Lolita Flores stuns 'El Hormiguero' with harrowing 1983 Colombia shootout story alongside Miguel Bosé
Spanish singer and actress Lolita Flores left the 'El Hormiguero' audience speechless as she detailed being caught in a crossfire between two cars while riding in a taxi with Miguel Bosé in Colombia in 1983.
Lolita Flores's appearance on Pablo Motos's 'El Hormiguero' on Tuesday night delivered a mix of shocking revelations, quirky personal habits, and career reflections. The 68-year-old artist was primarily on the show to promote her new film, 'Mallorca Confidencial', a thriller set in 2007 in which she plays a powerful matriarch of a shantytown at the center of drug trafficking. The movie, which also stars her daughter Elena Furiase, marks her return to a leading film role more than two decades after winning the Goya Award for Best New Actress for 'Rencor'.
A terrifying night in Colombia
The most gripping moment of the interview came when Lolita recounted a life-threatening experience from 1983. While in Colombia on a work trip that coincided with her honeymoon, she and singer Miguel Bosé were invited to dinner by a famous Colombian presenter. On the way to the host's home, their taxi was caught in the middle of a gunfight.
At a traffic light, two cars pulled up on each side of our taxi and started shooting from one side to the other.
The taxi driver shouted at them to duck down. Lolita described a terrifying exchange of gunfire until the light turned green and the shooters drove off, continuing their battle further down the road. She admitted she never learned the reason for the shootout, speculating it might have involved police and drug traffickers, but said she was too scared to look.
The 'Goya curse' and 'Mallorca Confidencial'
Lolita also addressed the so-called 'curse' of the Goya for Best New Actress, a superstition suggesting the award hinders rather than helps a winner's career. She stated emphatically that she had suffered it firsthand, noting that despite working on other films, she had not landed another leading role until 'Mallorca Confidencial'. Her character, La Chusa, is a widowed Romani woman who "sells death" to protect her family and land from a real estate development during the housing bubble.
It's not that I believe it, it's that I've suffered it in my own flesh. It's not just a legend.
Daily rituals and peculiar fears
The conversation veered into Lolita's personal life, revealing a strict daily routine. She wakes up late, ideally around 11 a.m. or noon, and has eaten a raw clove of garlic with honey every morning for 40 years, followed by coffee with oat milk and a serrano ham toast. She stays up past 2 a.m. watching international series and playing mobile card games. She also confessed to paying for an Atresplayer subscription despite being a star on the network.
In a surreal turn, Lolita discussed her taphophobia — the fear of being buried alive. She has given her children precise instructions for items to place in her coffin: a mobile phone with signal, a hammer to break the lid, cash, a key to the mausoleum, water, a blister pack of Orfidal, a coat, and boots. When Motos asked about cremation, she quipped, "No, in case I burn."
Love and admiration
On matters of the heart, Lolita admitted she is "wide open" to having a partner but refuses to use dating apps. She revealed her current celebrity crush is 27-year-old 'Euphoria' actor Jacob Elordi, lamenting that he could be her grandson. She joked that she would be too embarrassed to approach him, especially with garlic on her breath.
