Ludmila Dayer: My physical problem was linked to the mental one – 01/06/2024 – Mônica Bergamo

Ludmila Dayer was ten years old when she filmed “Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brazil”, by Carla Camurati. She played the children’s version of the Spanish noblewoman who married the future Portuguese king Dom João 6th. Initially, the role would go to another child actress. Ludmila would dub the titular character only in the scenes in which the young princess dances to Spanish rhythms.

But the director liked her so much that she ended up giving her two characters: in addition to the child Carlota, Ludmila also played the English girl who narrates the story.

“A producer of the film went to the dance school I attended in Rio and filmed me dancing,” she says. “Then, they invited me to meet Carla Camurati. Then I only had two months to learn a little English and Spanish, which are the languages ​​I speak in the film.”

Released in 1995, “Carlota Joaquina” was an unexpected box office success, and the title that inaugurated the “resumption” — the process of revitalizing Brazilian cinema, which almost disappeared during the Fernando Collor government. It also put Ludmila Dayer on the map.

Still very young, she spent the next decade dividing herself between film and television projects. Until, in 2006, the actress went on vacation for two weeks in Los Angeles, in the United States. Without any planning, she ended up staying there, where she still lives today.

“No one knew about my life, which, for me, was wonderful. An opportunity to start from scratch, to rediscover myself without having the audience I grew up with. In addition to the feeling of arriving home. I always felt like a fish out. of water in Brazil.”

“I wanted to live close to the energy of Hollywood, this world that makes me dream,” he says. But his first works there had nothing to do with cinema. He sold luxury glasses, did a lot of translations. Little by little, he got closer to film sets, but behind the cameras, learning things like executive production or directing assistance.

Today his life is entirely centered in the United States. Since 2014, she has been a partner in the production company Look Films, which already has a branch in Brazil. In 2015, she took her mother, whose only child, to live near her.

At the same time, she married a British man, whose identity she does not reveal to protect his privacy. She only says that she had a long-distance relationship for three years, but today they live together in LA

Everything seemed to go from strength to strength when Ludmila began to have increasingly severe panic attacks. “Then, when you return to your normal state, you feel very ashamed,” she says. “Because you say, ‘Wow, I’m creating this all in my head,'” and it’s not like that. In fact, her body is in a state of alert, trying to warn you of some things that need to be processed. Something you’re suppressing. But until I understood this, I thought panic was a monster that wanted to end my life.”

Ludmila began treatment, and thought that filming a documentary in Brazil about her own healing process would be a good idea. But the trip started badly. “I had a panic attack on the plane going to Brazil. I called my therapist on the connection in Houston and said: ‘I’m not going to make it, I’m not going to get on that plane again’. My crisis on board was so strong that I needed oxygen bomb, the kind that flight attendants carry. I was sure I was having a heart attack inside the plane.”

“The entire filming was very difficult. We shot in Varginha, in the interior of Minas Gerais. [atriz] Fernanda Souza, who is practically a sister to me and plays my alter ego in the film, was essential, she helped me all the time.”

With the material filmed, Ludmila returned to Los Angeles and discovered that her symptoms were not just caused by the mental illness. She was diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mononucleosis. Furthermore, EBV, as it is also called, is one of the factors that, together with others, triggers multiple sclerosis in the body.

It wasn’t long before Ludmila was also diagnosed with this autoimmune disease, in which the body’s own defense cells attack the central nervous system. Multiple sclerosis is incurable and irreversible, but can be slowed down with treatments and nutrition. In Brazil, actresses Cláudia Rodrigues and Guta Stresser are also carriers of the disease.

Back in LA, Ludmila began putting together her documentary with the help of editor and director Thales Corrêa, her great friend. And it was then that she decided to change her approach. “The film is about mental health. It always was, there was never anything more than that. But I only discovered that I was carrying the virus after filming. And then, I understood that my physical problem was linked to my mental health problem.”

“I turned to Thales and said: ‘I need to edit it myself’. I took the images and formed the story with them, putting my narration on top. The film was born in the editing. I became addicted to editing, I didn’t want to stop. Until Thiago Pavarino, who is one of the associated producers, shook me and told me: ‘It’s over, right?’. It was time for people to see it.”

One of the first people to see the film was another friend of Ludmila, the singer Anitta. “She had been through similar situations and completely understood what I meant,” she says. Anitta is now credited as executive producer of “Eu”, as the film was called, and accompanied Ludmila at a special screening for the press, in 2022.

In one of the moments of “I”, Ludmila thanks her father, from whom she grew up apart, for giving her life. “He gave me everything he could give me, and when I understood that, it was over, everything was resolved,” she says. “I have brothers on his side that I don’t even know. It’s really interesting, these are new things that I’m exploring in my life now.”

“When I got sick, I thought: ‘Nobody even knows I’m like this. If I die today, the world will keep spinning the same, people will be sad for a moment, but then everyone will go back to their lives’.”

Ludmila did not keep her illness a secret. She even posted blood tests on her social networks, receiving full support from her fans. After a year of treatment, she brought good news: she said she no longer felt any symptoms.

“I treated myself with allopathic doctors, but I didn’t take medication. I followed a wonderful eating protocol, widely used around the world. I took care of my physical and emotional health as a whole, and today I feel very good.”

“Today I’m practically vegan. I don’t like eating animals, although I still eat them from time to time. I don’t have celiac disease, but I don’t like eating gluten,” she says. “I cut out alcohol completely. I satisfy my cravings with beers and non-alcoholic gins, which are wonderful. What I haven’t found yet is a good non-alcoholic wine.”

Ludmila claims to be cured of multiple sclerosis, but medicine emphasizes that the disease continues to be progressive and incurable. However, there are dozens of new treatments that allow patients, especially those diagnosed early, to lead normal lives.

The documentary “Eu” is available on the Aquarius platform, which specializes in content focused on well-being, with documentaries on yoga, sustainability, meditation, the environment and other topics. Meanwhile, Ludmila Dayer is already preparing a sequel, with the inevitable title: “You”.