With 'Dear Killer Nannies' revisiting Pablo Escobar's story from a new angle, take a look at the woman who once stood beside the world's most notorious drug lord: his wife, Maria Victoria Henao.
The upcoming Hulu drama, titled Dear Killer Nannies, is bringing the story of Pablo Escobar back into the spotlight. However, unlike Netflix's globally popular series Narcos (2015-2017), this time, the focus is on the infamous kingpin's personal life, especially his family. Actor John Leguizamo steps into the role of the notorious drug lord, and the series explores the childhood of Escobar's son, Juan Pablo, aka 'Juampi,' and the perilous world he grew up in.
With the upcoming series, there has been a lot of online search about Pablo Escobar's love life, especially his wife, Maria Victoria Henao, who had been by his side till the end. While the world knew Escobar as history's most notorious kingpin, with some even labelling him a "monster", for Victoria, he was the love of her life, and an "affectionate gentleman."
When Victoria met Escobar as a child, little did she know that he would one day become the infamous "King of c**caine." Ahead of the new series, let's take a look at the life of Mrs. Escobar and what happened to her after the fall of the Medellin Cartel.
Maria Victoria Henao was born in Palmira, Colombia, in 1961, in a conservative Catholic family. Given her roots, she had a modest and traditional childhood that was strictly limited by a sheltered upbringing. However, her life changed forever when she met a much-older guy whose charisma and rebel-like attitude made the 12-year-old Maria fall madly in love. That guy was none other than Pablo Escobar, who was already in his twenties and was involved in small-scale criminal activities.
But how did a teenage girl, whose life was restricted to Catholic teachings, meet someone from the criminal world? Maria mentioned in her memoir, titled Mrs. Escobar: My Life with Pablo, that she met Escobar through her older brother, Carlos Mario Henao Vallejo, who also worked with him on small crimes. She was just 12 years old, whereas Escobar was already 23. She wrote in her memoir:
"I met Pablo when I was just 12 years old, and he was 23. He was the first and only love of my life... He made me feel like a fairy princess, and I was convinced he was my Prince Charming."
When her family came to know about their relationship, it was met with strong disapproval. Henao was deeply in love with Escobar, and despite his multiple crimes and infidelities, she stuck by him. She later described him as "charming", "affectionate", "attentive", "sweet", and "a gentleman", qualities that painted a very different image from the violent criminal the world would come to know.
Henao became pregnant with Escobar's baby at just age 14. Too young and inexperienced to understand what was happening to her, she turned to her "prince charming". Escobar understood and secretly took her to an illicit abortion clinic. Despite enduring that painful experience, Maria fled with Pablo the following year, and at just 15 years of age, she married the kingpin, who was 26.
Their infamous 1976 wedding has since become a cult moment in pop culture, and for Maria, it remains one of her most cherished memories. Speaking of their wedding night, Mrs. Escobar later shared:
“It was a night of unforgettable love that remains tattooed on my skin as one of the happiest moments of my life. I wanted time to stand still, for the intimacy we were enjoying to last forever.”
While Maria had long hoped that her husband would change his ways of earning, she inevitably became the queen of Colombia's infamous drug cartel. Not long after their marriage, Pablo Escobar began building what would become known as the powerful Medellin Cartel. Within a decade, Escobar was at the height of his empire, controlling around 80% of the c**caine entering the United States in the 1980s, and thus becoming the infamous kingpin of the Medellin Cartel. Maria, meanwhile, became the silent presence in the c**caine king's life. She later wrote in her memoir:
“I grew up being molded by Pablo to be his wife and the mother of his children, not to ask questions or challenge his choices, to look the other way."
In the early years of their marriage, Maria Victoria Escobar said her husband never really explained what he did for a living and where their wealth came from. However, over time, she started noticing alarming signs when he disappeared for long stretches on “business” and returned with enormous amounts of cash. While she initially tried not to accept the reality and instead focused on the luxury, her husband's erratic lifestyle eventually took a toll on her.
To the public eye, Mrs. Escobar's glamorous life was filled with designer clothes, private jets, and all things expensive, but in private, she was a deeply troubled woman who kept on struggling with the darker truth behind that lifestyle. While Maria and Pablo eventually expanded their family and welcomed two kids, Manuela and Juan, aka Sebastian, Escobar was far from a typical family man. He continued to keep countless other mistresses, and at one point, he even built his own "bachelor pad" at the very house where Maria and the children lived. She wrote:
“The gossip about his affairs was constant and, I must admit, deeply painful for me. I remember I used to cry all night, waiting for dawn to come.”
As the cartel’s violence escalated, life for the family became increasingly dangerous. At times, Henao and the children were moved between safehouses and even blindfolded during secret visits to Escobar. Meanwhile, the cartel was responsible for bombings, assassinations, and thousands of deaths across Colombia. Despite everything, Maria remained loyal to the drug lord until the very end.
Maria Victoria Escobar never left Pablo's side, staying married to him for 16 years until his tragic death. On December 2, 1993, Pablo Escobar was killed by Colombian police during a rooftop shootout in Medellin, ending the notorious drug lord's life at age 44. While it was a day of celebration for the rest of the world, his family faced a grim reality.
Suddenly, Henao and her children were among the most hated and vulnerable people in Colombia. Fearing revenge attacks from Escobar’s enemies, they fled the country. After being denied asylum in several countries, the family eventually settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They had to adopt new identities to escape Escobar's shadow. Henao has reportedly used several names over the years, including Maria Isabel Santos Caballero.
Today, Maria Victoria Henao is believed to still live quietly in Argentina. With her name popping up with every new documentary or series on Pablo Escobar, Maria has never regretted that she fell madly in love with the infamous drug lord or that she became Mrs. Escobar.
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