Cuban actress Jacqueline Arenal shared intimate details about how she met her husband Alfredo and how, after 25 years without seeing each other, life brought them back together under unexpected circumstances.
In an interview granted to La Familia Cubana, Arenal recalled that they were both young sweethearts. “We were very young when we dated. He was studying medicine and I was studying acting. It was a beautiful relationship, one of those that ends because paths diverge, but it was without any blemishes,” she shared.
The actress explained that, after the breakup, each of them went their separate ways. Alfredo became a cardiovascular surgeon and worked at the Cardiocentro, while she pursued her artistic career. Although they kept tabs on each other—he occasionally saw her perform and she knew he had gotten married and had two children—they never met again.
"We haven't seen each other in 25 years. We didn't even run into each other on a corner of Havana, which could have happened," he recounted.
Destiny brought them together during the pandemic, on the day when health restrictions began to be eased. Arenal decided to attend a book presentation by the writer Leonardo Padura at a Havana restaurant.
Since he arrived late, he couldn't sit at the main table and ended up sharing with a group of doctors. Among them was Alfredo's best friend, who knew the entire story of the couple's youthful romance.
“She asked me for a photo to send to a friend. I thought it was because she was a public figure. Then she showed me the phone and I saw it was Alfredo,” the actress recounted.
At that moment, she knew that he had gotten divorced and that he had even been on the verge of attending the same event. Shortly after, Alfredo wrote to her, and they began to reconnect.
"The second part was better," Arenal confessed, summarizing this new chapter of their love story.
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