The Spanish entrant in Eurovision 2014 was interviewed for a show in a private channel. Ruth poured her heart in an intimate and revealing conversation which showed us a facet of the artist that many might have never imagined could exist.

She is a powerful artist whose attitude towards music and life is that of always fighting back the difficulties. Strong and mighty as she is, Ruth Lorenzo has gone through times of weakness and severe tribulation… This we could learn in the interview that the Spanish representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 held with Pepa Bueno, the host of the television show Viajando con Chester, broadcast by the channel Cuatro. The revelation has shaken the public in Spain, and many online newspapers have echoed them, including some of the major ones as abc.es.

Ruth confessed a number of upsetting details about her life. Opening up and revealing these secrets after keeping them in private for a long time was a therapy for the singer, in her own words.

The singer admitted that she suffers from anorexia and bulimia since she was 9 years old. It’s like being an alcoholic or a drug-addict. I’m always going to be like this, she explained. Ruth further stated that the roots of her eating disorders are in her childhood. She stopped eating at first, but since this was noticeable she learned how to vomit what she got to eat. At this point her family had not noticed the problem, and they only learned of it through a friend of Ruth’s to whom she talked about it. This also impacted her negatively, as the fact that no one around me realized my problem made me feel alone, and I didn’t say anything because I was embarrassed. But there was more to why she kept her disorder a secret to her mother: she was an abused wife, and Ruth did not want to add any more worries to her mother’s already troubled life.

The eating disorders are permanent, as she said, and they present outbreaks. In fact, she is currently going through one of them, probably triggered by the stress of her work, but she is getting the aid that she requires to deal with it.

Her experience with her condition led her to giving talks in schools about eating disorders, in order to help young children avoid them.

Her family

When it comes to her family, Ruth Lorenzo is very troubled by not having known anything of her biological father, as he abandoned her mother when she got pregnant with her. In that situation, Ruth’s mom was advised to have an abortion because she was a single mother with four children already. But when she traveled to France for the abortion, Ruth explained, she was approached by two mormons and she stepped out of the train, as related by the singer. She converted to mormonism and was baptized.

Ruth’s biological father died and she she never had a chance to meet him or his family. I never needed to know much about him, but I did need to be hugged by him, she added.

The US, X-Factor and tougher days

Her family moved to Utah, USA, when Ruth was 10, after her mother’s separation. In Utah she was brought up as a mormon, a religion whose focus on the family she appreciated, as well as some habits like not smoking or drinking alcohol. Still it was impossible for me to stay away from men, she recognized with humorous resignation.

Ruth did not have any chances in the music industry until she moved to the United Kingdom and entered the talent show The X-Factor. It was already known that she became highly popular in the United Kingdom. Still, during the interview Ruth recalled an anecdote which she experienced in Scotland and that gives an idea of the hype created around her name. One day I entered a shop and they had to close it because of the crowd that came in. The cops had to pull me out of the shop, she recounted.

After The X-Factor she was offered a one million contract, but she ended up giving the money back, as she did not want to wind up finished as many of her colleagues. I don’t care about the money, she stated. I could not sell out. It wasn’t me. But, as she explained, this loyalty to her principles led to a precarious situation: she ended up with no money and she even had to steal eggs in supermarkets while people asked her for autographs.

Back to Spain and the Eurovision Song Contest

Ruth Lorenzo left the United Kingdom and the difficulties she had experienced there and returned to her home country. In Spain she used the chance that the Eurovision Song Contest put in her path. To me, the Eurovision Song Contest was an open door; I had nothing to lose, she remembers.

Dancing in the rain was the song she chose for competing in the national final. One new detail that she revealed about the track is that it was the last song she bought from her previous record label before terminating the contract she had with them.

Now Ruth Lorenzo can happily say that she makes a living out of music and that she has a totally different idea of what being a singer and leading a good life means. To me, a good life means having no debts; to be able to pay my mom’s whims; to keep investing in my business, which is my tour. Music cannot pay for private jets, limos and wasting money. Music is a job as any other.

There is still something that Ruth Lorenzo did not get to reveal. As she had indicated that her problems started when she was 9, the interviewer was compelled to ask what happened at that time that was so harsh as to unchain so much misfortune in her life. The question was answered by a heavy silence that sealed whatever happened then in the chest of secrets of Ruth Lorenzo.

The full interview (in Spanish) can be viewed in the Cuatro website.

This side of Ruth Lorenzo’s life gives an idea of the origin of the strong character and charisma that have the singer open her way in the music industry… And through life…

Ruth Lorenzo represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with her song Dancing in the rain.

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