His millionaire wedding that linked him to the Franco family

Jimmy Giménez Arnau has died at the age of 80. A popular face on television in the pre-streaming platform era, Arnau became a leading figure in the news of the time thanks to his relationship with Merry Martínez-Bordiú, sister of Carmen Martínez-Bordiú and mother of Leticia, his only daughter with whom he stopped speaking since she was a child. A commentator, journalist and novelist, many years later he signed on with Sálvame. Since the end of the programme, nothing has been heard of him.

The son of a diplomat, Jimmy was born on board an ocean liner sailing through Brazilian waters on September 14, 1943. He studied at an English school, graduated in Law and Journalism. He even became a war correspondent and co-founder of the magazine Brother Wolf.

Their 1977 wedding to Merry, María del Mar Martínez-Bordiú and Franco became the first wedding to be sold exclusively. The couple pocketed one million pesetas (6,000 euros) and 1.3 million copies were sold.

Her life has been one of comings and goings on television and always bordering on controversy. In 1993 she was involved in a confrontation with Norma Duval. The dancer, in a programme on Onda Cero, was defending herself from the journalist’s criticism and at one point Norma threw a shoe at her.

His breakup with his daughter, Leticia, with whom he had not spoken since the girl was 12, also became a televised family drama. “I loved that girl very much. I was looking after her. We had a lot of fun, but I’m not going to force it. They advised me that until Leticia turned 18 I should fight so that she would never tell me that she had abandoned her. I won all the lawsuits here and in the United States to see her. But her mother didn’t pay attention to the courts or anything,” Arnau revealed to Bertín Osborne.

There were other women in Jimmy’s heart. Teresa Fernández Peral and Sandra Salgado. Arnau married Sandra, a fellow professional, in 2013. She is 35 years younger than him, but according to what the journalist told Bertín Osborne in ‘Mi casa es la tuya’ their relationship is solid. Jimmy revealed that they had tried to become parents and that they went to a clinic to resort to artificial insemination, but things didn’t go well. After that bad experience, they didn’t try again.