Anahí

At two years old, a child can barely form full sentences. Anahí Giovanna Puente Portilla was already clocking in on the Televisa San Ángel sets for the children's show Chiquilladas. That environment of harsh lights and union schedules set a relentless work pace that would not let up for four decades.

She spent her childhood jumping from one melodrama to the next, rarely attending a conventional school. In the nineties she built up credits in productions such as Ángeles sin paraíso or Alondra. The Mexican entertainment industry treated its early stars as disposable parts that could be quickly replaced.

The collapse before turning twenty

In 2000, she took the lead role in Primer amor, a mil por hora. By then, the aesthetic demands from the executive offices had become suffocating. The unwritten rule to maintain extreme thinness led to a severe case of anorexia nervosa that nearly cost her life.

During an afternoon of rest in 2001 her heart stopped beating for exactly eight seconds.

She survived the clinical collapse. But media fascination with her weight followed her for months through Mexican television talk shows. So she decided to use that scrutiny to speak openly about the disorder in public health campaigns, before the topic became part of the mainstream conversation.

Producer Pedro Damián recruited her in 2002 for the final stage of Clase 406. There she crossed paths with the group of young actors who would define her next decade on screen.

The stadium machine

In 2004, filming began on Rebelde. The character of Mía Colucci was written as a flat teen comedy stereotype, but she brought an exaggerated physicality that went beyond the script.

The pop phenomenon completely consumed the actress.

Together with five castmates, she founded the pop group RBD. Between 2004 and 2008, they sold more than fifteen million records worldwide while filming soap opera episodes on double shifts. On weekends they took private jets to perform in Brazil or Colombia, barely resting between calls.

And the business grew out of control.

They filled Maracanã Stadium and the Los Angeles Coliseum with tickets that sold out within hours. In 2008, the members' physical exhaustion forced the band to break up after a final performance in Madrid.

Broken contracts and audits

After the group's breakup, she released a solo album, Mi delirio, in 2009. Two years later she headlined her last telenovela, Dos hogares, sharing top billing with Carlos Ponce. The shoot was tense, and the ratings did not meet the network's expectations.

In 2015, she married politician Manuel Velasco and put her professional commitments in the capital on hold. She moved to the state of Chiapas during her husband's term, limiting her public appearances to occasional charity events.

Her return to the road took shape in 2023 with the Soy Rebelde Tour. They completed 54 dates in massive stadiums across North America and grossed more than two hundred and thirty million dollars at the box office.

The euphoria did not last long.

In 2024, millions in discrepancies surfaced in the tour's financial records, which led to forensic audits and legal battles against the group's former manager, Guillermo Rosas, over tax irregularities. Late that same year, Anahí signed her return to Mexican television as a guest judge on ¿Quién es la máscara? under a airtight contract drafted by her own corporate lawyers.