Enrica Bonaccorti, 50 years of TV history: “Attacked because I announced the pregnancy live. My first love? In Sardinia"

The first gig at the theater? "It was a coincidence". The partnership with Domenico Modugno? “Born thanks to chance”. According to Enrica Bonaccorti, 71 years of which fifty spent in front of a camera, even a medal won in Sardinia in discus throwing came thanks to chance. "I write it with a capital C, because it is what has marked some fundamental stages of my life".

A lot of luck and a lot of skill, however, if she has become one of the most iconic presenters of a generation, from the program "Ciao Enrica" to "Dear parents". crossword ", with that" I did not ask you any questions "to the player from home who has remained in the history of the small screen.

But Enrica Bonaccorti was also an actress of dramas (as in "Eleonora" in 1973 alongside Giulietta Masina and in "The bitter case of the Baroness of Carini" in 1975), radio speaker, commentator and author of wonderful texts such as "The distance "And" Bitter land of mine ". "Which in my diaries was called 'Sardinia my land'", he tells Unionesarda.it. Because the masterpieces sung by Domenico Modugno were born precisely from the suggestions of when he lived in Sardinia.

He was only 13 years old when, with a father who was a public security officer, the whole family left the Genoa barracks to move to Sassari.

What memories do you have of Sardinia?

“Among the most beautiful of my life. Although at first, coming from a barracks, it was all very strange. In Genoa I was the daughter of the commander with all the privileges that ensued. Movie tickets, driver, even calls were free. All things that disappeared all of a sudden when we moved into a normal house. In Sassari I discovered real life and for the first time I heard: 'Enough with the phone, it costs'. Piazza Italia was like Times Square. In Sassari I also had my first crush ”.

Who had she fallen in love with?

“Of a boy who was not Sardinian but who had moved with his family to Sassari. I still carry it in my heart ”.

Where did he spend his holidays?

"In the summer with my father and my mother (I am an only child) we always rented a house in Alghero. Then we went to Stintino and Platamona. But I also remember a trip to Poetto with pleasure".

At the Sardinian regional championships he won a silver medal in discus throwing. Did you have a passion for this discipline?

"No not at all. They put me there three days earlier because a number was missing. I knew how to do the push-ups ... It must have been an angel who took that record and made it fly 34 meters. I finished second behind a girl from Cagliari: she was pretty strong while I was a toothpick. I keep that medal with great joy and pride. Even with a bit of embarrassment, to tell the truth, because I'm not a sportswoman at all ”.

When did you move to Rome?

"I was almost sixteen".

Do you come back to the island often?

“No, because I don't take the plane. I have been invited several times, they also awarded me two prizes in Sardinia. But I couldn't take them. But I have it in my heart, all of it ”.

How did your adventure in the theater begin?

“I had a passion, among other things, for the theater. I shot them all, or rather: all those where it was possible to follow the rehearsals. One day someone said that an actress got hurt. I raised my hand: 'Can I try?'. It wasn't easy, because I wasn't enrolled in any academy. I auditioned and they took me. And from there it all started ”.

How did you meet Modugno?

“One day they called me at home. My father answered: the note he took is one of the last memories I have of him, because he died shortly after. I had to show up at the Teatro de 'Servi. I had just started doing theater, I didn't understand who could be looking for me. But one evening, looking at me in the audience, there was an administrator from Modugno: he had noticed me and asked for my number ”.

And Modugno?

"He was great, I learned a lot from him. Beyond the success of 'La distananza' and 'Amara terra mia', taken from the diaries I kept in Sardinia, I think that together we could have done even more".

When did television arrive?

"Immediately, in 1971. I started with the dramas while my first conduction arrived in '78. Even in that case I did an audition, I had no one to push me".

His first program?

"It was 'The strong sex'. An avant-garde program because it was the first time that Rai bought a format from America. It didn't have much echo, it was a first attempt, so much so that I continued with radio and theater. And also a bit of cinema: three poses, just enough to earn what a month would have taken with the theater. The turning point came in 1983 ".

What happened?

“They called me to fill a hole between two journalists, Piero Badaloni and Mino Damato. I had to be the classic good looks. But things turned out differently, again by chance. Badaloni decided to devote himself only to the news and not to conduct the program anymore. I was left alone with Damato and my role clearly became much more relevant. Even for the type of font I have. I've always been very outgoing. I was talking, I was not silent. I'll make it short: after a few months I had won my first Telegatto ".

