Invited to a recent edition of La Noche de Mirtha, this time hosted by Juana Viale due to Mirtha Legrand’s hospitalization, Barbie Simons recalled one of the most difficult moments of her life and reflected on the impact that the suicide of her father, Leonardo Simons, had on her.
During the conversation, the host also spoke about the more than ten years she spent in the United States and referred to a perspective she believes needs reevaluation: the idealization of life abroad and the idea that emigrating necessarily means achieving a perfect life.
“People have it very idealized, above all, this American Dream,” Barbie expressed. It was then that Juana Viale wanted to know what had led her to emigrate. Simons explained that the decision was shaped by a very painful family situation.
“I left at a very particular moment in my life. My father had passed away; the 30th anniversary is this October 15,” she recalled.
Barbie Simons recalled the suicide of her father, Leonardo Simons
Leonardo Simons died on October 15, 1996 at the age of 49. The renowned host took his own life by leaping from the 13th floor of a building located in the Tribunales area.
At that moment, Barbie was 15 years old and going through adolescence. Her sister had moved to the United States five months earlier to study at a university, and she found in that country an opportunity to be close to her sister while beginning a new stage.
“My sister had left five months earlier to study in the United States at university; I wanted to be near my sister,” she explained.
In addition, she shared that she saw abroad as an opportunity to develop professionally and to grow within the world of journalism.
Remembering the circumstances of her father’s death, Barbie opened up about what it meant to go through that moment with her family.
“The circumstances of my father’s death were difficult, and I felt that, well, we wanted to start a new life and I felt the best way was in a place I somewhat knew, with my sister and my mother who also accompanied us in that process,” she stated.
Barbie Simons spoke about the uprooting of living in the United States
While Barbie Simons affirmed that she had a very positive professional experience during her years in the United States, she also sought to show the other side of emigrating and building a life far from one’s homeland.
“I had an incredible career in the United States, but it’s true that people idealize it a lot and it’s difficult to be an immigrant and be in a land that isn’t yours, with uprooting and all that it entails,” she noted.
In this way, the host shared a personal perspective on a period that was marked by professional growth, but also by the challenge of starting over after a family loss.
Thirty years after the death of Leonardo Simons, Barbie chose to remember that moment from a perspective shaped by time and experience. Her testimony conveyed how a deeply painful situation also marked the beginning of a new chapter alongside her sister and mother, far from Argentina.
