“¿TE ACUERDAS?” SERIES · MEMORY
Where is Lucía Méndez now? The diva won't quit
At my house there was an unwritten rule: if Lucía Méndez was on TV, nobody changed the channel. It wasn't just the telenovela. It was the voice. A woman who sang as if every song were the last time she would ever say something that mattered.
Lucía was Viviana. She was Colorina, the sex worker the censors couldn't handle. She was Diana Salazar, the woman who died and came back from the dead. And between one telenovela and the next she sang Corazón de piedra as if she were singing it to you.
Where is she now? Short answer: she's alive, she's 71, and she never retired. In 2026 she's still singing on a stage: she's touring with the Grandiosas alongside Alicia Villarreal, released a duet with her in March, and on October 31 she'll be the star DJ at the Mentiras Halloween party in Mexico City.
The girl from León who took over television
She was born Lucía Leticia Méndez Pérez on January 26, 1955 in León, Guanajuato. She debuted in 1972 in Muchacha italiana viene a casarse, alongside Angélica María, and from then on she never faded into the background again.
In 1978 she starred in Viviana, the telenovela that made her famous internationally. So internationally, in fact, that she later told how her image was circulating in the middle of the war in Lebanon: in the middle of an armed conflict, there were people who stopped to watch Viviana. A detail like that doesn't get forgotten.
Then came Colorina (1980), which put her up against the censorship of the era — and she won the fight: a sex worker as the protagonist was unheard of on television then. In 1985, Tú o nadie with Andrés García earned her the Best Actress award from the New York Association of Entertainment Writers (ACE).
Diana Salazar and the fight with the system
In 1988 she did what nobody expected: El extraño retorno de Diana Salazar, the telenovela about the woman who dies and returns centuries later. It was a ratings smash and it's still rerun in nostalgia marathons today.
In 1992 she went to Miami to star in Marielena for Telemundo, with Eduardo Yáñez. Televisa made her pay with years of blacklisting. She didn't care: she went on to Amor de nadie, Señora tentación, TV Azteca's Golpe bajo, and her last telenovela was Esperanza del corazón in 2011. More than five decades in front of the cameras.
In July 2026 her name made headlines again over a dispute: Angélica María pointed to her as responsible for a blacklisting at a TV network. Méndez denied it and threatened to sue for defamation. That's what's been reported; we'll leave it at the topic still being hot.
The singer: 10 million records don't lie
This is where Lucía set herself apart from the other actresses of her era: she could genuinely sing. Her albums total more than 10 million copies sold worldwide. The album Solo una mujer, with Corazón de piedra and Don corazón, earned her a US Grammy nomination in 1985 for Best Latin Pop Performance.
The songs she sang were written by heavyweights: Juan Gabriel and Camilo Sesto, who also produced her. In 1984 she became the first Mexican actress with a wax figure at the Hollywood Wax Museum. In 2015 she received her star on Mexico City's Paseo de las Luminarias, on the same day as Salma Hayek.
Her son is Pedro Antonio Torres Méndez, from her marriage to producer Pedro Torres (1988–1996). She later married businessman Arturo Jordán, from 2004 to 2007.
Lucía Méndez today: the 2026 agenda
The biggest item on her year: Grandiosas Invicto 2026, the divas tour that brings her together with Alicia Villarreal, Laura León, Filippa Giordano, Ángela Carrasco and Ana Cirré. The project's first single is Culpable o Inocente, Lucía's duet with the "Güerita Consentida," released in March and already performed together live on May 14 at the Auditorio Nacional.
In June, at a press conference in Monterrey with Villarreal, Lucía took a fall and ended up injured. Nothing serious for someone her age, but the news spread like wildfire.
And the fresh one: on October 31 she'll be the star DJ of the Mentiras DJ Set Halloween party at Mesones 72 in Mexico City, spinning pop ballads, cumbia and reggaetón for the crowd. The 71-year-old diva mixing at a party for adults. That's what not retiring looks like.
If nostalgia got you, make a plan out of it
Lucía taught us a diva never retires: she reinvents herself. If you want to see the legends live — because at 71 on a stage, they're doing something right — check the guide to concerts at the Honda Center or the Latino Carnaval 2026, free concert guide. Music sounds better live and with family, like the telenovelas: with a full house and nobody changing the channel.
SOURCES CONSULTED ON OCTOBER 4, 2026Lucía Méndez biography (Spanish Wikipedia) →
Duet with Alicia Villarreal, fall in Monterrey, career facts (Calibre 800, June 2026) →
Lucía Méndez, star DJ at the Mentiras Halloween party (De Reporteros, Sep 2026) →
Biography: birth, León, Guanajuato (IMDb) →
Interview on Grandiosas Invicto 2026 and the single with Alicia Villarreal (Escándala, Mar 2026) →
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