Pilar Del Rio, married José Saramago in her late thirties. The man who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998 (among many others) was in his mid sixties and from the start it was seen as a controversial choice in the eyes of the media. For many she was the reason he left Portugal and moved to Spain. For many she was controlling his career choices.

And yet many knew nothing about the woman who was not only José’s strongest touchstone but also a strong woman who always stood beside him. Not one step behind nor further. Just the way all kinds of relationships should be. And yet people demonized her. Because she was a strong woman who loved a strong man. Let there be no doubt, Pilar is an inspiration to all human beings and that becomes obvious in last year’s documentary José E Pilar:

My first contact with Saramago took place in 1997 in an inauguration of a public library, I wasn’t aware of the genius I had in front of me. But the next year, inspired by a teacher recommendation, I read Blindness. Truly one of the best romances I’ve ever read. Only two weeks later after I finished the book Saramago won the Nobel Prize. And it only helped me getting totally hooked. I read and kept reading his romances till today. He is my favorite writer by far and has inspired me to write all the things I cannot express in any other way. For me Pilar was just a controversial person then. I didn’t have an opinion about her before, even with all the criticism from the portuguese public .

Yesterday I fell in love with her once again after watching the unique long version of the mentioned José E Pilar. She is the woman that truly understood the man and stood beside him with commitment and love. Maybe because of the couple’s differences people’s opinions were filled of incomprehensible fear. Never realizing how inspiring they are to, and I’m just going to say it, Humanity. Because that is a rare connection between two human beings. And small people tend to thrive on others’ demise in an attempt to make themselves bigger. And with their small minds they lose at their own game without learning how to love and respect each other also without ever becoming less of what they are and deserve. And that is what Pilar taught me.

And that is also one of the greatest lessons one can learn. When you are faithful to yourself and to the ones you love you can never lose.

P.S. – I was fortunate enough to have a reply from Pilar yesterday on Twitter after thanking her about the video she made as an introduction to the long version screening of José E Pilar. I felt truly touched by it.

PPS – I’d like to thank Nuno for the extra help while writing this article but also for being part of this journey 😉