Update on Xuxa
From (who else?) askmen.com:
Maria da Graça Meneghel was born on March 27, 1963, in the town of Santa Rosa, a southern region of Brazil that was dominated by German and Italian immigrants. She was the youngest of seven children, five of whom survived. Big brother Bladimir gave her the moniker Xuxa, which stuck with her for life....
She knew she was big when the Brazilian edition of Playboy invited her for a photo shoot: in Brazil, posing for Playboy marks the pinnacle of a woman's career.
She was only 20 when she was given her own variety TV show, Clube da Criança (Children's Club). She was an instant hit: her candor on camera and her way with kids (they all received kisses) caught the attention of Latin America's media giant, Globo TV. In 1985, Globo TV took her as its own....
For seven years, Xou da Xuxa, her daily program on Globo, was a fixture on television....Each year Xuxa released an album of songs, selling a total of 14 million copies. Her third volume, in fact, passed the 3.2 million mark, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records....
In 1989, Xuxa left the daily program for a Sunday-only game show. At the same time, she expanded to the rest of the continent with a Spanish album. That was followed by a Spanish-language show in Argentina, El Show de Xuxa, which was syndicated in 16 countries including the American Latin market....
Xuxa...was almost harmed in 1991, during a kidnapping attempt in São Paulo.
In 1992, she launched Xuxa Park, a show in Spain that she later brought home to Brazil. The next year she went after the American market with Xuxa, shown in 121 independent channels across the country. It would be her only failed project, hardly shown for one season....
Xuxa Só para Baixinhos (Xuxa Just For Kids) was a hit, and three other releases followed. The second won international praise and earned her the 2002 Latin Grammy for Best Children's Album. Ditto in 2003.
In 2004, she opened her own theme park in São Paulo, called O Mundo da Xuxa (Xuxa's World). She still records yearly albums for kids and runs her foundation, which provides shelter, education and food for needy children.
Xuxa lives in Rio de Janeiro with her daughter, and has homes in Buenos Aires, New York, the Hamptons, and Barcelona. She can never go out in public without an armed entourage.
who2.com includes this biography of Xuxa, noting that other children's TV hosts include Captain Kangaroo and Barney.
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