‘It was hard to see my guts exposed to the whole of Brazil’

The sunny countenance and that air of peace that only Bahia has show Débora Nascimento entering 2023 with a free body and mind. The 37-year-old actress spent her vacation in the middle of the woods, close to the sea and away from the tumult of New Year’s Eve parties. “It’s very roots here, the way I like it, without a lot of people”, she says, via video call, straight from the small town of Cumuruxatiba. Featured in “Olhar Indiscreto”, an erotic Netflix series that conquered France, Venezuela and even conservative countries such as Morocco, Qatar and Turkey (in the latter it occupies the first place in the ranking of the 10 most viewed), the actress gives life to Miranda. The character is a hacker and voyeur who has the habit of watching everything that his neighbor, the prostitute Cléo (Emanuelle Araújo) does and ends up getting involved in a plot full of suspense and eroticism, at the same time that he gets to know his own desires better.

“I piqued my curiosity even more for the other. I was never blunt. I’ve always looked freely at what excites me, without obstacles”, says the São Paulo native from Suzano, 50 km from the capital. Under deconstruction, or rather, accustomed to “dying and being reborn” several times, as she herself says about adversity, Débora does not like labels. She claims to love “people, regardless of gender” but prefers not to say if she has ever been involved with women. She defends tantra, a philosophy that she got to know better through Yoga during pregnancy, but avoids delving into the lessons learned during the course with therapist Carol Teixeira, a kind of tantric sex guru.

She is currently dating model and businessman Alexandre Cunha. “I am in a relationship with a beautiful person. In a very intense time and moment, ”she says, without much detail. In the chat of just over an hour, Débora spoke about raising her daughter, Bella, 4 years old, her relationship with her ex, actor José Loreto, the troubled separation in the eyes of the public, and also about how she relearned to love the body after severe anorexia developed in adolescence.

How did you prepare to play Miranda?
I was an introspective child, I loved watching people. Miranda piqued that curiosity even more for the other. I talked to people working in technology and I also entered the world of BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism and Masochism).

What did you learn?
Removing the prejudice that it could be a type of perversion or illness. And to study and realize the whole range of pleasure and possibilities. I already had an idea because of my studies with tantra. I understood, sensorially, what being tied up brings and the freedom to explore one’s own body.

How was your contact with tantra? She even took a course with therapist Carol Teixeira…
A major reassessment of my body. I had a clearer perception of the pain and scars I carry, but also of the power and divinity that exists within me. When you perceive the waves of energy, all relationships, intimate or otherwise, are transformed.

Miranda’s sensuality is born in the course of the plot. And Deborah? Is she a sensual woman?
I perceive this sensuality with different ages and moments of life. When I cut my hair to play Miranda, there was such an intense transformation. ‘Wow, who is this woman?’ I have died and been reborn several times.

Talk about the difficulties and pains of life?
Also. But the greatest goal in life is to be reborn without needing pain. Sometimes changes hurt because there is resistance with them. And when I broke some patterns and fears, of living on this patriarchal and sexist planet… at the time we suffer, but then we see how good it was.

What are these patterns?
The physical, for example. I had anorexia when I was 16 and I always felt a little inadequate. It was a search in the other, but it’s all within us. The pattern of having a happy family, a man and a woman, married, with a baby. It’s knowing how to cook. It is before the age of 30 to already have a stable career. Not being able to grow old. If we don’t dig in there, it won’t break. One of my greatest rebirths was having my daughter, because I know that I am her greatest reference as a woman.

In 2019, you separated from actor José Loreto, when your daughter was only 9 months old. What was it like to live that moment in the public eye?
I got even deeper into myself. I’ve always preserved myself a lot and, when that happened, it was difficult to see my insides exposed to the whole of Brazil. She owed absolutely no satisfaction to anyone, except the one she was nursing. I tried to heal myself by picking up the pieces.

Didn’t want to see what they said on social media?
I didn’t care, that’s the point. What I wanted was not to stop breastfeeding, and I managed until Bella was 1 year and 8 months old. He would not let any external situation interfere. I didn’t take antidepressants, because I was breastfeeding. I meditated, I was in a hut. There, I died and was also reborn.

Did you allow yourself to suffer?
It’s not even allowing yourself, it’s letting yourself cross. What am I feeling? I felt everything. If I kept retaining anything, my milk would get stuck. I lick my wounds and those I love in particular, I don’t struggle for anyone to see.

How is your relationship today?
Reserved and human, with a lot of straight talk. He will be my partner and partner for life. We are one community.

You already said that Bella will be a free girl to be whatever she wants. Is it difficult to raise a child?
It’s a challenge. It’s totally about her, but it also says a lot about me and how I deal with my issues. I will not reproduce what my mother or society says. One day, while we were putting up the Christmas tree, I put up some Liniker clips. Then she asked, ‘Mom, is she a man?’ I explained that Liniker was a trans woman. And it was beautiful to convey this information in words that she would understand. That she is a woman who has transformed. I said everything with great affection, without judgment.