“I am a provocateur because I say what no one dares to say”

He has been through a year that he would have liked not to have lived, but that is what he has had to deal with. Suffering from the physical after-effects that he still has from the motorcycle accident he suffered, Joaquin Torres Today, what hurts her deeply is the loss of her mother and the pain she felt in recent times. She can’t help but cry when she talks about her and the hardships her brother put her through, even though Joaquín has already put many family matters in order and always with the unconditional support of her husband. Raul Prietothe great love of his life. Torres welcomes me into his flat on Calle Velázquez, surrounded by his poodles and half reclining on a huge velvet sofa in a house that they will soon leave to move to another one more suited to their tastes but which will not be the permanent one either. The architect is used to changing residences and after all, he is the man who makes the houses that everyone dreams of come true. His own is still to be drawn.

How are you?

JT: It has been the worst year of my life, but I am much better now. The hardest thing without a doubt has been the mourning for my mother, which I have not been able to go through because her physical pain even prevented me from crying for her, but now I recognize that I am fine, that life goes on and there is no other alternative. It’s been a horrible year, but we have to get over it.

I guess your heart hurts more today than your hip.

Of course, the heart. Emotional issues leave you with scars that are very difficult to overcome. You learn to live with them but you don’t get over them. It’s all been very hard, but I’ve always had Raúl by my side. I told you that there was a time when I needed some distance because I was bitter and I went away for a few days precisely so as not to get angry with him. That statement resulted in a crisis in my relationship that I have denied ad nauseam because it wasn’t like that. You have to ask yourself who suffers more, the sick person or the companion. I assure you that the second role is very hard. Raúl is not a man of great patience, but on this occasion he has developed it.

“I know that Raúl couldn’t take it anymore”

That decision was the smartest, since the distance served to not ruin their relationship since he confessed to me that he couldn’t stand himself.

He never told me, but I know that Raúl couldn’t take it anymore. Feeling like a burden is also very annoying. In my case it was easy because I have shared custody of my children with my ex-wife. The boys live in a house and their mother and I alternate there. In the last year it is true that I barely stayed overnight for a matter of comfort for everyone and that is why it was very natural for me to go away for a few days with my children, given that I had not stayed for a few months. They were very grateful and it served us well, even though within a week we were together again.

In public he never stops saying how in love he is with Raúl. Have you discovered a new person since his accident?

No. I always knew Raul was like that. I fell in love with him when I started working at Save me and I separated from my wife. He had a partner at the time and I fought hard to get one. In this life I have never had anything easy because I have always had to fight for everything. Today I feel very loved by Raúl and it is true that we have grown and strengthened the relationship with what we have experienced. On the day of our wedding I shouted to the world that I was very much in love and that Raúl was the love of my life. Today I repeat it and I hope that between the two of us we can build a story that lasts forever, although as Antonio Gala said, when you are in love you believe that love is eternal. Then life will determine if it is so. My thoughts are on a future always with Raúl. The first thing we are going to do is move to a house more designed for the two of us. It will be near the Plaza de los Delfines, we will have a very nice garden and it will be 500 meters, but it will be an interim because my dream is to make my house with Raúl. We are excited to do it together and it is the project that we dream of today.

Where would you like your forever home to be?

We want something special and different but of course in Madrid.

Meeting the love of your life is a blessing. There are those who go through life without feeling that way.

That’s what I said to Juan Antonio Pérez Simón the other day when he was bitterly complaining about his breakup with Silvia Gómez Cuétara. I assured him that there were people who had never felt that passionate love, that tears you apart and you don’t feel like making a fool of yourself. It’s something wonderful. I experienced it when I was 37 and that’s why I know what I’m talking about.

“He hated being homosexual and had opted for a relationship that was impossible”

He fell madly in love and took courage by breaking with what his life had been until then.

My ex-wife asked me about agreeing to continue with our marriage in the face of society, but then each of us would live our lives and thus protect our children, but I said that under no circumstances. Although people thought it, until then I was not living a lie. He hated being gay and had opted for a relationship that was impossible but it was never a lie. I loved Mercedes very much, but there was no physical attraction and without that attraction there is no love.

