In the middle of the election campaign, Pedro Nuno Santos, 46 years old, took advantage of various interviews to show a personal side that few people have known until now. The strong socialist man chose to keep his private life private, but he excluded talk about the family he built with his wife, Catarina Gamboa, with whom he has a seven-year-old son, Sebastião.
The boy is an only child, but the truth is that the couple shared the dream of expanding their family, which was about to happen, until they both experienced the tragedy of miscarriage up close. “2022 has been a difficult and dark year. Very difficult for me and Katarina [a mulher]. There were life projects that we could not achieve. We wanted a bigger family and we never got it.”revealed Pedro Nuno Santos in a chat on “Alta Definição”.
He continued: “We feel great joy and then we feel disappointment,” realizing that behind his calm stance, there are often other feelings that people do not know about. “We get used to living with the politician and forget that there is a life like others.”
“How can what is so important to me, be so important to Katarina and what happened to us…“How will I have to pretend tomorrow that I am not what I used to be?”question.
Although there is no answer, the truth is that Pedro Nuno Santos has always done everything in his power to keep his family together and, above all, to protect his wife, Ana Catarina Gamboa, who is “caught” by shrapnel from time to time. The public role played by her husband.
In 2019, for example, the then Infrastructure Minister saw his partner's suitability in question when she was appointed New Chief of Staff of the State Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs – the former position of the current Minister, a position previously held by Duarte Cordero.
In the face of the questions raised, the politician ended up making a long clarification on social media, in which he expressed his regret for questioning the professionalism of Ana Catarina Gamboa, 41 years old, simply because she is his wife.
“Catarina, my wife and mother of my son Sebastião, is also Catarina Gamboa: an excellent professional, and a person of tremendous competence and confidence.”Written by Pedro Nuno Santos.
“People have the right to question and want to ensure that some do not use positions of political power to serve themselves and their families. It is not only the duty of politicians to ensure that this situation does not occur, but also their duty.” Respond honestly to doubts and confusion that may arise.”He wrote, adding that it was his duty to clarify the matter, both for the sake of the Portuguese people and for the good reputation of the family. “For the sake of the Portuguese people, but also out of respect for Duarte and, above all, for Catarina, who does not deserve to have her career – who owes me nothing – belittled just because she is my wife.”
“I can say our story is as cliched as any other couple's story. But I understand that the degree of public scrutiny to which we are subject, because of our jobs, cannot be trivial. Because I understand this need for transparency, I also want you to understand that I cannot give up defending a principle that I consider very important: that no one should be in a professional role please, just as no one should be harmed in their work. Professional life because of husband, wife, mother or father.”
A woman leaves public office
Although they met in political life, Pedro Nuno Santos and Ana Catarina Gamboa made a radical decision as soon as the Socialist Party leader announced his candidacy: the woman would leave her current job to avoid a conflict of interest.
Ana Catarina Gamboa
Photo: Media Lever
Also at the beginning of the election campaign, the Socialist candidate stated that he would not see his partner in the election campaign and that he would fully respect the decision to keep his wife in the background.
“I met her in politics. We tried to break up [a vida familiar do trabalho]We want each other’s success,” he explained, explaining that his partner is preparing to make a “sacrifice.”
He added: “We share life, we make choices together, and those choices sometimes have consequences for one of us.”
Step down from the position of Chief of Staff who worked with him for 10 years, Pedro Nuno Santos' wife will forego a gross salary of 4,828.66 euros, or approximately 2,784.05 net, according to the government's website.
In an election campaign scenario, Ana Catarina Gamboa is “unavailable for some things.” “Many politicians in Portugal – and I never liked it – insist on appearing with their wife on stage. Catarina doesn't like that, she doesn't want that and I respect that. In fact, I don't think we can complain then.”…if we want to expose Our family life, meanwhile, we don't want to be talked about. So far I have been able to ask that question.”
The story of love and a son who regretted his father's absence
Pedro Nuno Santos and Ana Catarina Gamboa's love story began in the world of politics, but the two did not start dating until a few years later.
“On this way I met a young activist from the Duarte Municipal Team. A beautiful, cheerful, graceful woman, intelligent, challenging and, above all, competent. She was restless and rebellious, always ready to challenge and question my decisions. “But even though we clashed a lot, I liked her personality and her political sense. She was such a person that we needed in our team and that is why she was part of the 1st National Secretariat of the Youth Youth,” he wrote on Facebook. In 2019, when the woman faced a wave of criticism due to her appointment as chief of staff of the Minister of State for House of Representatives Affairs.
From this relationship, little Sebastião was born, now seven years old, who changed the politician's life and often now makes him wonder whether he is, after all, on the right path. The political situation forced him to work longer hours than he wanted, leading to more absences from home, which Pedro Nuno Santos admits was caused by his son.
“The last two years have not been easy so they have struggled with it as well. It is natural for them to feel my absence, my anxiety, my anguish, my joy, and my sadness. my sonI really understand the absence of a father, it makes me notice it and it worries me. Firstly, because I wanted to be with him and I miss that too. (…) Usually I am the one who puts him to bed at night, but this does not happen and he calls me and asks me how long I will be gone, and when I will arrive and I tell him the truth,” he said without hiding that he is afraid of becoming an absent father, but he believes that with good support he will manage everything.
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