Fatima Florez, Argentina's new first lady, thrust into world spotlight

Argentina's new first lady, 42-year-old Fatima Florez, will surely make plenty of headlines during her newly-elected husband's tenure as the Argentinian president.

After Javier Milei, a die-hard libertarian who ran on promises to slash government spending, stunned the world with a victory in Argentina's presidential election, the spotlight turned to his partner, Florez, who is best known as a celebrity impersonator and comedian.

The two reportedly met on a popular Argentinian talk show last year while she was still married to her husband of 22 years.

President Milei and his current gf, Fatima Florez pic.twitter.com/7SW8KUZhku

— FbF (@FistedFoucault) November 20, 2023

The two Argentinians have massive social media followings, and Florez showed very public support for her boyfriend by posting an image on her Instagram account that showed her voting for him.

Milei responded to the post with excitement, and generated tons of praise and backlash at the same time.

The Toronto Sun noted:

Florez — real name Maria Eugenia Florez — grew up in a middle-class suburb of Buenos Aires. Her father was an architect and her mother was a teacher. Along the way, she developed into a gifted impersonator whose targets included her Grade 6 teacher.

She once told a local magazine why she began doing the voice impersonations that she became partially famous for, dialing in on her negative experiences with her sixth-grade teacher.

"My classmates and I were terribly afraid of her, because she was very demanding," she told an Argentinian magazine at the time.

She added, "What I did was transfer that feeling to humour: I copied her gestures and her way of speaking. At home, they were dying of laughter, because it came out the same way."

Fatima Florez? Like a Bond Villainess(tm)? Her previous career was satirizing politicians, so sounds like a good choice. https://t.co/J94BOyysjb

— 🦕 🐌 🐚 🏺 💀 Sigdrifr 🍄🐉 🍸 (@Sigdrifr) November 20, 2023

In her teen life she suffered from anorexia after her parents split up, but eventually sought help for the illness. Today, she's an advocate for eating disorders, according to the Toronto Sun.

As far as becoming the new Argentinian president's boyfriend last year, she explained how the two came together.

“We started talking on Instagram and we started seeing each other much later. It came very naturally. It was very little by little. I was in Uruguay, working, and we started writing to each other," Florez explained.