He carries a passion for bullfighting in his DNA, so it was his destiny to fill the bullrings as he did before. his father, Manuel Benítez‘El Cordobés’. Julio Benitez He remembers that, when he was just a child, he used to wear over and over again, “until he scratched them,” the ribbons in which he could see the right-hander: “I always saw him with a lot of admiration and a lot of respect,” he tells HELLO!
He also felt that impulse, to stand in front of the bull, and continues to do so to this day. Although he has also made, from time to time, the odd foray into the world of fashion and, for that reason, he did not want to miss the party organized by Silbon -of which it has been the image- to celebrate, in style, its 15th anniversary in the majestic Palacio Torres Cabrera, in Córdoba. There we were able to talk to him about what it feels like to be the son of a bullfighting legend and his current relationship. with his brother Manuel Díazwho last year starred in a long-awaited reunion with his father after more than fifty years apart.
© Javier Alonso– Although you have worked as a model, you are a bullfighter and your place is in the bullrings
– Right… Come on, it has nothing to do with this world, right? But it is true that it is a brand that I love… and it is always supporting our land and our people.
– At the beginning of the year you suffered a crash… Are you fully recovered now?
– Yes, yes, completely recovered now… and great.
– You’ve been bullfighting for many years… Isn’t it still a bit difficult to stand in front of a bull?
– Well look, I’m going to tell you the truth, it continues to impose the same thing as from the first day… it’s incredible because you think that over time you’re going to get used to it, but you don’t get used to it. And every time you go out to the bullring you have that… tingling in your belly, those butterflies… or that fear, at the end of the day, for the bull, the responsibility, the public… and that is always there.
“You think that with time you will get used to being in front of the bull, but you don’t get used to it”
– You are the son of one of the great bullfighters of this country, but you, when did you discover that you wanted to be a bullfighter? Were you clear about this since you were little?
– Yes, since I was very little, and I’m going to tell you why… in the end, man, I think the father figure also influences. I think that, for a child, the father figure is super importantbut my brothers have also had it and they have not been… It was something I longed for. I always saw him with a lot of admiration and with a lot of respect, and since I was a child I watched my father’s films… and I had scratched them. I had them on VHS, I’m very old now (laughs). So it’s something that has always been there.
– Has that thing about ‘being the son of’ meant a lot of pressure for you?
– Man, a lot of pressure… Keep in mind that, in the end, it always has its advantages and disadvantages. The beginnings are easier, but it is true that after… My father has been a giant in the world of bullfighting.then living up to it is very difficult because there are always comparisons, right? And each one is each one…
– Your way
– Indeed. Neither better nor worse, right? but you have to make people see, little by little, that in the end you are you, your father is your father… that there are many things in which you can be similar and similar, but you have your essence and that is what I I have always tried to demonstrate why the bull is very transparent and shows you exactly as you are. In the end, when you are in front of the bull, you are just as you are, you cannot pretend… but, well, for me it is a pride to be the son of such an important figure.
© Javier Alonso– Did he give you any advice or does he still give you any?
– Let me get closer, let me get closer! That’s the advice.
– A year ago we experienced your reunion with your brother. I imagine that it would always be special for you too.
– Man, yes… It was a… nice thing, really.. In the end everything became normal and at the moment when the sentence said that he was my brother, well, I tried to normalize it and reach out to him too, right?
– Because your relationship is the normal one that two brothers have
– Yes, because in the end there are no guilty or innocent people in this… we have to try to normalize it and took a step of which I am happy and proud.
– What’s next for you? Is Julio left in the rings for a while?
Man… I think so. There are a few more dates left, but I always focus on what’s next.
