Note from BW of Brazil: Actress Taís Araújo has been a frequent feature over the years here on the blog. And for good reason. The woman remains stunning, has a long list of firsts under her belt, is one of the most prominent Afro-Brazilians in the media and is married to another top black actor, Lázaro Ramos, with whom she is celebrating 10 years of union. This union has recently produced the couple’s second child and to top all of that off, the couple will appear together again onscreen in another television series! Needless to say, things are set to take off for Taís once again! Now 36, the actress stunned many when she returned to her pre-pregancy shape only months after giving birth for the second time. Perhaps in celebration of this, the actress also posed for a number of sexy photos that shows that she is as alluring as she was when she first appeared onscreen!
Lucky in life
By Antonio Trigo
Taís Araújo is back. At 36, the mother of two, snaps: “Without this coitadinha (victimism) I am black, I am aware of the country where I was born”
Not long ago, Taís Araújo avoided looking sexy. But that was changing, and has changed. The actress, who had overcome prejudice since she was catapulted to fame at age 17 on the defunct Manchete TV, embodying Xica da Silva (1996), she has become a strong, confident woman. And she agreed to do the first sensual shoot of her career. Although believing that the focus on sexuality can be cruel. “I love to look like a mulherão (bombshell) but only being that is unfair,” she says.
When she went to Globo TV, she embodied minor roles to emerge as star in Da cor do pecado (Of The color of sin) (2004) and later would play a villain in Cobras e lagartos (snakes and lizards) (2006). Despite the success and buzz around her, she was not used to being on the cover of magazines. “I was winning my space with diplomacy; and without this thing of coitadinha (victimism). I am black, I had consciousness of the country where I was born,” she says.
It was only then that she did A favorite (the favorite) (2008) that she started to have a permanent place on the covers of magazines and newspaper supplements, overcoming the myth that dark-skinned artists lower circulation figures. Still, for a long time, being on a cover wasn’t enough to be Taís, it was necessary to have at her side phrases linked to social inclusion, overcoming. There was a magazine that even thinned her nose – “pathetic”, she recalls.
Black Helena
When, in 2009, she was called to play one of author Manoel Carlos’ Helenas in Viver a Vida, she won the media once again. It was an event: it would be the first character of her life that could be performed also by a white actress. But the negative criticism she faced during her debut threw her self-esteem on the ground.
Taís suffered, cried and canceled interviews, but today she assimilates that Helena was not a fiasco – and is still one of her most memorable characters. “I had a critical limitation at the time. I was fragile as an actress, I had never been machine-gunned. I thought my career would end.” With that episode, she learned that not every protagonist is a good choice. She decided to rebuild who she would like to be – and began to, among other things, produce theater.
In September, she returns to TV in the comedy series Mr. Brau, where she performs with her husband, Lázaro Ramos. She plays a popular singer; she, a mix of wife, dancer and entrepreneur. In October, the two debut in São Paulo to play in O topo da montanha (The top of the mountain), which recreates the last day of Martin Luther King’s life. In film, she has just completed Ladrões de caneco, directed by Caito Ortiz, about the theft of Jules Rimet’s cup, and prepares to shoot Empreguetes, a consequence of the success of the novela (soap opera) Cheias de charme (2012).
Lázaro came into her life 11 years ago. She says she trembled on the day he sent her flowers, while still engaged to another man. “I returned the flowers and ended my engagement. I did everything right for us to start. And Lázaro believed that I was a right woman,” she laughs. The two went through a separation of eight months in 2008. Gata (a hot woman), thin and young, she says she enjoyed acting crazy. Meaning, she tried. For this period, an amateur, she managed to snag a fleeting courtship of three months. “It was a childhood friend and I regret having lost this friendship,” she laments. The gap was important for her and Lázaro to recognize the love they felt for each other. The two went back and since then they have had what she defines as a normal marriage, those in which “no one is happy all the time.”
The two complement each other. “I think I brought a lightness to him, and he brought me density.” Lázaro, she says, has lost his apprehensiveness of television and she plunged deeper into his world. And he proceeded to give more attention to the issue of blackness, with a consciousness that she hadn’t had when she was younger. On the endless discussion of political correctness, she positions herself favorably to certain limits. “A joke in which the only one who laughed is one who told it and makes other cry, isn’t funny,” she says. “Of course there are things that border on distaste, but if you go to the center of the issue, you’ll see it’s all prejudice; the same story about the controversy of Monteiro Lobato being a racist or not.”
Taís argues that the author of Sítio do Pica-Pau-Amarelo was a man of his time. She doesn’t think the treatment that the author gave to the Tia Anastácia (Aunt Anastasia) character was normal, but believes that, if it were today, he wouldn’t call her a macaca (monkey). “Because we wouldn’t allow it; I am a woman of my time, full of the criticism of his time.” The engaged Taís thinks that “Brazil has started to stop lying that it has no prejudice and is learning to deal with the matter.”
The mother of João Vicente, 4, and Maria Antônia, 6 months, she says that motherhood brought down many of her cliches. Including the one of which she is 100% happy with her children. “You feel helpless, afraid of failing to protect them.” Maria Antônia doesn’t even know, but she may perhaps be the main reason for the “corpão” (great body) moment that her mother displays in this pictorial. Prevented from breastfeeding her daughter, because of antibiotics that she had to take as soon as she was born, Taís almost became depressed. “But I made lemonade out of lemons; I recovered, I was working out, dieting,” she says. “Age made me appreciate having an ass and hate being skinny. But I think that”, for a little while, poses for another picture, “it must be really great being gostosa (hot) at 40,” she laughs.
Photographer shows Taís Araújo and Lázaro Ramos ten years ago
Photo was published in photographer Jorge Bispo’s Instagram on Thursday, August 13.
By Laís Gomes
Lázaro Ramos and Taís Araújo appeared brand new and in a photo published on Thursday, 13, in the photographer Jorge Bispo’s Instagram. At the click, one will notice that the couple has hardly changed. The actress appears with the long straight hair and pigtail, embraced by her, until then boyfriend, Lázaro Ramos.
The couple has been together for ten years between comings and goings. They were married for two and a half years, separated and resumed in 2008. Currently they are parents of João Vicente and Antônia.
Source: Ego, Revista Trip
She is a stunning woman! And an ageless beauty! No one ages better than black women. 🙂
They got to be one of the few black celebrity couples in Brazil, given that successful black men tend to marry white women. Gatas, do you know more?
GHRS: In fact they are one of the very few. We’ve highlighted in numerous posts an apparent obsession for white women on the part of black Brazilian men. For this reason, in black consciousness circles this couple is very much celebrated.
Thanks. Blacks not sticking together is the number one reason for our problems. Hope more couples like this in Brazil.
Beautiful article, love it! You can tell Tais and Lazaro love each other deeply. 🙂 I wish them many more anniversaries. They are beautiful together. That is wonderful they’ll be acting together. I will certainly try to look for their new shows. I’m also curious if there are other black celebrity couples you can spotlight as well.
Hmmm…At the moment I can’t think of another black Brazilian couple in which both stars in their own right. There is a small number of elite black couples but all feature a famous partner and a non-famous partner.
Like? Even that would be awesome to know.