Anna Ortiz: "Andrés said that he couldn't take it anymore, that he wanted to get out of the hole he had fallen into due to depression and that he needed help"

From her years as a swimmer, she retains

treasured by those who have hardened their character by contemplating for hours the blue line at the bottom of a swimming pool during childhood and adolescence.

"My best friends 'came out' of the water and I still have them," says Anna Ortiz.

Married to Andrés Iniesta for a decade, Anna Ortiz is, as she defines herself in her book 'Mi luz' (Montena), "a

for whom his family is everything". Also, a person who flees from labels and stereotyped images. "What do they call the women of the footballers WAGS, right?

In this world, as in any other, there is everything, but I haven't been involved too much either.

I am 'of my people' and what truly fills me is that they are

and

," she asserts.

Settled for four years in Japan after the signing of the former Barça player for Vissel Kobe, the Iniesta Ortiz family has found a haven of peace in the country of the rising sun.

"Here,

. You walk down the street and you don't hear a thing. It's as if

. Here people don't do things running. They go to the supermarket and don't bother to put away what they have bought in the bags in a hurry. They take their time. The respect, education and security that are breathed are amazing. You see four-year-olds going to school alone!"

A calm that, as he confesses, they had been looking for for a long time.

"It was something we needed.

. Although this experience has been a real gift for our

, the one who has noticed the change the most, without a doubt, is

doing what he is passionate about, something that, without a doubt, is perceived in the family environment".

Happy, serene and more united than ever, Ortiz remembers that, contrary to what many might prejudge, their journey together has not been without difficulties.

"Since I started dating Andrés, my life changed radically."

Since they met, despite coming from different places, they have always felt that they share "an identical vision of life; we are two people

. Those common values ​​are what united us and those that, to this day, we try to pass on to our children".

Values ​​​​that helped them overcome, united,

.

"It was a very complicated and dark episode, especially for him, but also for me, because you have a really bad time when you see the person you love the most suffer."

Ortiz recalls, in his book, how it all began: "Everything came to light in the

And I say that it came to light because it is something that had been a part of him for a long time," he says. Barcelona and we were just kicking off the holidays on the Costa Brava. We went out to eat with some friends and, between anecdotes and laughter,

".

At that time, "Andrés seemed like a different person;

. He was always tired and did not feel like doing anything, not even going to train; he had lost the illusion of doing what he liked the most. ".

When I went to see him at his house, he continues, "he always

, not to leave, even though we spent the afternoons prostrate on the same sofa, hardly speaking but holding hands, that did him good" .

One fine day, she says, "Andrés said that

. He got out and made him much stronger. He is still the same person, but even better, if possible".

The trance was, without a doubt, "a very hard apprenticeship".

As a couple, he continues, "these things either separate you or bring you closer together. In our case, it further strengthened our bond and made us grow."

Like many others who have experienced it up close, Anna Ortiz feels that, before Simon Biles spoke openly about his psychological problems, "

especially if those who suffered from it were elite athletes. "

However, as a result of his case and many others that are emerging after the pandemic, it is beginning to be treated with a certain normality.

For her, it is absolutely incomprehensible that "there are people who think that people like Andrés 'have no right or reason' to be depressed.

regardless of our status or profession. It does not matter if we are elite athletes, millionaire entrepreneurs. In the end, we are all human beings who feel."

Her husband's depression has not been the only blow they have had to overcome over the years.

The couple

.

"It took me a long time to be able to talk about the abortion I suffered because it caused me terrible pain. From the beginning of the pregnancy, everything went wrong but we never wanted to throw in the towel. At that time, I knew Mar, a doctor, who He taught us to see the positive within the dramatic circumstances we were experiencing".

The psychiatrist Marian Rojas Estapé, "a vitamin person", also played a decisive role in this grieving process.

"It helped me a lot. Only when I came to understand that our baby had to go, that his path with us had to be that way, was I able to start talking about it and be happy again. But don't be fooled. This is not it happens suddenly.

. An abortion turns your life upside down and learning to live with it is very difficult. Give yourself time.

. Learn to heal the soul and to understand that life puts stones in our path that we must jump over and that, in the end, make us who we are".

Better explained, impossible.

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