Perla Navia may be the newest cast member on The Real Housewives of Cheshire, but the sassy Colombian beauty is not afraid to speak her mind. “I stand up for myself. I am not your usual housewife and I am here to shake things up. I don’t care if they want to be my friend,” she told the Daily Star.
Born in Colombia, she spent time in a care home before the family fled to Spain as refugees. Then a family tragedy left her homeless at 11. By 15 she was a teenage mother. But according to the publication, the yoga instructor turned her life around and went on to meet the man of her dreams – self-made millionaire Jonathan Barton.
“I was born in Colombia and my parents fled the country because of the conflict when I was seven years old. Prior to that I’d been put in a care home with my siblings and when I was nine they finally had enough money to bring us over to Spain,” she told the Daily Star.
“We were poor, no-one had anything in Colombia because of the dictatorship.”
Perla admits that she no longer speaks to her parents after a devastating family tragedy which she refuses to discuss.
“I had four siblings growing up and I have only three now because one passed away in very tragic circumstances,” she explains. “When I moved to Spain my life really started. Lots of refugees were heading there at that time. We moved together as a family.”
“But at 11 the tragedy which I lost my sibling happened and it blew my family apart. I left home and found my own way, living on the streets homeless,” she continued. “I didn’t have time to stop and think about how awful it was, I was focused on staying alive.”
“I never went back home to my parents, it wasn’t an option, the relationship was over. I am not able to talk about it.”
Navia reveals that as a teenager, she scrubbed floors and toilets to make ends meet, before getting pregnant at the age of 15.
“I fell pregnant by my first love. I don’t want to even remember him now as it broke my heart,” she shared. “I did many jobs to support myself, cooking, cleaning toilets, selling flowers – you name it, I did it. Because I’d come from such a dysfunctional family I always had the dream of having everything for my very own.”
However, marrying her now husband Jon turned her life around.
“I was so lucky to meet my husband in Barcelona when I was 17. I had my eye on him but he definitely didn’t notice me. So I had to graft him – a lot. But it was worth it,” she told the Daily Star. “He’s outspoken, likeable, natural and very funny. He wasn’t privileged either but he was a self-made man. We complimented each other.”
“He’s easy going and I’m a control freak. I am a very fiery Latino. He’s a butcher by trade and I am a vegan, it shouldn’t work. Our life is very colorful. I had my own child and he had children from another relationship,” she continued. “Our move to Cheshire wasn’t easy. I didn’t know anybody or have any family over here.”
“He wanted to come home and I was pregnant with our youngest child, so we came here and I actually loved it.”
After overcoming her hardships, Perla, who now lives a glamorous life admits she doesn't take her new life for granted.
“We had a nice lifestyle in Spain but in Cheshire I arrived and had a Porsche waiting for me and a helicopter pad in the garden. We now have five children between us.”
“I don’t take anything for granted. I like the luxury lifestyle, I like the seven-star hotels and my collection of Jimmy Choos. But I get up at 4am every day to get on with my work and be the best I can be. I don’t like people who think they are entitled to money and don’t work. I don’t like to be dependent.”
She continued: “Saying that I do like the money out of my husband’s pocket because he makes it to share with me. But I am not taking that for granted, I help him too.”
“People might see me getting out of my Porsche as a skinny size six girl and think I am spoiled, but there is much more to me than that,” she told the Daily Star, adding; “This lifestyle and fire that I have came from pain and hardship. But I took charge of it. I turned it around and look at me now.”
Photo Credit: ITVBe
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