Former Argentine model Pata Villanueva celebrated her 75th birthday with her children and granddaughter. Her daughter Bernardita shared a family photo showing Villanueva smiling beside a birthday cake.
Former model Pata Villanueva celebrated her 75th birthday with her family and appeared in a new photo for the first time in several years. Her daughter Bernardita Tarantini shared the picture on Facebook.
Villanueva turned 75 on Oct. 5. Fernanda Iglesias said on the Argentine program Puro Show that Agostina Cavallero, Villanueva’s eldest daughter with producer Héctor Cavallero, turned 50 on the same day. The family gathered at Villanueva’s home. The photo shows her seated in front of a birthday cake with her children and granddaughter.
Iglesias said Villanueva lives at home with a caregiver, uses a wheelchair and has limited movement in one arm and one leg. The journalist said Villanueva was in good spirits. Those details were reported by Iglesias and were not included in a medical statement.
Villanueva’s health raised concern again in May, when she was admitted to the German Hospital and placed in intensive care. Her daughter Agostina told journalist Pilar Smith that her mother was stable and out of danger. The hospital confirmed that Villanueva was under close medical supervision but did not disclose a diagnosis or prognosis.
Villanueva suffered a serious injury in February 2021 after falling down a staircase at her home in La Barra, Punta del Este, Uruguay. She fractured her skull, spent several days in a coma and underwent multiple surgeries. She was later flown to Buenos Aires for further treatment. In October that year, she was admitted to the German Hospital again and underwent surgery for diverticula. Intestinal bleeding complicated her condition.
She left a rehabilitation center in July 2022 and returned home to continue outpatient care. In a February 2025 interview with Puro Show, Villanueva said she had regained her voice and was still working to walk again. She recalled that after the fall she could not speak, eat or manage daily life on her own.
Villanueva said her children supported her every day and helped with care, meals and rehabilitation exercises. Doctors had given her hope of regaining mobility, she said, though waiting was difficult. In recent years, she has chosen to keep her private life out of the spotlight and concentrate on recovery.