The Pregnant Woman from Taubaté
It’s Mother’s Day here in Brazil, and this year I decided to do something different, exposing to the world the tale of a false mother who became an iconic meme and almost folk character in Brazilian culture. This is the story of a woman that claimed to be expecting quadruplets, her sudden fame, and her eventual downfall.
Maria Verônica Aparecida César Santos was a woman that lived in Taubaté (it’s pronounced as Tall - bah - Teh), a small town in the interior of the state of São Paulo. She lived a regular life with her husband, and their four-year old son.
Her husband had already undergone a vasectomy, but that didn’t stop her from announcing that she was expecting. First she thought she was pregnant with twins, but then she found out she was expecting quadruplets.
Soon she became a celebrity around the town. She told the news she was expecting four girls, and that their names would be Maria Klara, Maria Eduarda, Maria Fernanda and Maria Vitória. Each girl would be dressed in a different color to help to differentiate her from the other sisters. The ultrasound showing the four girls spread through the internet.
The news quickly spread through the whole country, and Brazil’s biggest channels wanted to interview her and to know her story.
On January 11th 2012, Maria Verônica appeared on Hoje em Dia, one of RecordTV’s (a national-wide channel she chose to appear) highest rated programs. She said on the show that she had put on thirty kilograms, 66 pounds, with her pregnancy, and her belly measured 1.82 meters, 5’11 inches.
The show’s hosts cried hearing her story.
Verônica received huge donations of children’s clothing, diapers, toys, and furniture, all to better receive the soon to be arriving quadruplets.
But one of the show’s hosts was suspicious. Maria Verônica strongly refused to show or allow people to touch her belly, and seemed to be super nervous and angry. There was also something strange about her belly. It was huge, but looked to be super light, and Verônica moved way too easily for a woman that was expecting four. And there’s the fact her husband had undergone a FREAKING VASECTOMY.
The channel went after the story and found the truth, and exposed it to the whole country.
Her belly. It wasn’t a beach ball like many people were thinking, but it was made of latex foam, fabric and silicone.
Her ultrasound was stolen from the internet and copied four times.
Maria Verônica was forced to return all the donations she had received, and her name lived in infamy. She and her family had to hide from the press that brought her story into the headlines. To this day she refuses to talk with the press. We still don’t know what motivated her to start this whole thing.
But the story of the Pregnant Woman from Taubaté became an internet legend. She became a huge presence in Brazilian memes and internet jokes.
These are the people from Taubaté, dressing like Maria Verônica for Mardi Gras/Carnival. She put the town on the map and people to this day still associate the town with falsity, fraud and fake people.
She essentially became the most long-lasting meme of Brazilian internet, and on this Mothers’ Day I want for all of you to stare at the moment when Maria Verônica appeared on national television, and it suddenly dawned on her that maybe she took things a little too far.
Happy Mothers’ Day my friends.😂😂😂
