María Belén Esteban Menéndez (born 9 November 1973 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

) is a Spanish

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

. She has appeared in various programmes including the long-running ''Sálvame'', a show which has been characterised as junk TV. She is known as "''La princesa del pueblo''" (The people's princess) .Jesús Rodríguez (311-01-10)
The very public life of Belén Esteban
''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' (English edition)

Early fame

She rose to prominence as a celebrity in 1999 when she ended her relationship with popular bullfighter Jesulín de Ubrique, with whom she has a daughter, Andrea Janeiro Esteban. She began her television career on the Spanish channel Antena 3. In 2004 she followed TV presenter

Ana Rosa Quintana Ana Rosa Quintana Hortal (Madrid, 12 January 1956) is a Spanish journalist and television presenter. She studied journalism in the Complutense University of Madrid, and started in radio programs (Radio Nacional de España, Radio Continental, ...

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially launc ...

''Sálvame''

In 2009 Esteban left ''El programa de Ana Rosa'' to participate in a new Telecinco show called ''Sálvame''. Although the show has changed its format over the years, as of 2022, it continues to feature Esteban. ''Sálvame'', which is mainly a talk show about the private lives of celebrities, has attracted a large audience. The celebrities discussed include the show's panelists, or ''colaboradores'' to use the Spanish term, and thus the show has a self-referential (and arguably post-modern) aspect. The intrusive nature of some material has attracted criticism. One complaint regarded the coverage of Esteban's own daughter Andrea, a minor at the time, who had been discussed in the context of custody issues and her culinary preferences. The matter was addressed by the "defensor del menor", a children's ombudsman, who recommended less coverage of Andrea.

Other activities

At the end of 2009, Esteban underwent cosmetic surgery ahead of her appearance on Telecinco's New Year's Eve special: Google revealed a massive increase in searches for her on the internet. Her other TV appearances include '' ¡Más que baile!'' (Spanish version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''), where she was the winner in 2010, and ''

Gran Hermano VIP ''Gran Hermano VIP'' (as known by the acronym ''GH VIP'') is a reality television series broadcast in Spain on Telecinco produced by Endemol. It is the celebrity version of ''Gran Hermano'' and part of the ''Big Brother'' franchise first deve ...

'' (Spanish ''Celebrity'' version of '' Big Brother''), which she also won in 2015. In 2011 she appeared in a cameo role in '' Lethal Crisis'', a

3-D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pict ...

in the Torrente series. She has been credited with creating a number of catchphrases that have gone viral and become part of the Spanish lexicon. One of her most popular ones, "Hasta luego, Mari Carmen" (See you later, Mari Carmen), has the English equivalent of the " Bye, Felicia" from the

Ice Cube An ice cube is a small piece of ice, which is typically rectangular as viewed from above and trapezoidal as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical refrigeration and are usually produced to cool beverages. They may be produc ...

movie

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day ...

, and would be said to someone you do not expect or hope to see again. The phrase has also become an

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

in Spain in its own right.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteban, Belen 1973 births Living people People from Madrid Spanish television personalities Big Brother (franchise) winners