Out Brazilian Star Paulo Gustavo Dies of COVID-19

Brazilian actor and comedian Paulo Gustavo passed away after a two-month battle with COVID-19, leaving behind his loving husband and two children, reported the website the Brazilian Report .

The popular actor, the Brazilian Report wrote, was famous for using "everyday family issues" and "humor to address the struggles LGBT people face to gain acceptance in Brazilian society – largely based on his own experience as a bisexual man in Rio de Janeiro."

Gustavo was admitted to a Rio intensive care unit on March 13 and needed intubation a week later. Since early April, he was being kept alive by an artificial lung. Last weekend, infections in his lung spread to his nervous system, and his condition was ruled "irreversible" by doctors.

An official statement released to the press on Tuesday wrote: "At 9:12 pm on Tuesday, 05/05, the patient Paulo Gustavo Monteiro passed away, victim of the covid-19 and its complications. In all the moments of his hospitalization, both the patient and his family and close friends had impeccable behaviors, transmitting confidence in the medical team and in the other professionals who participated in his treatment."

In a May 2020 interview with the Brazilian publication O Globo, he expressed his coronavirus concerns. "I'm very scared of what I hear people say," he commented. "Medicine still doesn't know exactly how the virus reacts inside each person."

"Gustavo was born and raised in Niteroi in greater Rio de Janeiro," reported Pink News, "and he has been out since he was young. He married his dermatologist, Thales Bretas, in December 2015. The couple announced the birth of their children, Romeu and Gael, via surrogacy in August 2019."

In an emotional Instagram post, his husband Bretas wrote (via Google Translate): "It is still very difficult to process everything that happened in the last few days ... How happy I have been in these past 7 years that I had the privilege of living with you! As I learned, I grew up! I hope I can pass on a little of your legacy of generosity, affection, joy and love. You are a hurricane! A star that shone a lot here on Earth, and will shine even more in the sky, always looking out for our family !!! I love you so much ... and I will always love you, for the rest of my life! I can't write a hundredth of how much you were and it's important to me and the world. And it will continue to be, forever ..."

Paulo Gustavo became widely known for his monologue "Minha Mãe é uma Peça" ("My Mom is a Character"), which became a feature film in 2013. The movie was so popular that it spawned two sequels in which Gustavo played a middle-aged divorced woman who goes missing, much to the distress of her family.

The Brazilian Report said the third movie in the series grossed more than "Frozen 2" and "Star Wars: The Rise of the Skywalker" in Brazil.