Lula da Silva: The romantic love story between Brazil’s president-elect and his third wife and future first lady, Janja.

In the mid-1990s she met her now-husband in person, a recent graduate in social sciences, Lula was already running for president and traveled through Brazil to absorb the country’s reality.

However, decades later, Lula died in February 2017, when he was widowed by his second wife, Marisa Letizia.

The former president only publicly confirmed the relationship in November 2019 came out 580 days in prison in Curitiba.

The release came after the Federal Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal to serve a sentence before resources were exhausted.

Subsequently, the court overturned Lula’s conviction.

The two are not yet married, but Janja was listed as “family” on the list of people authorized to visit Lula while she was in prison. She went every day, Lula later said.

“She lived in Curitiba and brought me some food every night. She didn’t send me to wash my clothes, she wanted to wash them at home,” the former president said in an interview in 2021.

“When I came out, I thought: ‘No, I really do I am going to get married girlJanja, 56, is 21 years younger than Lula.

In photos of the former president leaving the Federal Police headquarters in 2019, Janja appeared publicly at his side for the first time. And he never left.

The two settled in an apartment in Greater São Paulo and the sociologist began to appear not only in photographs, but also at political events, trips, strategic meetings of the PT and the presidential campaign.

Lula began mentioning his wife more often, helping to bring the idea of ​​youthful health and happiness associated with the now president-elect to the PT campaign.

The former president has repeatedly described himself as a “man in love” and said more than once during the pandemic that despite his age, he has the “energy of a 30-year-old”.

“Did you see this young lady singing? She is my wife. This young lady… I fell in love with her more when I was in prison“, Lula said at an event in Minas Gerais in September.

“She and I wrote 580 letters to each other. Every day I sent her a letter and every day she sent me a letter,” he added.

Letters were exchanged through friends to meet the imprisoned politician; Sometimes, through them, Lula sent flowers with letters to Janja.

The sociologist made several romantic posts on Instagram with photos of flowers, although without mentioning who his admirer was, the romance was not yet public.

During the pandemic, more by her choice than his, says a friend of the couple, they moved into a rented house in Alto de Pinheiros, an upscale neighborhood in São Paulo.

Animal welfare is one of the important issues for the future first lady, who is also concerned with environmental protection, specializes in community management and sustainable development and has worked in the field.

Another pertinent issue of Janja is the protection of minors and the fight against sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. That is why it participates in campaigns supporting the rights of minors.

Sociologist, she says she likes “Resign First Female Role”Historically maintenance has been linked to the idea of ​​work.

“We’ll work on becoming the first lady you’ve been waiting for,” she wrote on Instagram in August. “And we’re going to try to redefine the concept of this first lady,” she said without elaborating.

Janja considers herself a feminist and said at an event with Lula that she did not want to be her husband’s “assistant”, referring to a speech by current first lady Michelle Bolsonaro. “A wife is a helper of her husband.

“I’m not going to help you, I’m not going to be an assistant, I’m going to be by your side, together, fighting, so that the people can give back to Brazil the hope it deserves.” Janja said.

Lula is often asked about his wife, and although he’s not shy about saying how much he loves her, he avoids talking about her.

“I don’t want to talk about Janja because she can talk about herself”This year the president showed the influence of his wife’s feminism.

The president-elect admitted that in his second marriage to Marissa Letizia, he still had the “luxury culture of a factory worker who thinks the woman is the one who’s going to cook the food when I arrive,” which has changed over the years. years.

“I’m with Janja now, she’s very political, a good political leader and very feminist,” Lula said in a conversation with singer Mano Brown on her “Mano a Mano” podcast.

Remember that You can get updates from BBC World. Download the latest version of our app and activate it so you never miss our best content.