Marcela Temer

Marcela Tedeschi Araújo was born on May 16, 1983 in Paulínia, São Paulo, to Carlos Antônio de Araújo and Norma Tedeschi. After graduating from the Escola Estadual Porphyrio da Paz, in her native Paulínia, Marcela worked as a receptionist for the newspaper O Momento. In 2002, at the age of nineteen, she won the title of Miss Paulínia, then moving on to share the state title as Miss São Paulo.[8][9]

In 2002, Marcela accompanied her uncle Geraldo, a Paulínia municipal employee, to the annual political convention of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). While there, Marcela met Michel Temer, a politician forty-three years her senior.[10] The couple married on July 26, 2003, in a small ceremony.[11]

In 2009, Marcela graduated with a law degree from Fadisp, a private school in São Paulo. In an interview, Marcela says that she never took the licensing exam because of the birth of the couple's son Michel (a.k.a. "Michelzinho").[12][13]

Michel and Marcela Temer (right) at President Dilma Rousseff's second inauguration ceremony, 1 January 2015

The President and First Lady with King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden in the Itamaraty Palace, Brasília, 6 April 2017

On May 12, 2016, Brazilian police arrested three people for attempting to extort money from Marcela after they hacked her personal internet account.[14]

The Brazilian weekly magazine Veja featured a profile of Marcela Temer in their April 18, 2016 issue.[15] The title, "Bela, recatada, e do lar'" (translated as "beautiful, demure, and a housewife") portrayed Marcela as a feminine helpmeet. Almost immediately, Brazilian feminists, outraged by the transition from the country's first female president Dilma Rousseff to a more conservative government, responded on social media by posting memes of themselves that questioned Marcela as a role model for Brazilian womanhood.[16]

• First Lady of Brazil