Posted on 08/15/2022 12:51 PM / updated on 08/15/2022 12:53 PM
(Image credit: Playback/Instagram)
Journalist Gloria Maria celebrates her birthday this Monday (15/8) without revealing her true age, the mystery that permeates Brazilian imaginations.
For the veteran, the mystery of her age has become folklore. In a 2019 interview for Patrícia Kogut’s column by Jornal O Globo, Gloria Maria said she intended never to reveal the secret.
“I travel all the time. Where do I have to show my ID? I can’t hide my age. Everyone knows, there is no secret. But that became folklore. Everyone is intrigued because I have almost 40 years of journalism. Three or four generations saw me on TV. So they think, ‘This woman is 200 years old.’ What should I do? When I speak, no one believes. So better not talk. I’m not going to take away the illusion of an entire country from you. People want to make a living from it, let’s not do that, shall we?” he commented.
On the occasion, the journalist also said that if it was up to her, her age would not go public even after her death. “It will be with me until I die. Even if I die, I will not let my age be mentioned, even in the Jornal Nacional,” he said.
“I have one rule: if they do my obituary in JN, the only thing you can’t have is age. I made everyone bond with me. If they tell me my age after I die, I’ll pull everyone’s leg,” he joked.
When she went to get vaccinated against Covid19, Gloria Maria played on the myth. “I waited with the post to see if anyone managed to take a picture of me getting vaccinated! I even offered a prize, remember? Since no one got it, the prize is mine!” wrote the journalist, sharing a photo of the vaccination.
More facts about Gloria Maria
The fact is that regardless of age, Gloria Maria is an icon of Brazilian television and has accumulated unforgettable moments in her career that has spanned more than 50 years.
Gloria Maria was the first black reporter on Brazilian television. She debuted on November 20, 1971 on Globo in a report on the collapse of Elevado Paulo de Frontin, an overpass in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, it was also the first to make a live connection on television. In 1976, the reporter made an entry in the Jornal Nacional to talk about traffic.
She was also featured in the first HD broadcast of Brazilian television on Fantástico in 2007 alongside Zeca Camargo. Glória was the only journalist to interview singer Michael Jackson in 1996, on the day the They Don’t Care About Us video was shot in Rio de Janeiro.
The journalist was also the only Brazilian to leave Earth orbit to experience weightlessness at a NASA event in 2007. She was also the first woman to use the Afonso Arinos law against racial discrimination in Brazil after a luxury hotel refused her entry through the front door in the 1970s. The law was created in 1951 and made any practice of racism a criminal offence.
memes
Due to the varied experiences of reporting around the world, Gloria Maria faced some situations that were at least comical and spawned iconic memes. Remember:
Folks, this is Gloria Maria’s speech while smoking marijuana in the Rastafari community in Jamaica. pic.twitter.com/znaXPEribX
— ???????????? (@comunapoc) February 20, 2020
I experienced seeing Gloria Maria high up on a roller coaster pic.twitter.com/T5wVcHZwWX
Lord Voldemort (@LordVoIdemort) July 2, 2016
Gloria Maria cleaning up Chinese panda poop is what you need to see on a Friday night pic.twitter.com/JoyDWznmfp
— Diogo (@diogo_cc) April 22, 2017
Gloria Maria falls with the wind passing on your timeline!!!#Globo reporter pic.twitter.com/MnG11CxXUM
— Fefe ???? (@fernandestpix) June 27, 2020
Today I’m just Glória Maria jumping on a bungee jump, but mine doesn’t have a rope#SaturdayDetremuraSDV pic.twitter.com/iTbzAxFiFu
— yep? (@julianopiires) June 10, 2017
Help, I feel like Gloria Maria now
I was fine here when my earring fell off and landed right in my shirt pocket pic.twitter.com/bicIZeLirB— Decolonize my body, debinarize my gene (@wandersonluz) August 20, 2019