La Veneno

Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez (19 March 1964 – 9 November 2016), better known as La Veneno ("Poison"), was a Spanish singer, actress, sex worker and media personality. Considered one of the most important and beloved LGBT icons in Spain, she rose to fame in 1996 after briefly appearing on the late-night talk show Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi, broadcast on Telecinco between 1995 and 1997 and hosted by the journalist Pepe Navarro. She would later appear regularly on the show as well as on La sonrisa del pelícano.

La Veneno
Ortiz in October 2016
Born
José Antonio Ortiz Rodríguez

(1964-03-19)19 March 1964
Adra, Almería, Spain
Died9 November 2016(2016-11-09) (aged 52)
Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain
Cause of deathTraumatic brain injury after accidental fall
MonumentsHonor plaque at Parque del Oeste
NationalitySpanish
Other namesLa Veneno
Occupation
Years active1996–2016
Known forEsta Noche Cruzamos el Mississippi
Notable work
¡Digo! Ni Puta Ni Santa. Las Memorias de la Veneno

La Veneno was one of the first transgender women to become widely known in Spain, and has since been recognised as a pioneering trans icon.[1] In 2020, a critically acclaimed series produced by Atresmedia following her life became a hit show in Spain.

Early life

La Veneno was born in Adra, Almería,[2] the child of José María Ortiz López (1930–2020) and María Jesús Rodríguez Rivera (born 1932).[3][4] She noted from an early age that she was different from other children. She suffered aggression and abuse from people in her hometown and from her own family, who did not accept her gender identity. At age thirteen she moved with one of her sisters to San Pedro de Alcántara, near Marbella with the Romero family after her parents kicked her out of their house. There she worked as a farmer and a shop assistant as well as a hairdresser and a model. In 1989 she won the contest for Míster Andalucía.[5] She was illiterate.

Career

In 1991 she left Marbella for Spain's capital city, Madrid, where she worked as a hospital chef. That same year she appeared in the date television show "Vivan los novios", which she won. The prize was a voyage to Bangkok alongside Charo, the partner she found on the show.[6] There, in Thailand, she attended a lady boy show where she realized that she was transgender.[7] Thus, in 1992, she started her process of transition. After being fired from her job at the hospital she worked as a prostitute in the Parque del Oeste in Madrid to pay her bills.[8] There she was discovered in April 1996 by reporter Faela Saiz, who interviewed her for a TV feature on prostitution for the late-night show Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi on Telecinco.[9] The interview, showcasing La Veneno's outrageous humour, was a hit. The show's host, Pepe Navarro, subsequently invited her to become a regular contributor. Her rise to fame was almost immediate, and she helped the programme reach viewing figures of almost eight million. The show ended in July 1997 after political conflicts surrounding the Alcàsser Girls crime and moved to Antena 3 under the name La sonrisa del pelícano.[10][11] El Pelícano ended in December 1997 after three months of broadcasting after numerous rumours that a sex tape starring journalist and entrepreneur Pedro J. Ramírez would be aired on television.[12]

In 1996, La Veneno recorded two singles, Veneno pa' tu piel and El rap de La Veneno, with the first one being gold-certified for selling over 50,000 copies, and her career as a vedette and a television personality took off. During the decade she toured Spain, performing in galas and making personal appearances at nightclubs and festivals. She also modeled for designers like Pepe Rubio and Antonio Alvarado. When La sonrisa del pelícano ended, she spent a month doing TV work in Buenos Aires, before returning to Spain and participating in other programmes for Telemadrid and Antena 3, among other channels. She also took part in two pornographic films, El secreto de La Veneno and La venganza de La Veneno. She also acted in six episodes of the series En plena forma, starring Alfredo Landa.

Prison term

In April 2003, Cristina was implicated in a case of arson and insurance fraud, and she was reported to the police by her then-boyfriend Andrea Petruzzelli. She was accused of intentionally setting fire to her flat in order to claim the insurance money. She was found guilty, and sentenced to three years in prison at the Centro Penitenciario Madrid VI in Aranjuez.[13] She was sent to an all-male prison as she hadn't changed her name to Cristina nor her gender in her identity papers. She claimed that her parents didn't even know that she had entered prison until she rang them after being sent to the Gregorio Marañón Hospital due to health issues in 2004.

Media coverage

Upon leaving prison, in 2006, she moved to Valencia with friend Paca la Piraña. That same year Cristina told the media that she had been raped and abused by the prison guards.[14] This was disputed by the Spanish prison authorities. She openly spoke about her weight gain in prison as she reached 120kg during her time in prison, and she was invited onto several television programmes, marking an apparent recovery of her career. In October 2010, the sensationalist Spanish TV show ¿Dónde estás corazón? challenged La Veneno to lose all the weight she had put on. By March 2011, La Veneno had lost 35kg. It was subsequently revealed that she had been suffering from bulimia and severe depression, as well as suffering deep anxiety.

On 10 May 2013, La Veneno appeared on Sálvame Deluxe on Telecinco to tease her upcoming memoir Ni puta, ni santa (Las memorias de La Veneno) which was delayed until 2016. In August, she revealed that her ex-boyfriend had fled with all her savings, over 60,000 euros, and she was living on just €300 a month in benefits.[15] In 2014 she was sent back to prison, this time a female prison, for eight months.

On 3 October 2016, she finally launched her long-awaited memoir, co-written with the help of her friend, journalist and writer Valeria Vegas.[16]

Death
Commemorative plaque to La Veneno in Madrid.

