Cristina Saralegui: TV's Latina Oprah is back with a vengeance

AOL Latino: How do you feel about this new start?
Cristina Saralegui: It feels like the first day of school. It's odd that after such a strange and bitter blow, that I thought 'well, at my age, one retires,' that Don Brown, the former president of Telemundo, would say to me 'No, I've been waiting for you for 10 years, you're coming over here.' He gave me the opportunity to start over, in my studio, which he rented. He created a spectacular set, with double the budget that I had. I'm with the [same] people, besides one who is new, who have worked all their lives with me -- they know the show by heart. [Telemundo] put us on Sunday from 7 to 9 at night, which is a super perfect hour, because it's the day in which everyone spends it with family, at least I do. And after their done, at that hour, people eat and go to bed early because they have to work on Monday. Before we were on too late -- at 10 at night.

AOL Latino: Why did you decide to change the name of the show?
Cristina Saralegui: They asked me what I wanted to name the show, and after repeating my phrase so many times, 'Straight ahead, straight ahead -- not backwards -- not even to gain momentum.' I think 'Pa'lante con Cristina (Straight ahead with Cristina)' is a fitting title. I think all of us must move forward because we can't complain. We always have to start anew, with new hope.

AOL Latino: Will it be the same show on a different network, or something altogether new?
Cristina Saralegui: There are going to be many positive changes. One of the things I wanted was that we use English subtitles (closed captioning), because 21 year olds want to watch me, but they don't understand me. It's a two-hour variety show in which you have to have more music, more artists and polls -- fun stuff. I'm trying to get the top 10 Billboard artists. It doesn't matter what genre, just that they are in touch. We want to touch on gay marriage. My brother is gay, and he's with his partner, who is American, for going on 23 years. [His partner] was stricken with cancer and spent three weeks in the hospital. They didn't let my brother sign any papers. They told him that he wasn't family, not even a husband. He was like someone merely painted on a wall. Meanwhile, his partner of 23 years was dying. I think that everyone: Latinos, gays, blacks, women, all of us have to share the same rights and that's why I've fought so hard on the subject of AIDS.

It's two hours of fun, controversy, top performers. One of my surprises is that I'm going to have a gentleman who sent me off on my very last show. He's the No. 1 talent in our world. They don't want me to name him, but I'm so grateful to him and everyone who said 'yes.' I heard that we've also been in contact with Lucero, who is from Televisa, and she said yes because she loves me and I'm friends with her mom.

AOL Latino: The goal of many artists was always to come on the Cristina show. Now that you're on Telemundo, do you think other networks will give them permission?
Cristina Saralegui: That's normal and to be expected. Artists are everywhere. Spectacular [Latino] soaps have them all. Proof of that is Kate del Castillo, swept up by 'La Reina del Sur,' with artists from all over the world. That doesn't scare me. When I started back in 1989, there was the eternal rivalry between Televisa and Univision, but in reverse. I didn't have any artists because Televisa didn't allow them. Andres Garcia who is his own person, came on and little by little they all appeared. They would swap networks, change their lives, divorce, had children ... In 21 years I came to know them all, their families, grandchildren, and here I am. They must've been surprised to learn how many people I've called who said yes. I'm very happy and they know me and that I give them a little kick of luck to the new talent, and I'll keep doing the same thing.

AOL Latino: Did you expect a lot of 'nos?' Did the artists surprise you by showing you so much support during this change?
Cristina Saralegui: Nothing surprises me. I asked Telemundo, having grown accustomed at my other job [with Univision], if I could host guests that are in soaps right now or in other networks and they said, "You invite whoever you feel like it; whoever shows up is perfect." And that's what I'm doing.

AOL Latino: Apart from new beginnings, is this your hour of revenge?
Cristina Saralegui: Do you think that as well as my career has gone that I have to show anything to anyone now? At 63, after publishing my magazine, after being the owner of the magazine for 15 years, after having my own product lines for Sears, Kmart, Kohls, after everything we've done, I don't have anything to prove. What I did is already done. The newbies that follow learned from me and that was my work -- to teach. And I'm still doing the same thing. Revenge doesn't serve me or anyone else. A horse that looks behind him or side to side loses the race. You always have to look ahead.

AOL Latino: Two Univision executives, who invited a group of journalists to a breakfast, said that they had to take you out because you didn't have the ratings anymore and that when one enters a new house, the furniture has to change. Is that how it went?
Cristina Saralegui: They said I didn't have the ratings? I'll believe you because you're a good reporter, but the good thing about ratings is that everyone knows about them the next morning: your friends, your enemies, clients, everyone ... On the last [show with Univision] I scored 20 points after an interview with Lucero. When I asked the new Univision president, "Why with the good ratings we've had after 21 years?" he said, "No, this isn't a question of ratings, we just want to revamp." They have every right to revamp because the network is theirs, not mine. I'm recording in the same studio making more money, with double my budget, the same crew I've had all my life. It would be a sin for me to complain.

AOL Latino: Do you feel any resent?
Cristina Saralegui: People that are classics like me, that have been around forever, that people love, that grew up with you ... It's been four generations. I've seen grandchildren and great grandchildren; you can't erase that. I'm not resentful. I'm happy because at my old network they gave me the opportunity to stay on the air for 21 years and become a millionaire.

AOL Latino: How does it feel to have managed to become a figure beyond that of a company or network?
Cristina Saralegui: I feel that I don't have to speak ill of anyone. I don't feel I need to justify anything that I do or don't do. It's my life and I conduct it my way. My parents brought me from Cuba when I was a little girl because I wanted freedom of expression. And at this moment I feel I'm enjoying that freedom of expression, and that right impedes me from speaking ill of anyone.

AOL Latino: You really feel that this is the moment in which you have the most freedom of expression?
Cristina Saralegui: Yes, this is the moment in which I have more freedom of expression, because at my old job there was a lot, but there was a lot of censorship and it was business, because if two networks are battling it out in court, you can't say anything.

AOL Latino: And you feel that at this point in your career, you enjoy that freedom that every communicator dreams of?
Cristina Saralegui: I think that us journalists have the liberty to do what our minds and hearts tell us. We have to by law. This business has been marred by purchasing exclusivity, with the artists promoting themselves and not letting labels and the media do their jobs. Each has their place and purpose in life. Everything has changed so much since I began. Cristina Saralegui has never charged nor paid for any exclusive, and I've never slept with anyone to climb, never. I've slept with someone because I like to and he's been with me 29 years, but never to climb.

AOL Latino: Has not sleeping with an executive to ascend in your career made your path a longer and costlier one?
(Stay tuned for part two of our interview tomorrow)


'Pa'lante con Cristina' will be a bilingual show. Will you watch?