AcheiUSA – How exactly did the story of you being an inspiring muse to the song “Girl From Ipanema” happen?
Helô Pinheiro – I was 14 years-old and I was passing by a bar that was on the corner Montenegro Street (nowadays Vinícius de Moraes Street) and Prudente de Moraes. Many times, I’d realized that every time I passed by, on the other side of the street, there was a certain agitation of the people in the bar, to the point of some of them hitting on me. One of those days, Tom told me he had written a song for me. That happened in 1962. Only three years later the song hit number 1 on the parades and made everybody want to know who had been this inspiring muse. There were a lot of girls saying that in a certain occasion Vinícius had called Manchete Magazine and revealed all the truth. At that time I was on a steady relationship and after it all came out I started to give out many interviews, appear on magazine covers and, all of a sudden, my fiancé was in a hurry to get married,

AcheiUSA – At that time, was your husband very jealous of you?
Helô – When we were dating he was even insanely jealous, but after we got married he felt calmer and safer. Vinícius used to say at his concerts: “Our Girl from Ipanema now has a boyfriend that looks like a bulldozer and now, we are even afraid to get close to her.”(Laughs).

AcheiUSA – We you walked past the bar, did Vinícius and Tom only hit on you or they would also get close?
Helô – Vinícius was more spontaneous and talkative, Tom was shier. It took him a while to come and talk to me. There was one day, when Tom went to the beach, looking for me and told me we needed to talk but it couldn’t be at that moment. We would meet in the end of the day and he pointed out the bench at which we should meet. I stayed at the beach with my friends playing volleyball; I went home, took a shower and came back. When I arrived there, Tom was already seating at the bench and I sat by his side. It was then that he told me he had written a song for me and I thought it was a joke, especially after he told me that he wanted to marry me. I thought it was all a big joke, because he was already married! And then he told he wasn’t getting along well with his wife and that he would give up everything to marry me! I was very scared and I told him:” Look, I can’t marry you because I am a virgin and you are a married man!”. I thought virginity was something so precious that it would have to be given out to a person that wasn’t married and didn’t have kids. The most interesting thing of all is that it was something totally deprived of malice. There are people that think I slept with him and it was because of that that he wrote that song for me, but there wasn’t such a thing. It was all a romantic and platonic thing.

AcheiUSA – When Tom spoke out his heart for you, did you feel touched?
Helô – Yes, I did. He was a very handsome, charming and captivating man. When we were talking, in that afternoon, I felt that something touched me deep inside. At the time, he “smooched” me… I went back home thinking about breaking up with my boyfriend, but I soon shook it off because he was married and that became an obstacle. He got me spinning. He had a very special charm; even the way he talked and looked at you was different.

AcheiUSA – Before all that happened, were you working as a model?
Helô – I had only done some commercial pictures, but always with my mother by my side. I could do TV because my mother thought that people who worked on TV were not decent. This was the concept of that time: to be an artist was to be a prostitute without moral values. I got frustrated a great deal. Inclusively, Reinaldo Cravo Peixoto, that was the Secretary of Tourism, told me I would have to enter a contest in order to have somebody represent me, since I couldn’t do anything. So, they the contest took place and Tom Jobim was the president of the jury, I was one of the jurors and we elected a girl top represent me. This girl traveled throughout USA, but nothing happened to her and I am still wanted all these years. They had many contests taking place since the 90’s and I started to command them, and I’ve done that until 2001.I thought I could choose somebody to replace me, but the true inspiring muse was the one who had an effect on people’s heads.

AcheiUSA – How old are you and what’s your beauty secret?
Helô – I am 5.8 (laughs). The main thing is to love your neighbor. When you love other people, you transmit good energy and you feel people love you back, and then all the beauty you have comes out. When people around you care about you, you feel protected, important, valuing life the most. Besides, you have to exercise to tone up your body, and less and healthier. It’s better to eat with quality than quantity. I am 58 years old, I live well, but at the same time I don’t like it. Growing old messes up my head. I didn’t want to get old, but there’s no copping out of this. As long as there are ways to go around this getting old thing, preferably without having to go under surgery, I’ll keep on doing it.

AcheiUSA – How is the law suit that Tom Jobim’s wife filled against you?
Helô – I’ve never thought of having any relation with that song, and that’s why it’s already a gain for their family. As there was no registration on the clothes store, I set one up called Girl of Ipanema. Tom’s family, his second wife, was the one that started the whole law suit thing. She the one that nourished a jealousy seed! There was a day at Vinícius’ house that Tom told me, in front of her, that it was a shame I didn’t want to marry him. When he passed away, she wanted to file this law suit, maybe to reprimand me for what he had said in the past. And so, this is why we have this law suit going on until today. I now have two stores, one in São Paulo and another one in Rio, and this one is very close to where the whole thing happened, but, I’ve lost a lot. There are people that would like to have a franchising of the store and they couldn’t because of the law suit. This has been causing me losses. On the other hand, I had all Ipanema by my side, giving me tributes. It was a kind of protest against the suit she was filling for nit wanting me to have any commercial relations with the song. But, I store is the least I could do: it is a job like any other. I’m not taking anything away from anybody. I am only starting a segment of something that is in my rights.

AcheiUSA – Last Year you have received the keys to Miami Beach from the Mayor David Dermer, and at that time he said that form that moment on you would also be the Girl from Miami…
Helô – You see? And I’m not a girl anymore! (laughs). That has a very positive effect here in Brazil, because everything that happens abroad it’s an amazing event down here. It was a very especial moment in my life that I’ll never forget. I got on stage, in a Pery Ribeiro’s concert (he was the first singer to record Girl from Ipanema), and at a certain time I sang the chorus of the song and everybody applauded. Well, I’m not a singer, but I thing that what touched people was the fact that I sang a song that was made for me.
 

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