In 2023, Ernesto Raffo spoke with Para Ti about his life as a widowed father and how he had found in social media a way to tell his story and move forward alongside Guillermina, the daughter he had with Betina, who died of breast cancer. Three years later, his life changed: he fell in love again, he is in a relationship with Gabriela, and he is betting on building a blended family. Along the way there is hope, learning, and challenges, but also a certainty that today sums up his present: “Love multiplies.”
“I feel fortunate despite life dealing me several blows,” said Ernesto Raffo in that October 2023 interview with Para Ti. At the time, he shared on his networks the everyday adventures with Guille, who was six years old, and showed what it was like to raise her alone after the death of Betina, his wife and the love of his life.
Two years after becoming a widower, he had begun telling his story on TikTok, partly as a form of therapy and partly to convey a message: you could move forward and be happy again. What started as a way to put words to his experience ended up turning into a job.
“Those were my beginnings on social media, where I started telling what it was like to be widowed and to raise a girl on my own. I began to discover a vocation that ended up becoming a profession,” he explains today. Over time, he stopped focusing solely on widowhood and began to show the lifestyle of a single-parent family. Thus, social media became his job.
But in these three years there were also changes behind closed doors. Guille grew up, began to develop her own personality, and Ernesto had to learn to accompany her from a different place. And, as his daughter entered preadolescence, he also began a new romantic stage that today finds him building a family with Gabriela and her children.
Ernesto Raffo and His New Life with Gabriela: Betting on Love Again
After losing Betina, Ernesto acknowledges that forming a romantic connection again was not easy. For a while, the relationships he tried did not flourish, and he decided to focus on himself, his health, and his lifestyle. Until, in 2024, he felt ready to start sharing his life with someone again.
“At one point I said: ‘Enough. I’m going to devote myself to me 100%.’ I began my journey of being alone and focused a lot on losing weight and on many things related to my lifestyle, on feeling good,” he recalls.
Over time, however, another desire emerged. “I reached a point where I said: ‘Hey, I want to share with someone, I’m willing to open up to a relationship’.”
The initial experiences did not work out, but Ernesto did not abandon the idea of forming a partner again. “I always say that since 2024 I never lost the urge. In the face of the frustration that a relationship does not work, I will keep going, because I want to share my life with someone, I want to be with someone, I want to rebuild a family.”
That desire today finds a place in his relationship with Gabriela, with whom he shares a large part of his daily life even though they do not yet live together. “It’s nice to end the day and talk to someone on the phone. With Gabi we talk every day, we see each other almost every day, we talk all the time, we call each other all the time. We share a world of things. This is what I was looking for,” he says.
Ernesto knows that starting a relationship after such a profound love story also means carrying fears and insecurities. “Every new relationship you start, you have all the fears, and on top of that you carry all the fears from the previous relationship. You think: ‘This happened to me with someone and I don’t want to repeat it.’ And you have a wagon-load of fears.”
That is why, for him, communication is essential. “The relationship I have with Gabriela is that we talk about everything, everything. Even the toughest conversations we sit down and talk them through. Our strength is communication. I believe that is where all this love is born, from being able to talk to each other and say the things that hurt us, that we want, but we always discuss them, we never stay silent.”
The Love Story That Also Became a Shared Project
Ernesto and Gabriela decided to keep some details of how they met to themselves. However, there is one part of their story that they do share: her chipá business, which he helped boost through social media.
Gabriela is from Corrientes and has long devoted herself to preparing chipá. When Ernesto saw the possibility of adding his social media experience to the project, he proposed working together. The idea gave rise to a series of videos in which he presented her as the girl he invited out and who, in addition, brought him chipá.
Thus, Gabriela began to be recognized by Ernesto’s followers. In fact, one day, at the gate of their children’s school, someone approached her to ask if she was “the TikTok chipá girl.”
The exposure, however, is not something she seeks in the same way as he does. In fact, Ernesto recalls a conversation that reflects how they guard their privacy: “One day she said to me: ‘I’m going to mute the stories because the truth is I want to know how your day went from your mouth and not through the networks’.”
For Ernesto, who turned his daily life into part of his work, that comment was also a way to mark the difference between what he shares with his followers and what belongs exclusively to the couple.
The Challenge of Building a Blended Family
When Betina died, Ernesto felt that he had lost his family. Over time, he learned to build a new dynamic with Guille, just the two of them. Yet the desire to have a family again remained.
“When Betina passed away, I said: ‘Hey, I’m left without a family.’ Obviously, Guille will always be my family, but later I learned to have a single-parent family, which was just the two of us,” he says.
That is why, when Gabriela and her children entered his life, the possibility of forming a blended family excited him. But reality also confronted him with a series of challenges he had not always imagined.
“All of a sudden the blended family appeared and I said: ‘Damn, why did I want this?’,” he admits with a laugh. And he promptly clarifies that the experience has very positive aspects, but also demands daily work. “All of a sudden there are five of us, each with our own dynamic, each with their own issues. And us adults, imagine.”
For Guille, the change was particularly large. For six years she had shared life with her dad without having to share that bond with others on a daily basis. Suddenly, she had to start finding her place in a family that was reconfiguring itself.
“Guille spent six years alone with me. And suddenly she has to share her dad not with one person, but with three. This is a big deal,” explains Ernesto, who recognizes the importance of therapeutic support during the process.
In that journey, he especially highlights the place Gabriela occupies. “Gabi rolled up her sleeves. That’s where I deeply admire her, because not everyone would take on what she did.”
Ernesto recounts that his partner accompanies him to meetings with Guille’s therapist and to school meetings, and that she stays attuned to how his daughter is navigating this new phase. For him, that willingness is tangible proof of her commitment to the family project.
