Brazilian pop star Anitta opened up about her experience filming her new Netflix documentary during a recent visit to Today, where she revealed it was made all the more easier after she invited her childhood friend, Pedro Cantelmo, to co-direct.
Speaking to Today anchor Jenna Bush Hager and guest host Dwayne Wade, Anitta explained that it was “very hard” for her to open up for the documentary and show the other side fans don’t often get to see.
“We tried for some years and we couldn’t do it until I remembered this friend of mine that became a film director and I invited him because I’ve known him since I was a kid,” she said. The pair have known each other since they grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Honório Gurgel in Rio de Janeiro.
Bush Hager then interjected to ask, “Y’all used to have a little romance, right? But no more romance?”
With a laugh, Anitta confirmed. “Yes, we were together! No more romance. We were, but before,” she said.
The singer’s confession is made all the more interesting considering her new documentary, Larissa: The Other Side of Anitta, includes a scene of her showering nude with Cantelmo.
In the scene, Anitta offers to “wash” him. “So you won’t smell like—what is it? Come here. See, just a little to get rid of this gross cigarette smell,” she tells him.
The pair then get into the hotel shower together, with the camera capturing them washing each other through the foggy glass door. But it’s clear they’re both very much in their birthday suits for this steamy scene.
On Today, Anitta said it was easier to open up for the camera while working with Cantelmo.
“That’s somebody that I’m not going to be able to trick with the character [of Anitta] because he’s known me for forever,” she said. “And when we became more intimate nowadays sometimes I forgot the camera was there. And that’s how we were able to show the hard times every person has inside.”
Larissa: The Other Side of Anitta is now streaming on Netflix.
