Florinda Meza, the celebrated Mexican actress known for her unforgettable roles as Doña Florinda and La Chimoltrufia in the iconic television show El Chavo del 8, has found herself at the center of a heated controversy following the release of the HBO miniseries Chespirito: sin querer queriendo. The series, which chronicles the life and legacy of her late husband Roberto Gómez Bolaños—universally beloved as Chespirito—has sparked public outrage and a deeply personal response from Meza, who claims the production is riddled with falsehoods and has severely damaged both her professional reputation and Bolaños’s legacy.
On September 11, 2025, Meza broke her silence in a candid interview with journalist Gustavo Adolfo Infante for the program De Primera Mano, addressing the swirling controversy. According to El Comercio, Meza did not mince words: “The authors of this series did a lot of harm. The producer and the platform (HBO) are responsible for many damages that I will clarify. Everything that appears in that series is a lie.” Her statement set the tone for what has become an impassioned campaign to defend both her own image and the memory of her late husband.
The heart of Meza’s criticism centers on the series’ depiction of the cast’s trip to Acapulco, a storyline that the miniseries frames as a turning point rife with personal betrayals and professional conflicts. In particular, the show suggests that there were heated disputes among cast members and even hints at infidelity involving Bolaños. Meza, however, has categorically denied these portrayals. “The Acapulco episode is a deliberate lie. Everything they put there is false. There were never any fights; it’s an absurd and frightening fabrication,” she asserted during her interview with Infante, as reported by Noticias de Aquí.
Meza’s indignation is not limited to the fictionalized events themselves. She has also taken issue with the creation of a character in the series—Margarita Ruiz—who closely resembles her, despite being given a different name. According to Meza, this creative choice was no accident. “It’s a way of throwing a stone and hiding the hand, but the fact that people associated me with that character caused a brutal, merciless lynching in the media, on social networks, the radio, television, and the press. That is not only inhuman; it’s illegal, a moral affront to my profession and my career. That’s forbidden by law,” she emphasized, as cited by El Comercio.
The backlash has not been confined to online commentary. In the weeks following the series’ release, there was even a movement to remove the statue of Doña Florinda in Meza’s hometown of Juchipila, Zacatecas—a testament to the intensity of the public’s reaction. Yet, not everyone associated with the series shares this animosity. Roberto Gómez Fernández, one of Bolaños’s sons and a producer of the series alongside his sister Paulina, described the public response as exaggerated and expressed his disagreement with the attacks on his stepmother, according to El Comercio.
Meza’s frustration is compounded by what she sees as a bait-and-switch by the series’ creators. She claims that for years, the public was led to believe the project was a faithful biography of Bolaños, only for the producers to later declare at the press launch that it was a work of fiction. “For eight years, they made people believe it was the biography of Roberto Gómez Bolaños and let the public believe that idea, supposedly based on the book, only to finally say at the press presentation that it was a fantasy. With that argument, they begin to undermine Roberto’s career and trajectory,” Meza stated in her interview with Infante.
The controversy has not only reignited old rumors but also amplified new ones, particularly regarding the end of Bolaños’s first marriage to Graciela Fernández and Meza’s alleged role in it. Online commentators have been quick to blame Meza, despite her consistent denials and her insistence that the series’ narrative is a fabrication. “It’s a vile lie that there were problems in the group or that I caused them. The only thing I can say is that when an environment is good, it shows on the screen, and the group wouldn’t have lasted 25 years together if the atmosphere had been toxic,” Meza explained, as reported by Noticias de Aquí.
In a separate interview with journalist Adela Micha on September 12, 2025, Meza doubled down on her criticisms, this time targeting the heirs of Chespirito who were involved in the production. She accused them of misleading the public by presenting the series as an accurate biography and profiting from Bolaños’s image and story in a way that distorts reality and harms his legacy. “They are profiting from my life and my image, because they imply it. That’s just plain wrong—no one has the right. It’s my private life, and I shouldn’t have to explain it, but I am worried about the great harm done to Roberto, his image, memory, and legacy. He’s no longer here to defend himself, and that’s just cruel, here or in China,” Meza said.
Despite the storm of criticism, Meza has made it clear that she does not intend to take legal action against the series’ producers. Instead, she is preparing her own project, set to be released in October 2025, which she promises will tell the true story as she lived it. “It’s something beautiful that will tell the story as it really happened,” she teased in her interview with Infante.
The HBO series Chespirito: sin querer queriendo consists of eight episodes and stars Paulo Cruz as Bolaños. Since its release, it has become a lightning rod for debate across Latin America, highlighting the enduring impact of Bolaños’s work—and the fierce battles that can erupt over the legacies of cultural icons.
For now, Meza, who spent four decades with Bolaños and is now 76 years old, remains steadfast in her defense of their shared history. “If Roberto were alive, he would suffer from what’s been shown in the series, which I consider a documented crime, an aggression,” she said. The battle for Chespirito’s legacy, it seems, is far from over—but Meza is determined to ensure that the last word is hers.