“She herself rolled up her sleeves and took charge of a lot of things. From coming with me to the meetings with the therapist, to the school meetings, to being always there and ready to help Guille,” he says.
The children, meanwhile, are gradually building their own bonds, with moments of camaraderie and also quarrels, as happens among siblings. Ernesto observes that the older ones are getting along better nowadays and that, little by little, everyone is becoming closer.
“It’s flowing, it’s flowing. That’s what matters,” he says.
How Guillermina Is Living Gabriela’s Arrival in Her Life
Ernesto does not hide that his daughter’s adaptation is one of the most sensitive parts of this process. Although Guille loves Gabriela very much, she also goes through moments of jealousy and needs to find her space within this new dynamic.
“At first everything was very nice, but suddenly she started looking for her space, her limits. A very only-child vibe, all hers with her dad, as if to say: ‘This is mine, don’t touch this’,” he recounts.
There are also questions and situations inherent to that bond: why her dad goes out with Gabriela without her or why he shares certain moments with his partner. Ernesto understands that these emotions are part of the adaptation and that they need to be heard, without rushing his daughter’s timeline.
“It’s a little hard for her, but that’s what the therapist is for, who helps a lot. Obviously, adults have to talk to her and give her all the tools and answers she needs in this new dynamic,” he explains.
In conversations with Guille, Ernesto tries to convey that Gabriela’s arrival does not mean she will lose the place she has in her life. He also tells her about the importance of having a close female figure during her growth, although he acknowledges that the process isn’t easy.
“I could have kept things simple. I could have stayed only with you all my life,” he tells his daughter. But he also tries to explain that building something new involves getting through tough moments.
“What one wants also costs and it’s hard work, it requires effort and effort. It’s not a straight path: you think it’s getting better and it doesn’t, and it goes back.”
Therefore, while he values the progress, Ernesto avoids idealizing the process. He knows that a blended family cannot be built overnight and that each member needs time to adapt.
A New Way of Telling His Life on Social Media
Gabriela’s arrival also altered the way Ernesto presents himself on social media. In 2023, when he spoke with Para Ti, he shared many scenes of his daily life with his daughter and found in those videos a way to process his story and accompany others going through similar situations.
Today, his daughter is growing up and he feels he must protect more of his privacy. He also recognizes that he is no longer alone in deciding what to show: Gabriela has her own boundaries regarding exposure, and there are other adults involved in the children’s lives.
“I’d love to share many of these things on social media, but I can’t because on the other side I have Gabi, who doesn’t want to be out there too much. She tells me: ‘It’s your job, not mine. I help you; I film all that, but sometimes I don’t want to come out’,” he recounts.
With Guille, the care is even greater. Ernesto understands that as she grows, he needs to preserve aspects of his life that he used to share openly.
“I can’t expose many of the things that happen to Guille anymore. I never even spoke on social media about Guille going to therapy.” he explains.
Therefore, his account has shifted its focus. Today it highlights more of his experience as a father, his day-to-day life, and his work projects, but it no longer exposes the most intimate aspects of his family with the same level of detail as before.
“Today my account has drifted toward the life of a dad. I’m sharing day-to-day moments, my venture, this and that. But not like at the start of widowhood, when I told and told everything and used it a lot as therapy. Nowadays I can’t, because I have limitations in every direction, because I’m not alone anymore.”
Betina, a Presence That Continues to Accompany Him
Amidst all these changes, Betina remains a fundamental presence in Ernesto’s life. The good relationship he maintains with the family of his first wife also allowed Gabriela and her children to be welcomed with affection.
Ernesto explains that Gabriela shares lunches and dinners with Guille’s grandmother, Betina’s mother, who also participates in birthdays and maintains a good relationship with Betina’s sister. Even, for Children’s Day, Grandma Betty gave gifts to Gabriela’s children.
For him, those gestures carry a special meaning. Amid the sadness of the loss, he feels that there is a form of affection that continues to accompany him and that allows broadening the ties without erasing the story he lived with Betina.
One of the most emotional moments came when, for the first time, the five of them went to bring Betina flowers. They were at the place where Betina’s remains rest. Guille prepared a small bouquet, Gabriela helped her, and it was the little girl herself who asked her dad’s new partner to accompany them.
“We were the five of us bringing Betina flowers,” says Ernesto, still moved by the memory.
The scene had special meaning because it wasn’t a decision imposed by adults, but an invitation that emerged from Guille. Gabriela respected her space and accompanied her in a moment that is part of her family history.
World Breast Cancer Awareness Day and Betina’s Memory
Ernesto’s commitment to breast cancer awareness activities is also tied to his history with Betina, who battled the disease and passed away six years ago. Each year, taking part in these initiatives confronts him with emotions that remain very present.
In the days leading up to the breast cancer awareness walk organized by a cosmetics brand, Ernesto revisits that feeling. He remembers especially the moment he receives the event shirt and sees the blank space where he must write for whom he walks.
“I always walk for Betina. When I saw the blank space, I started to cry,” he says. And when talking about the topic, he becomes emotional again: “It’s a wound.”
Ernesto does not hide that pain in front of Gabriela. On the contrary, he says he can talk about Betina with her and show her his vulnerability. For him, the ability to share what he feels is part of the bond they built.
Betina’s death changed his life forever, but it did not erase his desire to love again or to build a future. Today, six years after his loss, Ernesto is navigating a new phase that is not free of difficulties, but also allows him to discover other forms of family, companionship, and love.
“I always say: love multiplies,” he states.
And in that phrase lie his history with Betina, the bond he built with Guille, and the project he now shares with Gabriela and the kids. A family that is still learning to find its own dynamic, with its own timelines, challenges, and moments of happiness.
