the art of surviving the passage of time (and whatever it takes)

When more than 20 years ago I told my boss that Ana Rosa Quintana left Antena 3 afternoons and Flavor to you, and he went to Telecinco to fill the position of Maria Teresa Campos In the mornings of that channel, he told me that he didn’t believe it. But when at that very moment I told him that I was also pregnant and that they were twins, he wanted to throw me out of the office. We published both scoops: the cover of the magazine said something like “Ana Rosa signs for Telecinco and is pregnant with twins.” And we were right. Today, he is still at Mediaset and Juan and Jaime They are 21 tall men. This Sunday Ana Rosa Quintana turns 69 years old at the foot of the canyon. After defeating one cancer and then another, this animal of communication returned and faced the challenge of sustaining the afternoons. There it is: being a colossus that resists in very complicated conditions, defending the afternoons in a chain that sinks everywhere except for the fronts defended by this soldier who resists looking at the camera with unusual strength, against all odds. Take this lady of arms “You have to feed him separately,” a person who knows her well tells us, “because it’s warm”, it nuances us. Some will say that it is a rounded façade, others, that she is actually progressive but is angry with this specific Government. But no matter how many lights and shadows (she is from Atlético de Madrid) that come together in her, not even her declared enemies will be able to deny that she is a survivor because a woman who resists on television at that level, doing a daily program of several hours, which He goes to Dana or wherever he is needed, he is a beast. Congratulations.

And if Ana Rosa has learned anything over the years, it has been to walk with a firm and sure step, like someone crossing a minefield without losing her balance or direction.

Today, when the journalist celebrates 69 years, there is not even an iota of melancholy in her gaze, but rather the incandescent spark of someone who has made the present her only ally. From his trench in Later, The television afternoons struggle between the search for viewers, current affairs and the memories forged between sets and million-dollar contracts. Ana Rosa is living proof that, in the art of reinventing yourself, the key is to stop at nothing. She’s very “bark, then ride.” And of course he rides.

Television, an inexhaustible mirror where faces wear out at the same rate as audiences, rarely grants second chances. But Ana Rosa has not only taken them: she has turned them into a spectacle. His jump from the mornings to the afternoons, after almost two decades of leading the day with a loyal audience, seemed like a leap into the void. Circumstances, like the dead calm that paralyzes a sailboat, were not on their side. At a time when Mediaset was taking a radical turn, we gave the scoop: she assumed the helm of the afternoon after the end of save me, a phenomenon that had shaped the television grid. “It wasn’t about competing with a ghost,” he would tell us later, “but about building something new.” And so he did. TardeAR It was born in September 2023 as a risky bet, but Ana Rosa, aware that time does not wait, took on each challenge with the same vigor with which a gladiator enters the coliseum.

To get here, Ana Rosa has had to overcome not only the traps of the show, but also those of life itself. In 2010, breast cancer temporarily separated her from the cameras. With the same frankness that characterizes his journalistic style, he narrated his process without embellishment, like someone reciting a medical report: diagnosis, treatment, victory. Eleven years later, the disease returned, this time as a carcinoma. And again, Ana Rosa decided to stand up to him, showing that she is not only resilient, but also brave.

We all have a past…@anarosaq also! And he has it in him @ArchivoRTVEof course. Mira –> https://t.co/KBsnmkfmkT #ArtistTravel pic.twitter.com/F3u9KwXxdO

— RTVE Archive (@ArchivoRTVE) December 13, 2019

“There are battles that you cannot delegate,” he confessed to us on his triumphant return to television. From then on, he made the decision to reduce his frenetic pace, reserving Fridays for rest. However, even in those moments of pause, Ana Rosa remains Ana Rosa: the businesswoman, the discoverer of new values ​​(some have flown alone, of course), the strategist, the woman who has built a media (and non-media) empire. with his producer, Unicorn, and that, despite the challenges, he never loses control, at least if there is a camera.

In this journey, there is a secondary character who has always been present: Juan Muñoz, her husband and main support. Together they have built a discreet relationship, far from the spotlight, but solid. She stood up for the man of her life when the businessman faced the courts and a sentence that was more unsightly than serious.

Because Juan is the love of her life and not the journalist Alfonso Rojo, father of her eldest son, nor the director José Luis Garci, loves that not everyone remembers but that she would bring out on her set if a character like her visited her on a contested afternoon against Sonsoles Ónega, that former employee of the month, of the year and of the decade, who triumphs opposite and writes million-dollar books in prizes and readers.

This Christmas, as in many others, Ana Rosa and her husband traveled to Andalusia, Juan’s homelandto reconnect with family warmth. There, between after-dinner meals and Christmas carols, Ana Rosa, far from the Usera of her soul, finds that refuge that every warrior needs to regain strength.

But it’s not just Juan. Ana Rosa’s circle is made up of friends that she has cultivated over decades, colleagues who admire her for both her character and her charisma. The journalist knows that success is not only measured in audience numbers, but also in the ability to surround herself with people who make her shine beyond the set.

At 69 years old, Ana Rosa Quintana is not only a rich and successful businesswoman (not only audiovisual) and television presenter; It is a symbol of resistance and adaptation. The girl who dreamed of telling stories became a woman capable of transforming each setback into another chapter of her biography, the one she writes every day in front of millions of viewers. In the world of television, where youth seems to be the currency, she has shown that time, far from being an enemy, can be the most valuable of allies. His story is a reminder that, in an environment as voracious as this, only those who know how to adapt to the currents without losing their essence survive. Maybe tomorrow, or in ten years, someone will wonder what Ana Rosa’s secret is. Don’t believe those who tell you that your secret is ambition, the ability to carry out whatever it takes, face whatever it takes, the strength to get up, your ability to remember that life. Do not believe that your secret is a mixture of risk, improvement and, above all, perseverance. The answer is much simpler: it is all of the above but above all, he has a gift that almost no one has: it is called communicating.