Julián Figueroa y Maribel Guardia©@julian_f.f

‘I wanted him to wake up’: Maribel Guardia speaks for the first time about the day her son died

The actress spoke with journalist Matilde Obregón and opened up about April 9th, the day Julián passed away

Seven months ago, the entertainment world mourned the unexpected death of Julián Figueroa, the son of Maribel Guardia and the late Joan Sebastián. Now, the actress and singer has decided to speak for the first time about that terrible night on April 9th when she found her only son lifeless in her home in the south of Mexico City. In an interview with journalist Matilde Obregón, Maribel Guardia revealed how she learned about the news of her son’s death just after participating in the play “Lagunilla mi Barrio.”

Maribel Guardia and Julián Figueroa©@maribelguardia
Maribel Guardia and Julián Figueroa

During her conversation with Matilde Obregón, the artist shared a that Sunday, she left hurried to the theater for a performance, but a profound sense of unease gripped her.

“Upon leaving the theater in the afternoon, I had already spoken with my husband earlier that day. When I woke up on Sunday, Julián hadn’t woken up, and as always, I was in a rush... I left, knocked on my daughter-in-law’s door, and inquired about Julián,” she recounted emotionally. Her daughter-in-law responded, “Aunt, he’s in his room, but I don’t think he slept well.” Julián had a room filled with games, books, an entire library; reading was his passion.

Julián Figueroa y Maribel Guardia©@julian_f.f
Julián Figueroa and Maribel Guardia

The actress said the worry grew as the hours passed, so she called her husband, Marco Chacón, who was on a work trip in Costa Rica. He tried to calm her and told her he would take care of it, calling Imelda Garza, Maribel’s daughter-in-law, who was in the same house as Julián.

“On the way to the theater, I called Marco and told him: ‘Julián hasn’t woken up, I’m worried,’ he tells me, ‘Don’t worry, go perform, and I’ll call Imelda to wake him up.’ In the intermission, I called Marco again, and he said, ‘It seems like there was a problem in the house. Ime and Julián had a fight last night, but don’t worry.’ The play ended, I thank the Virgin. Mari, my niece, is with me and I tell her ‘Mari, it seems like Julián and Imelda had a fight, and Marco says we shouldn’t go to the house right now, let’s go have dinner. Of course, Marco already knew everything and poor Imelda had already gone through the hardest part.

Maribel spoke to her husband again, and that’s when he gave her the terrible news. “I called Marco, and he told me: ‘Come home, when we’re halfway, I call him again, and he says: ’Julián is dead.‘ I grabbed the phone, threw it against the glass, and screamed like crazy. It was the saddest, most painful thing that has happened to me in my life, and when I got home, there was a lot of press outside. I went inside, and five minutes later, all the press was out, when I went on social media, they had already published it,” she recalled, unable to hold back tears.

How Maribel found her son

As soon as she arrived home, Maribel went straight to her son’s room. Amid the tragedy, she revealed that it brought her peace to know that her son died in his sleep and at peace. “The only joy I find in all of this is thinking that he died in his sleep because he had his little eyes closed, calm, with his little leg crossed, so in the middle of the pain, that gave me a lot of peace... Seeing him there asleep, I wanted it to be like he woke up. I held his hands, kissed his feet...

The problem with grief is that you think it will pass quickly, but it doesn’t pass that fast,“ she confessed. Although these have been the most challenging months of her life, the star has coped with the loss of her son through the joy her grandson, little José Julián, brings her, as well as the love of her loved ones, her beliefs, her colleagues, and the multiple professional projects ahead of her.

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