That year she declared on Rai live that she was pregnant and this raised a lot of controversy. Because?

"My colleagues still don't understand what happened."

Does it help us understand it?

“Someone like me at the time was a breaking point. I was not formal or prima donna, I was 'friendly', one would say today, very casual. There was a rumor about my pregnancy, I had gained many kilos. And then I thought, 'Do you know what it is? I say, there is nothing to hide '. I did it thirty seconds before giving the line to the news, just so as not to give too much space to it. It wasn't enough, it was a tragedy. Also because two hours after the announcement, I had a fatal, terrible bleeding in the dressing room. Since this was not known, dear colleagues started writing very heavy things that I read from the clinic where they had taken me by ambulance. I lost the baby a month later. He was four months old ”.

What did they write?

“That if I had made this announcement live then I also wanted to give birth live or show the ultrasound live. Things that were blasphemous at the time. And which today are done quietly, with an excess in my opinion opposite ".

Did the company defend it?

"No, he pretended nothing happened."

This episode paid dearly ...

"Yes. Suddenly I had nothing left. The contract had expired, I was no longer working, Domenica In also jumped."

And that's when Mediaset and the management of “Non è la Rai” arrived.

“The network has been chasing me for some time. That was the right occasion: for the first time Mediaset could go live on air. Berlusconi called me in person and made me the proposal. She said 'Let's go live, I need her. You will see that it will be a success. ' It was like this".

At the time, "Non è la Rai" attracted a lot of criticism from feminists. Did he deserve them?

“No, there was nothing wrong with that. Those little girls couldn't even wear makeup, they were soap and water. Malice is in the eye of the beholder. I was very attentive to these things: in a single episode I raised my voice ".

Which?

"A four-year-old girl appeared in front of me who had dressed up like dancers. I made her go out and back in the dress she had come in. If you had seen something wrong you would have known. The episode of the 'crossword puzzle' speaks by himself".

It is said that the network scolded her for not having glossed over that episode. It is true?

"Yup".

What memory do you have of Gianni Boncompagni?

"A genius. But you had to be in his good graces or you got cut off. I loved him. In my opinion, more me to him than him to me ".

She raised her daughter Verdiana alone with the help of her mother. What is family for you?

“I think that the 'traditional' family, that is mother, father, four grandparents and many cousins, can be lucky but it is not necessarily perfect. How many cases of violence emerge from families like those. We cling to words that don't make sense. Each one is a case in itself and you can be happy without predefined rules and roles ".

Was he in favor of the Zan Bill?

“I think it is better to give rights than to take them away. It could have been an opportunity ”.

Have you been subjected to violence?

“What little girl, what little girl hasn't been a victim? Only the luckiest ones. It happened to me as it did to a thousand other people. I too experienced that feeling of stiffening, that inability to rebel. At the time it was thought that it was necessary to sketch, to bear and not to denounce. Woe to tell anyone. How could we say that Dad's friend or Mom's friend or the doctor had got his hands on us? We were all silent or we ruined the family ”.

Is it different now?

"I think so. It is still very difficult to be believed, but at the time it was impossible".

Was (or is there) a “Harvey Weinstein” mode in Italian television?

"There is. But not only in the entertainment world".

Do you feel feminist?

“I am a feminist. I always thought it was a beautiful word. Even when they looked at me badly, mocking me. But I must say that today I believe that this word is experienced in a wrong way by the new generations ".

What's wrong?

"Honestly, I didn't march, I didn't get beaten up because a woman could copy the worst of male chauvinism. But so that she could have more rights".

What do you think is the most important battle for gender equality?

“Not that hypocritical of words. But equal pay, the ability to answer head-on to those who tell us the wrong things. The right not to be subjected to retaliation for wanting to have a child. Women are often not that well equipped and don't know what their rights are, other than what they hear from their friends or from the television. But sometimes they are just consolations. We need clear and not vague laws, period ".

Is the patriarchy weaker today?

"I think so. But there are still situations in which men are good and bad. It's all about education. In the first years of life, children must be taught not to be bullies but kind people ”.