Sonia Bruganelli confesses: the abortion at 24, her daughter Silvia’s illness, the end of her marriage to Bonolis and her personal rebirth.
In recent days Sonia Bruganelli has decided to tell her story without filters. In a series of interviews and previews from his autobiographical book — Only what remains (published by Sperling & Kupfer) — Paolo Bonolis’ ex-wife shared intimate aspects of her life: from abortion at a young age to guilt, from the relationship with her daughter Silvia’s disability to the end of the marriage.
Abortion at 24 years old
Sonia Bruganelli remembers having interrupted a pregnancy at the age of 24, when she was recently engaged to Paolo Bonolis. «The pregnancy was not sought, but inside me I would have liked him to say to me: “How beautiful, this child is the fruit of our love”. However, he wasn’t ready. So I chose to have an abortion.”
A decision which, as she herself says, left a profound mark: «It is an event that influenced our entire life together. It took me years to forgive myself.”
Silvia’s birth and the shock of the illness
When their firstborn, Silvia, was born, suffering from heart disease that required immediate surgery, Sonia’s life changed radically. «After the operation he had hypoxia. I felt annihilated, unable to react. I thought: I’m paying for the choice of giving up my first child.”
Today, however, that pain has left room for a different awareness: «I don’t wish a similar path on anyone, but today I can say that Silvia is my greatest joy. He taught me that fragility can be a gift.”
Between guilt and perfectionism
Bruganelli confesses that for years he has lived under the pressure of an ideal image: the perfect mother, the wife of a famous man, the successful woman. «I couldn’t allow myself to be weak. I tried to control everything: work, body, emotions. Then came the panic attacks.”
In a moment of great fragility, during a holiday in New York, she was convinced she was having a heart attack. «It was actually just an anxiety attack. I had stopped listening to myself. For a period I even stopped eating, I wanted to get back into shape after my third pregnancy, but I ended up with anemia.”
The crisis with Paolo Bonolis: “I no longer felt seen”
Talking about her marriage to Bonolis, Sonia avoids any resentment, but does not hide the difficulty of living next to such a cumbersome figure. «At first I was proud of him, proud to be his partner. But at a certain point I no longer felt seen as a woman, only as the mother of our children.”
She talks about a “toxic” relationship not due to violence, but due to emotional imbalance: «I was trapped in a role that no longer belonged to me. I built myself armor, but I was tired of wearing it.”
The separation was, for both, an act of truth: “There was no war, but the awareness that everyone had to take back their lives.”
Rebirth and new love
After the end of the marriage, Sonia found balance next to Angelo Madonia, dancer and choreographer. «He is younger than me, but he has a maturity that has won me over. He has lived a lot, including abroad, and understands what it means to put children first.”
He doesn’t talk about a fairy tale, but about a new phase: «I’m not trying to start over. I just want to live lightly, without having to prove anything anymore.”
An autobiography as an act of truth
The book that accompanies these confessions is not just a collection of memories, but a gesture of liberation. “I wanted my children to know who I really am, not the image they saw on TV or on social media.”
