Beloved actress Edith González’s untimely death on Monday, June 13 caused a huge emotional shock not just across Mexico from where the actress hailed but also across the international community. However, the actress’ family members and some close friends were very much aware of the quick deterioration of Edith's health weeks before she passed due to advanced ovarian cancer.
Katie Barberi, one of Edith's most intimate friends, got to share some prevailing moments with the actress, with whom she shared starring roles in the television drama Doña Bárbara (Telemundo).
This is what Barberi revealed during an interview after the posthumous tribute to Edith González in Mexico, her birth country. Edith called her great friend Katie to announce that she was at the hospital and that “things were not good." Katie immediately traveled from Los Angeles to Mexico City to visit Edith.
“I want to talk about the last week and a half only because she texted me. I was in Los Angeles. She wrote, ‘I need to talk to you’ and I asked, ‘What's up?’ And she replied with, ‘I’ve been at the hospital for a while. Absolute discretion, please.’ She did not answer me anymore after that,” Katie said to the press.
According to Barberi, Edith had the time to say goodbye to her family and closest friends before falling asleep. Both shared a lovely friendship for 15 years.
Katie went to the hospital to visit Edith last Tuesday, June 11th and her condition was very severe. “She could hardly talk. She spoke very little, in fact, because she had a hard time talking. She listened and I just tried to say some words that would amuse her and make her laugh instead.”
Barberi, who also worked with Edith in the telenovela Eva la Trailera (Telemundo), said that the actress called her the day before her death to say goodbye. “We received a call on Wednesday afternoon. She had just received bad news, but she took the time to call us and say goodbye. Lorenzo, who is a force as a husband and [in his devotion to his wife], said: ‘She is listening to you.' And I said: ‘I ask for nothing in life than to be able to reach the same depths [as you]...as a woman, an actress, a wife and a mother," Katie recalled through tears.
She will help take care of Constanza, Edith González’s daughter
Many people who were close to Edith worry about Constanza, Edith's daughter, who will turn 15 in August. Katie Barberi vowed to keep an eye on the child.
“Constanza will be in touch with me, whether she wants it or not, even if she is too busy to answer her stubborn aunt Katie. I always ask her if she ate already. She is sick of me. The truth is that Constanza has the strength, the power, the spirit and the independence of her mother,” she said.