sake of resting. It gives me peace of mind and has made me see things differently.
P. Are we journalists because we want to be loved?
R. It has a lot to do with that. I had never thought about it before, but it is true. I was bullied at school and I was part of the marginalized group. All my life I have been dragging around the feeling of wanting to please. I am constantly evaluating myself, thinking if the person in front of me will like me, if I will be liked… And that is mentally exhausting. I think it has to do with what happened to me at school. Being on TV makes me feel more loved and it shouldn’t be like that.
I suffered bullying at school and I have always carried the feeling of wanting to please”
P. Do you also feel aesthetic pressure?
R. In these two years, I have gained more than 10 kilos, but a good friend from the TV told me: “Get it out of your head once and for all. It is your professionalism, your judgement and the way you look the viewer in the eye. If you are going to get stressed, don’t look at yourself.” And I have decided that I don’t want the director to poke me on the monitor before the live broadcast. It was the way to gain the confidence I needed to return to television. I was terrified of returning to television and the audience saying: “She has suddenly become a lady!” (Her mobile phone rings, she picks it up and sends an audio in Catalan to her daughter Laia). Sorry, where were we?
P. The aesthetic pressure…
R. Ah, yes. The aesthetic pressure. In the end, we put it on ourselves because we are that stupid. I am not my weight, I am how I tell people the news. But I don’t think I would have dared if it hadn’t been for this colleague who put me on the right track.
P. In the novel he coins the concept pormihuevism to define the intransigence of some men who occupy positions of responsibility. On television, are women or men better at leading teams?
R. There are horrible female bosses and horrible male bosses, but it is true that only a woman can understand those internal processes and insecurities about physical appearance, as has happened to me. Among us, we are increasingly less ashamed of showing that connection that we previously thought made us weak.
P. Why did you resign from being a boss?
R. Because it means having to argue, make difficult decisions, fire someone or put them on a difficult schedule… And I’m dying. I couldn’t. I manage conflicts very badly and I don’t like arguing at all.
P. Another shadow of bullying…
R. Yes, that lowering of the head… Maybe. Childhood is when brains are shaped.
Among women, we are increasingly less ashamed to show that connection that we previously thought made us weak”
P. The protagonist of PunishmentBerta is the presenter of a successful programme who ignores what people tell her through the earpiece and stands up against sensationalism… And what about that self-criticism?
R. Because journalists make mistakes and we learn from them. Sometimes, in a hurry, there are things that could be improved. In newscasts we try to be very tactful and not include unnecessary details or those that could harm the victims’ families.
P. Haven’t you looked at her? down through the corridors of Mediaset?
R. Not yet. They didn’t want to kill me! (laughs out loud). But I’ll put my hand in the fire for my colleagues who do crime shows. Because if they told everything they know, then people would really say: “What a morbid thing to do!”
P. In the book, he also pays tribute to the Wanninkhof case, a crime that became a media circus due to the way it was handled…
R. It was a terrible case, of horrendous misogyny. I was in the newsroom the day we found out who the real murderer of Rocío Wanninkhof was. I remember the moment of shock among my colleagues. We asked ourselves: “What have we been doing? How have we put this woman (Dolores Vázquez) in the spotlight so quickly?”
P. Have you ever been offered to go to another network?
R. Yes, once years ago and I said no. It was a very ambitious project…
P. And why did he resign again?
R. I stayed out of fear.
P. Really?
R. Yes, that’s right. I could tell you a long story, but no. I stayed because I was afraid of doing something that had nothing to do with what I was doing, because I was afraid of changing to a new company… Because I was afraid of failure.
P. However, in just a few years, she has gone from being a presenter who writes books to one of the authors of thriller Most sold…
R. It was a boomIn the queues for signings, people talk about me as a writer and not as a presenter. People value me for my novels and don’t just buy the book because I’m a famous face. Readers are very smart. They don’t spend money just like that.
There is an elitist culture that prejudges your soap opera for being a presenter”
P. Is it worth it or does being well-known make it difficult to be taken seriously?
R. When you publish your first novel it makes the process easier, but there is still a certain elitist culture that, because of the prejudice of appearing on television, prejudges your novel without having read it.
P. ¿Gentlemen of the literary world?
R. Yes, the so-called “cipotuda prose.” Just think, after winning the Primavera Novel Prize in 2017, at the launch party, an older writer came up to me and said: “If you want to be taken seriously in this crime novel business, you can’t dress up so much.” He was carrying a glass of white wine and I felt like throwing it on him, but I didn’t want to ruin the party for my family and friends. I let it go.
In the queues for signings, they talk about me as a writer and not as a presenter”
P. Where do you find inspiration to imagine such gruesome ways of killing?
R. As a journalist, I have many sources and I call them when I need certain details because I write like crazy and without a script. A doctor, a police officer friend… (After the interview, that friend, an expert in criminal psychology, comes to look for her). But I also get inspired by books or documentaries. I write everything down and then I retrieve it.
Artificial intelligence is like psychopaths, it has no empathy”
P. In recent months, they have gone viral deepfakes (fake videos generated by artificial intelligence) by journalists such as Pedro Piqueras or José Ribagorda. Are you concerned?
R. Yes, it is a big problem. Because I can be seen saying something outrageous that could damage my reputation, but what if Putin is seen saying something outrageous that has political consequences? Urgent legislation is needed, but we are lucky in the European Union because it is very protective of its citizens.
P. Will artificial intelligence ever replace presenters?
R. I don’t think so. Not to presenters, journalists, or painters. Because artificial intelligence is like psychopaths. It has no empathy, no hands, no skin, no kisses, no pain when its heart has been broken. And, therefore, it cannot understand human feelings. That is why it will never be able to replace a person who speaks, who writes a book, who is on the other end of the phone… because that is done with emotion.
P. You said before that you are obsessed with the future… What do you have prepared for Carme Chaparro?
R. I would like to continue having this imagination. Lately, I define myself as a storyteller because I like to tell real and fictional stories. The future? I don’t know. I can’t decide how long I will continue to appear on television because it is not a decision that depends on me, but I can decide how long I will continue to write books. I can’t complain. I always say: “My goodness, my goodness, let me stay as I am.”