The Argentinian actress, singer, and child star Lali Espósito experienced last month the most exciting moment of her life, and a short time later also a particularly unfortunate moment when she sang the Argentine national anthem before the World Cup final in Qatar.
Three hours after the momentous occasion, she was sexually harassed by a fan in the stands.
On a Spanish television program on Tuesday, she said that ahead of the unpleasant experience, she briefly considered performing in the nude.
Esposito's road to the World Cup final
Espósito received the message that FIFA wanted her to sing the anthem only 20 hours before the game. "I was busy enjoying the World Cup like any normal fan, and I had lost my voice because I was at a party the day before," she said. "My agent told me that they wanted me to sing the national anthem at the World Cup final and I started crying, I told him that I wasn't capable, that I didn't have enough talent and I didn't deserve the opportunity."
The next thing that Lali had to do was, of course, prepare for the performance of her life, and here too she encountered difficulties.
"I experienced a lot of stress because I was looking for something to wear in the stores, and because I'm quite short, everything was huge on me everywhere and I cried in all the dressing rooms because nothing suited me," she said. "I seriously considered singing naked with the flag of Argentina, because I didn't have a dress, but in the end, I found a stunning one and bought it at 10 at night."
That next morning at 11 a.m., Lali was already on stage for dress rehearsals. Not knowing the local language, and not being able to communicate with those around her, she was thrown blindly into practice runs.
"I surrendered to fate, I thought of my father and my friends with the colors of the flag on their faces in front of the television and everything shrunk down to something small, like, 'I don't know how I will sing, but I will sing from the heart, which is what is important in such situation,'" she concluded.
I surrendered to fate, I thought of my father and my friends with the colors of the flag on their faces in front of the television and everything shrunk down to something small, like, 'I don't know how I will sing, but I will sing from the heart, which is what is important in such situation
Lali Espósito