We children are prepared to bury our parents. In your case it is difficult for you to fit it in.

I always believed that my mother would die after my father and that would have allowed her to have a few years of freedom. It was a very hard life and marriage with a man who never allowed her to be herself. Since my father has been on dialysis for twenty years, I was convinced that she would outlive him. I dreamed of seeing her free, of her going to live with her daughter and grandchildren… but it was not to be.

The fact that their father is still alive today may be a test of this life to try to get them closer and see him with different eyes.

I don’t. My brothers, yes; and I tell them how generous they are, but I don’t think my father has changed, only his circumstances. If he kept his estate in good order he would be the monster he always was. Today he can’t because he depends on us, on me, and he is a dejected and devoted man who continually asks for forgiveness, but I don’t quite believe it. I say this without bitterness, but it’s hard for me to believe that he has changed. I know this because at the slightest thing he makes a scene again over anything. My brother Andrés lives with him and I go there three times a week. And I know that I don’t like it, nor does he like being with me. We both notice it.

How is the situation with your brother Julio, with whom you have several legal proceedings?

We have already lost everything we lost because my brother has done everything in a very complex way, but I think there will be things that can be solved. It is a fundamental battle. My brother took an immense amount of money that we quantify between 40 or 50 million euros that I am aware we will never recover and that is why I refuse to spend my life fighting for something that I know will not be achieved. I have talked to the lawyers so that we only fight for what is safe. There was so much that even with this situation our parents have left life resolved for all of us.

So your brother Julio didn’t leave your parents in ruins?

I said and I reiterate that Julio left my parents in ruin. They had no liquidity in their accounts and their payrolls were seized. Once I have cleaned up some things there is liquidity. Many people were surprised that I talked about ruin when they lived in a mansion. But the truth is that they did not have enough to eat or pay expenses, although there was a significant patrimony and hence the assets were much greater than the liabilities.

He has turned out to be a “monster” on television, as every time he speaks, he creates a ruckus.

Well, Raúl hates it when he goes out. It’s funny because he was the one who detected that ability that he had in front of the cameras and he didn’t stop until he convinced me to go to Save me And now he is very annoyed that I go on the shows. I admit that I enjoy television, but it doesn’t make up for the fights with Raúl. I am provocative and I say things that no one dares to say because I like not having filters.

But today he is being sued by Mar Flores for calling her a courtesan.

I’m calm because I said it in a context without any sexual connotation.

Don’t you think you should put a little dot in your mouth?

No. I am who I am, for example, I have a lot of respect for Amancio Ortega but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel free to be critical, especially of Inditex. I have the freedom to say what I think and I don’t know if that will make me pay a toll, although I will tell you that my architecture studio runs on its own.

Can’t you scare off some potential customers?

I suppose so, but I confess that when I worked with Luis García Cereceda the volume of work was crazy and now I don’t want that life. Today I prefer to choose more and that’s why instead of 120 architects we are 60, which seems like a lot to me. My main recruitment comes from abroad, almost 70 percent, especially from Arab countries and South America. Now we are also entering Africa, but it is a different scale of projects.

Mbappé’s twelve million house

Did the footballers’ big deal go down in history?

Don’t believe it. I’m still doing projects like I’m doing now with Edurne and De Gea.

And that of Kylian Mbappé?

He bought a house that I built and I know that he paid a fortune, close to twelve million.

Who on TV entertains you?

I confess that I get tired of always seeing the same people everywhere. Boris Izaguirre is very brilliant, but I get tired of seeing him so much, as well as Alaska and her husband. I miss people who surprise me and I don’t really watch much TV now. I do love Susanna Griso and Sonsoles Ónega. They’ve called me, but it doesn’t make sense for me to be a regular on a programme.

It would have to have its own format.

I have even been offered a “reality show” of my life and work. The thing is that it takes up a lot of my time and I am looking forward to returning to my architecture studio, which has been on standby for six months. I have the best partner in the world, but I am not yet ready to start creating. I am starting to draw little by little, but I have to regain my confidence and put an end to my inner fears, as well as stop taking medication.