Cristina María Saralegui de Ávila (born January 29, 1948) is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

n-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist, television personality, actress and talk show host of the Spanish-language

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

show, '. Before her television career, she worked for ten years as editor-in-chief of the Spanish-language version of ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine distributed throughout Latin America.

Early life and family

Cristina María Saralegui Santamarina was born in Miramar,

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, to Francisco Rene Saralegui Álvarez, Jr. and María Cristina de las Nieves Santamarina Díaz. She is the eldest of five, she had two sisters Vicky and María Eugenia, as well as two brothers, Patxi and Iñaki. Saralegui is of Basque Country descent with all four grandparents having origins in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Her paternal grandfather Francisco Saralegui Arizubieta was a Basque from Lizarza and her paternal grandmother Amalia "Amalita" Álvarez Cuesta, an Asturian from Gijon; her maternal grandfather was José Santamarina Iviricu, and her maternal grandmother Águeda Díaz. In 1960, following the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

, Saralegui and her family fled to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, United States, and settled on Key Biscayne.

Journalism career

After graduating from the

Academy of the Assumption Academy of the Assumption was a Catholic all-girls school that was located on Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida, United States. Built in 1943 and closed in 1976, it was run by the Religious of the Assumption. The school's last principal was Sr. T ...

in 1966, Saralegui enrolled at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. In 1973, she began an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

at the magazine '' Vanidades''. This allowed her to improve her written Spanish to the level of her spoken language. By 1979, Saralegui was editor of the Spanish version of ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' magazine. She continued in this role through most of the 1980s.

''El Show de Cristina''

In 1989, Saralegui transferred her journalistic success to television, by launching the Miami-based Spanish-language talk show, ''El Show de Cristina'' (''The Cristina Show'') on

Univisión Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

. She concluded each episode with a double thumbs-up salute and the Cuban expression ''"Pa'lante, pa'lante, pa'tras ni pa' coger impulso"'', ("Forward, forward; don't step back, not even to gain momentum"...could also be understood as "to get a running start".) Prominent guests included

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular ...

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, Don Francisco, the former members of Menudo,

Fernando Colunga Fernando Colunga Olivares () (born 3 March 1966) is a Mexican actor best known for his work in Mexican telenovelas. Colunga gained international fame for playing Luis Fernando de la Vega in the Mexican soap opera ''Maria la del Barrio''. He is ...

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, Lucero,

Celia Cruz Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during ...

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, Isabel Pantoja,

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, Pitbull,

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, Jorge Ramos,

Gloria Estefan Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has bee ...

and her husband Emilio Estefan, Jr.,

Gloria Trevi Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz (born February 15, 1968), known as Gloria Trevi (), is a Mexican singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, television hostess, music video director and businesswoman known as "The Supreme Diva of Mexican Pop". ...

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, Sebastian Rulli,

Xuxa Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel ( ; ; born Maria da Graça Meneghel, 27 March 1963) is a Brazilian television host, film actress, singer, model, and businesswoman. Known as "Queen of Little Ones", Xuxa built the largest Latin American children's e ...

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, RBD, Niurka,

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, George Lopez,

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...

, Adela Noriega,

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Angélica María Angélica María Hartman Ortiz (born September 27, 1944), known professionally as La novia de Mexico (Mexico's sweetheart), is an American-Mexican actress and singer-songwriter. Her songs El hombre de mi vida (The man of my life) peaked at No. ...

, and Susana Gonzalez. During the program recorded on Monday, October 25, 2010, Cristina reviewed her career and the program's more memorable episodes and guests. Saragelui's talk show last aired on November 1, 2010 after 21 years. Hosted by Mexican actor, Fernando Colunga, Cristina was celebrated by her colleagues Daniela Romo, Cesar Evora, Thalia, Shakira, Gloria Estefan, Emilio Estefan, Angelica Maria, Carmen Salinas, Don Francisco, Jorge Ramos, and others. Some of her Univision colleagues were in the audience from where they interacted with Cristina herself, sharing anecdotes and messages of hope and admiration. Saralegui went on to publish her own magazine, ''Cristina: La Revista'' (''Cristina: The Magazine'') and several books. She is referred to as "the Spanish-Cuban Oprah". In 1992, Saralegui had an English-language syndicated talk show, ''Cristina'', which was cancelled after half a season. The song

Somos El Mundo "Somos El Mundo 25 Por Haiti" is a 2010 song and charity single recorded by the Latin supergroup Artists for Haiti and written by Emilio Estefan and his wife Gloria Estefan. It is a Spanish-language remake of the 1985 hit song "We Are the World", ...

premiered during Saralegui's show, with an appeal to help the Haiti relief effort. It was translated by Gloria Estefan, produced by her husband Emilio Estefan and approved by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

. During her last show on Univision, Saralegui said,

Cristina no se retira, jamas dejaría esto... aquí hay Cristina y ¡para rato! (Cristina does not retire, I would never leave this... there is (still) Cristina and for a (good) while!).

Saralegui remained under contract with Univision until December 31, 2010. It was discussed that she might continue as a collaborator, for special programs and interviews, and that a new Cristina show would debut in March, 2011, but this did not happen.

Career after Univision (WAPA-TV and WLII-DT)

The Spanish-language Network Azteca América presented a one-hour special, "Cristina Breaks the Silence" where, for the first time since her retirement from Univision, Saralegui was interviewed on television. The interview, hosted by Frank Cairo, a former producer and creator of the Cristina show, touched on many issues, from guests who were considered "difficult", to the unexpected announcement from the executives of Univision that her show was being canceled, as well as reactions, emotions, and responses to the news. It was announced on May 17, 2011 that Telemundo had hired Cristina for a weekly variety show, '' Pa' lante con Cristina'' (Forward with Cristina), beginning in the fall of 2011. The program debuted on Telemundo on May 31 of that year, hosting a one-hour special retrospective featuring the stars of the just-completed telenovela '' La Reina del Sur''. On May 31, 2012, it was announced that ''Pa' lante con Cristina'' would end its run and will not be renewed for another season. In 2012, Saralegui began Cristina Radio on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

. In June 2012, Saralegui endorsed President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

for a second term, marking her first political endorsement ever.

Television

Web presence

Currently, Saralegui has joined with

AARP AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization said it had more than 38 million members in 2018. The magazi ...

to help raise awareness, within the Latino community, about the benefits AARP has to offer. They have created ¡Amigos Live!,¡Amigos Live!
an online interactive video.

Personal life

She is divorced from her first husband, Tony, with whom she has a daughter Cristina Amelia. She has been married to Marcos Ávila since 1982, a former member of the

Miami Sound Machine Miami Sound Machine was an American band of Latin-influenced music that had featured the vocals of Cuban-born recording artist Gloria Estefan (née Fajardo). Established in 1975 by Emilio Estefan Jr., the band was originally known as the Miami ...

, and from this marriage she has a stepdaughter, Stephanie. Together they have one child, son Jon Marcos.

References

External links

Cristina's Facebook PageUniversity of Miami famous alumniCristina Saralegui's Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saralegui, Cristina American television actresses American women journalists American television talk show hosts Cuban emigrants to the United States Cuban journalists Cuban women journalists Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States Hispanic and Latino American people in television University of Miami alumni Actresses from Miami Cuban people of Basque descent American entertainers of Cuban descent 1948 births Living people Cuban people of Spanish descent Cuban women writers American people of Basque descent American people of Asturian descent 21st-century American women American editors American women editors American magazine editors Women magazine editors