In 2005, this loving woman gave her husband a lifesaving kidney, and despite her incredible generosity, he failed to understand “that you had to stop dating when you got married.”
in 2012, after 17 years of marriage, the couple divorced, and fortunately for the comedian, his ex-wife let him keep the organ.
Keep reading to learn the identity of this former Hollywood couple!
Known as “America’s Mexican,” this comedian carries around a note that he wrote to himself in 1979 when he was only 18.
It reminds him how he struggled to succeed as a youngster but he “would hit the American people like a hammer.”
Known affectionately as “George Lopez is known across the world for his dark comedy that’s often rooted from his own childhood experiences.
The 63-year-old Hollywood Walk of Famer admits he has “daddy issues” after being abandoned by his parents, who left him in the care of his peculiar grandmother.
“[She] was very mysterious,” Lopez says of the woman who raised him. And one time, when he was introducing her to the writer of his “Why You Crying” book, she randomly told him, “I don’t think the guy that’s your dad is your dad.”
These formative experiences shaped much of his comedy, which often draws on his struggles with identity, and the challenges of growing up in a dysfunctional family.
In 1993, Lopez started building his own family with Ann Serrano, an actor-producer who gave the comedian his only daughter, Mayan, in 1996.
She also gave him one of her kidneys.
In 2004, doctors told Lopez, then 43, that he needed a transplant to correct a condition that caused his kidneys to deteriorate.
“Kidney disease is not painful; I mean it is painful because it shows up in fatigue. So, you’re always tired. It misled me to think that I was tired because I was working so hard when really my kidneys were shutting down,” the star told Piers Morgan in an interview.
“Latinos, we only go to the doctor when we are bleeding. We forget about things internal. Fatigue is just fatigue,” he adds.
According to WebMD, Lopez’ kidneys had been “poisoned over the years from a congenital abnormality that caused a narrowing of his ureters, the tubes through which urine travels from each kidney to the bladder.
And without hesitating, his loving wife said, “I’ll give you one of mine.”
”There was no question. When you are put in that position where you could possibly lose someone you love, it’s a very easy decision,” she adds.
In April 2005, Lopez and his wife arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and both quickly recovered.
In his biography, “George Lopez: Latino King of Comedy,” he writes “I think it was a miracle that my wife’s kidney could be used. Now I value each day because I don’t know how long this organ will hold out.”
The kidney lasted longer than his commitment to the woman who gave him the lifesaving gift.
Before the procedure, Serrano, now 63, reveals that her husband had cheated on her and despite his lack of loyalty, she gave him another chance – along with a kidney – and warned him against doing it again.
“My daughter was three and I definitely wanted her to have her father in her life,” Serrano shares, adding that as her husband grew more famous, “he got a really big head.”
But then the tabloids offered the family some insight into Lopez’ extra-curricular activities: “It was a pretty devastating way to find out,” Serrano says. “Your husband is leading a double life, basically. So, I just made the decision that that was just not something I could tolerate. And I decided to divorce him.”
Speaking with Today, Mayan explains that after, she didn’t speak with the Blue Beetle star for almost four years “because it was just painful.”
“Having it be so public made it a whole other dynamic that makes it so much more difficult,” said Mayan who grew up on The George Lopez Show. “You read these headlines and people sometimes forget that there’s a family behind those headlines.”
The couple divorced in July 2011 and in a joint statement, they described the decision as mutual and amicable, emphasizing their ongoing commitment as parents and business partners of the Lopez Foundation, a charity that raises awareness on kidney disease and organ donation.
Today, Mayan, 28, and her dad get to hash out their real-life issues on t Lopez vs Lopez, a comedy TV series where real life meets fiction.
“Mayan is the one relationship in my life that I need to save and the one I value more than anything. If NBC will allow us to deal with our personal issues on TV, God bless them,” says Lopez, who plays a fictionalized version of himself, navigating life with his estranged daughter, Mayan.
Though sometimes the script can be “a little too real,” Mayan says the “pain and authenticity” that viewers see are genuine moments where daughter and dad are working out their issues.
The show, she says “is really healing for me, personally…And I think for my dad as well.”
As for Lopez’ relationship with Serrano, the two are still close friends.
In a 2021 TikTok video shared by Mayan, fans see the former couple sitting in the hot seat, fielding questions from their daughter.
“Who screwed up your marriage more?” Mayan asks.
After a bit of banter between the two, Serrano jokingly responds, “Your dad didn’t realize that you had to stop dating when you got married. You have to stop dating other people when you [get] married.”
In a separate clip, Mayan asks if her parents still love each other.
“Yeah, I love you,” Serrano tells Lopez. “He’s the father of my child, he’s my husband, and he’s my friend.”
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