"Luis didn't want it to appear," Lorena Ponce de León confessed in the book that exposes her intimacy.

Luis Lacalle Pou and Lorena Ponce de León began their relationship as teenagers, married in 2000, and shared a relationship for more than two decades until their final separation in May 2022, which was formalized with a divorce in June 2024. Together they had three children. After stepping back from public life, the former first lady returned to the news after the weekly Búsqueda published excerpts from the book Lorena Ponce de León. De palabra (Lorena Ponce de León. De palabra ), written by journalist Rosana Zinola and soon to be released by Penguin Random House Mondadori.

The text explores personal aspects of Ponce de León and details moments from her life with the former president. According to the previews, one of the central tensions was the former first lady's public role during and after the presidential campaign that brought Lacalle Pou to power.

Ponce de León played a key role in the campaign, accompanying her on tours across the country . Once in government, she stood out for creating and directing the Sembrando program, aimed at promoting entrepreneurship nationwide. However, as she recounts in the book, Lacalle himself did not welcome her gaining public notoriety.

In several reflections, the former first lady maintains that her then-husband didn't want her to occupy prominent positions or have media visibility. "Luis didn't want me to be anywhere," she states in one passage, explaining that he preferred her to stay out of politics and visible projects.

He even recounts that, on occasion, Lacalle told him that his prominence made him uncomfortable. “Part of our separation is partly due to that. He didn't like my prominence at all. It made him fall out of love with it,” Ponce de León maintains, alluding to the tension between his desire to contribute and the then-president's discomfort with his exposure.

Elsewhere in the book, she confesses that, while she understood his intention to protect her, she also sensed that he didn't want her to shine too brightly. "I think he wanted to protect me, but he also didn't want me to be too conspicuous, something he even told me," she adds.

Ponce de León also reflects on the personal journey he went through. He says that during the campaign, he felt his mission was to accompany him until he became president , but once he achieved that goal, the dynamic changed. "I feel that part of my mission, part of my soul, was to accompany him until he became president," he expresses in the book.

The strain on the couple worsened afterward, to the point that she decided to end the relationship. She said she could have tried to sustain the relationship longer, but she understood that the best thing to do was to separate, even though he didn't want to. In 2022, she was the one who left the presidential residence, because she felt it was inappropriate for the president to do so.

Today, removed from politics, Ponce de León dedicates herself to landscaping and maintains a relationship with Sandusky businessman Alejandro Teske. Her profile had been almost completely low until the book brought her back to the media spotlight, this time with her own voice, recounting an intimate chapter of her presidential life.