On 5 November 2016, Cristina had been found semi-conscious in her house, covered with bruises and with a deep wound to the head, which caused a traumatic brain injury.[17] [18] She was found there by her boyfriend, and there were bloodstains in her bathroom. She was taken by ambulance to the Hospital Universitario La Paz, where she was placed in an induced coma as a preventative measure. She remained in intensive care. Cristina died four days later, on 9 November 2016.[19] The post mortem determined that the cause of death was an accidental fall.[20] She had apparently taken a very large dose of Xanax tablets and alcohol. A second post mortem reached the same verdict.

While she was hospitalised in the ICU,[21] people close to La Veneno speculated that the incident was not accidental,[22] because she received death threats after the publication of her autobiography,[23] which talked about affairs she had with powerful people.[24] Her ashes were scattered half in the Parque del Oeste, and half in her hometown of Adra. In April 2019, a plaque was unveiled to honour her in the Parque del Oeste.[25] A week later, the plaque was stolen.[26] In October 2020, the City Council of Madrid announced that the plaque would be replaced after many popular petitions were submitted.[27] It was collocated on December 4.

The 2020 TV series Veneno is based on her life.[28]

References
  1. León, Pablo (14 April 2019). "La Veneno: prostituta, icono trans y una muerte sospechosa". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. León, José Antonio (11 November 2016). "Los vecinos de Adra hablan de la infancia de La Veneno, Joselito, como era allí conocida". Telecinco (in Spanish). Mediaset España. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  3. "Así fue la vida de Cristina La Veneno, antes conocida como Joselito". Telecinco. Mediaset España. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. "Familiar de La Veneno: "Su madre ha sido siempre muy frívola y homófoba..."". Telecinco. Mediaset España. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  5. "¿Quién fue 'la Veneno'?". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 27 March 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  6. "La Veneno se presentó en 'Vivan los novios' hace 26 años: ¡De hombre enamoró a Charo!". telecinco (in Spanish). 14 July 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  7. L, J. B. (10 October 2016). "'La Veneno' desvela en sus memorias sus relaciones con políticos y futbolistas". Chic (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  8. "El espíritu de la Veneno resucita". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 31 March 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  9. H/Creada:04-04-2020, Ángeles LópezÚltima actualización:05-04-2020 | 20:39 (4 April 2020). "Cristina Ortiz, "La Veneno": Así se descubrió a la artista". La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  10. Fernández, Ángel (11 June 2007). "Ningún espacio seduce masivamente a la gran audiencia trasnochadora". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid: Mundinteractivos, SA. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  11. EP (27 April 2017). "Pepe Navarro: "El 'Mississippi' acabó por razones políticas"". Información (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  12. Gallardo, Lucía F. (27 October 2020). "Los verdaderos motivos por los que se acabó la carrera de Pepe Navarro en televisión". COPE (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  13. "Cristina Ortiz, «La Veneno»: de la gloria televisiva a las violaciones en la cárcel". abc (in Spanish). 31 May 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  14. QMD!, Por (15 November 2016). "Así fue la infernal vida de La Veneno". Que Me Dices (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  15. Diéguez, Antonio (12 November 2016). "La Veneno, perdida por los hombres de mal vivir". El Mundo (in Spanish). Unidad Editorial. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  16. J. B. L. (10 October 2016). "'La Veneno' desvela en sus memorias sus relaciones con políticos y futbolistas". Libertad Digital (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  17. ""La Veneno", en coma tras ser hallada con un golpe en la cabeza y numerosas contusiones". Diario ABC (in Spanish). Madrid. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016. Creen que las declaraciones de la actriz, donde afirmó que había estado con hombres muy poderosos del país pudo provocar algún tipo de venganza. Al parecer, había recibido varias amenazas acerca de unas informaciones que tenía pensado dar en exclusiva en su próxima aparición televisiva.
  18. Barroso, Francisco Javier (7 November 2016). "La Veneno, ingresada en coma en el hospital La Paz". El País (in Spanish). Madrid: Prisa. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  19. F. Durán, Luis (9 November 2016). "Muere La Veneno". El Mundo (in Spanish). Unidad Editorial. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  20. Bayón, Ángel (13 November 2016). "La autopsia confirma que La Veneno murió por una caída accidental". La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  21. "Muere 'La Veneno', tras estar 4 días en coma". Lecturas (in Spanish). 9 November 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  22. Higuera, Raoul (7 November 2016). "La Veneno, en coma tras recibir una paliza por un "ajuste de cuentas"". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Titania Compañía Editorial, SL. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  23. Guerra, Andrés (10 October 2016). "La Veneno: "Me he acostado con gente que con un dedo mueve España"". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  24. Bryant, Tony (9 November 2018). "Suspicious death of transsexual vedette artiste". SURinEnglish.com. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  25. QMD!, Por (13 November 2017). "Cristina 'La Veneno' ya tiene una placa conmemorativa "provisional" en Madrid". Que Me Dices (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  26. "Arrancan la placa en homenaje a La Veneno a la semana de su instalación". abc (in Spanish). 15 April 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  27. "Madrid repondrá la placa en honor a La Veneno en el parque del Oeste". Soy de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  28. Beatriz Martínez (29 March 2020). "'Veneno': ¿Quién es quién en la nueva serie de Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi?". Retrieved 1 April 2020.
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