Back in 2011, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo and La Reina Del Sur star had already experienced some telenovela success when she debuted her most iconic role: Teresa Mendoza in La Reina del Sur. The novela centered around a young woman that climbs her way to the top of the cartel world after a series of losses and was a huge hit. But one decision changed the course of her career, and led to a very dark time.
La Reina del Sur Star Kate del Castillo (Teresa Mendoza) Returns Home To Mexico After El Chapo (Joaquín Guzmán Loera) and Sean Penn Controversy Lead To Self-Imposed Exile In L.A.
In 2015, according to multiple sources, she met with Joaquín Guzmán Loera, aka: El Chapo. American actor Sean Penn was also in that meeting about a possible movie, one which had huge consequences she’s opened up about since her latest, La Reina del Sur 2, premiered. Mexican authorities didn’t take well to the meet, ultimately putting her under investigation, but del Castillo has contended she’s innocent of any wrongdoing.
Her career took a massive hit, and as Kate admits to The Frame, “Changed my life.” In other interviews, she’s spoken of feeling alone following the controversy. The result of that meeting was a three-episode series, The Day I Met El Chapo, currently available on Netflix. It chronicles how she ended up with rights to his story, discusses the actual meeting, as well as how his capture turned her life and career upside down.
To allow things to blow over, del Castillo stayed in LA for years, which was definitely a complication in her career. She admits in her The Frame interview that they needed to get creative, as a lot of the telenovelas are filmed in Mexico, and she was scared to return for a time. It seems things have changed now, as she tells the outlet a change in government has made her feel okay coming home again, at least for the holidays.
It seems that luck has definitely turned for del Castillo. La Reina del Sur 2 was highly anticipated, despite it being eight years since the original season premiered. So much so, Telemundo scored massive ratings. The premiere episode was the highest-rated show of its timeslot that night on all major networks, regardless of language and has helped secure some massive leverage against Telemundo’s main rival, Univision, over its nearly two weeks on air to date.
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That, combined with the Billboard Latin Music Awards, which took over the slot for Thursday night, helped secure the ratings success. Over the first week, rapid TV news reports, the ratings were good enough in following days to beat multiple English networks. Looks like the queen is definitely back on the throne.
