‘Mucho Mucho Amor’: Raúl De Molina Reflects On Walter Mercado’s Legacy — ‘No One’ Can Replace Him
Walter Mercado was an icon, and his legacy lives on. HL spoke with Raúl De Molina about Walter’s impact and reflected about his last conversation with the legend.
The Netflix documentary Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado premiered on July 8 and captivated the world. Those who wanted to know what happened to the famed Puerto Rico astrologer Walter Mercado all those years ago got the full story from the icon himself. He explained, along with others close to him and commentators, why he stepped away from the public eye suddenly.
HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVE with Emmy Award-winning TV personality Raúl De Molina, who was a key spokesperson in the documentary, about his poignant last interview with Walter before Walter passed away in Nov. 2019. “It was at the place where they had the museum in Miami, which was his last appearance,” the co-host of Univision’s El Gordo y La Flaca said. “He came in on a chair. He was moving around and all that. That was the last interview he did before he came out on that chair to the public. He did it with me. At one point, I told him, ‘Look, my daughter’s in Washington. She’s in college. Can you please make sure she does well?’ He said, ‘Yes, your daughter Mia. Please put in a little paper when she was born and give it to me.’ I did that. So in one way or another, I know what he was doing. Maybe it was acting, but I believed what he was doing because I gave him my daughter’s birthday and all that figuring that he would be able to help.”
Even though Walter is no longer living, Raúl will never forget him or the time he spent with him over the years. “He had so many fans in the Spanish community, in the United States, and Latin America,” Raúl said. “But I’m going to remember seeing a guy that was always very cheerful. He was a showman. He was, at least to me, always extremely friendly and someone that I admired. I see that there are not too many people in the world like Walter Mercado. I always compare him, and I told him in person, that he was like Liberace.”
During his incredible TV career, Walter was watched by 120 million Latino viewers as he read the stars and spread positivity. Raúl didn’t know just how popular Walter was all over the world. “I didn’t know how popular he was in Brazil,” Raúl continued. “I had no idea about that before. I learned that from the documentary and apparently he was extremely popular in Brazil. But in the United States he was [very popular] because everyone that watched Spanish TV, whether it was the mother, their daughter, or their grandmother, everyone knew Walter Mercado. People loved to hear exactly what he was talking about. When he said we’re going to have a good week or a good day or a good month, they all were fascinated by what he said, which I don’t know if everything he said was true or not, but he had a great way that he put it and sold it on TV.”
Walter Mercado was truly one of a kind. As someone who spent time with the legendary TV personality, Raúl knows there will never be someone like Walter. He was a diamond in the rough. “I’m going to tell you there are a million people like Walter Mercado, but no one will be like him,” Raúl told HollywoodLife. “Even on our TV show, we have people who read the future and all that from Mexico. No one is close to what Walter Mercado is. Not because he just passed away. There was no one that will do it as well as him or had been able to do it as well as him for the last 20-30 years. No one. Not even close. No one.”