For anyone born in the ’80s, this story is probably still fresh in your memory. Also because it featured some of the great personalities of the time. We go back to the time when Joao Vieira Pinto was one of the greatest symbols of the national championship. Adored by all, he also had one of those marriages that left anyone with a tear in the corner of their eye. He exchanged vows of eternal love with his longtime girlfriend, Carla Baia, who got pregnant at just sixteen. Baby Tiago is joined by little Diana and together they form a family that is considered perfect.
It was like this for 16 years with the family remaining united through all adversity and even when moving to another country, as João Bento even played for Atletico Madrid.
We were in the mid-1990s, a decade in which footballers’ wives played a very different role than it does today. They were not completely liberated: they nullified themselves in favor of their husbands, they did not work to ensure the emotional support of the family, their whole lives were devoted to making up for the absence of their husbands, they did it to struggle for a career. This means that when Carla Baia became pregnant, she was so young, years later, she was disgusted that she had given up so many dreams in favor of her husband’s career.
“I got pregnant at sixteen, at eighteen I went to Madrid and left school. Then there was the label of a football player, that is, a person who does not know how to do anything. I had the status of someone who couldn’t do certain things and for others I had no studies”, later referring to Carla Baia to describe the early days of marriage and motherhood, which made her give up dreams of another life. However, for love it was all worth it, until the marriage did not stand the wear of the years and ended, with the two opposite paths following and Joao Pinto falling in love with one of the most famous presenters of the time: Marisa Cruz.
The divorce process, which lasted six years
But nothing will be easy in this love affair between Joao Pinto and Marisa Cruz. The two were very much in love and had dreams of a wedding that wasn’t possible because the player himself was still married.
Marisa Cruz and Joao Vieira Pinto
Photo: Flash
He and Carla Baia had signed one of those ancient documents, with complete community property, where all assets had to be divided according to rules and boxes. And at the time, the star was one of the highest paid players in the country. It was an ugly court battle, years and years of court battles that culminated in the victory of Carla, who became a millionaire with the end of her marriage. During that time, the atmosphere between the two was one of knife cutting, a tension Marisa Cruz was no stranger to, with disagreements driving relationships.
Karla Bay
Photo: Flash
In the disputed divorce agreement, it was written that the businesswoman would receive the equivalent of 5.1 million euros, in an amount that includes several apartments (a house in Carnaide, a villa in Cascais and another in the Algarve), in addition to the entire company she ran with her husband, Carla & Pinto Ltd.
Carla Paya with her children and grandchildren
Photo: Flash
Despite the financial gap, the divorce was highly celebrated Joao Pinto and Marisa Cruz, who finally had a free way to get married, which they did, with pomp, in a ceremony at the Real Companhia Velha, in Vila Nova de Gaia, for more than 150 guests. At that time, the first child of the couple had already been born and the second child would not be long in coming. What they both did not know was that after waiting for a long time, the relationship would end for a short while, as Joao Pinto and Marisa Cruz ended the union in 2013.
Carla talks about depression
Even today, Carla Baia – who in the meantime got married and became a mother again – remembers the period of divorce as the darkest period of her life.
“I felt unfounded,” he recently admitted to Manuel Luis Joshua. “I’ve always done everything. It has made life easier for the couple so that they can focus on their work [como futebolista]. I was depressed for two or three years“.
However, after the divorce of Joao Pinto and Marisa Cruz, harmony returned to celebrate family life and today the former player and Carla Baia maintain a healthy relationship for the benefit of their children and grandchildren. The former spouses live with their partners, in the obvious suggestion that at the time of the separation, the problem will also be due to the fact that Marisa Cruz entered the player’s life so quickly.
Joao Vieira Pinto, Angela Galvao, pregnant
Photo: Covina Media
“The relationship with the father of my children is excellent. We all live together as a family, he and I. I get along very well with his wife, Angela.. It’s wonderful. Even to my children and grandchildren. ideal. It’s so great to get all together and see everyone so excited and laughing. João (Pinto) has a very nice relationship there. Hell! Carla Baia described, in a happy photo of a united and now very modern family.
“Infuriatingly humble analyst. Bacon maven. Proud food specialist. Certified reader. Avid writer. Zombie advocate. Incurable problem solver.”