Raquel Pacheco

Bruna Surfistinha (Portuguese for "Little Surfer Bruna") is the pen name of Raquel Pacheco (born 28 October 1984), a Brazilian former sex worker who attracted the attention of Brazilian media by publishing, in a blog, her sexual experiences with clients. Bruna explained in television programs that she was a normal girl, who had been adopted by a high/middle-class family but that at around the age of 17 she left her home and her family because of the traditional family oriented views of her father and to start to live on her own. Bruna appeared in various television programs in Brazil and several periodicals and magazines. Her blog attracted more than 50,000 readers per day. She appeared in some pornographic films in Brazil. In 2005, she released a book entitled O Doce Veneno do Escorpião (The Scorpion's Sweet Venom). In just over a month it sold over 30,000 copies in its third edition, and became the best selling book in Brazil. The book was translated into English and published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2006. Bruna's book also inspired the 2011 Brazilian film Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl, starring Deborah Secco in the main role, and the 2016 TV series Me Chama de Bruna, starring Maria Bopp in the main role. In 2011, Bruna also appeared in a Brazilian reality show called A Fazenda (local version of The Farm) finishing as the second runner-up (third place). Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl grossed $12,356,515 in Brazil, first national film after international films in the Brazil 2011 Box Office, thanks to Bruna's popularity with the Brazilian public. Raquel Pacheco was born in Sorocaba, the result of a sexual assault her biological mother had suffered. Her mother decided to abandon her, and within a few days the baby was in an orphanage. After a few months, she was adopted by an upper middle class Paulistana family. In interviews, she pointed out that the discovery of her adoption was one of the deciding factors for leaving home at 17, leaving a farewell letter. She also revealed in interviews that she was a very depressed child and adolescent, always socially isolated, and bullied for being withdrawn. She claims that, although she never lacked material goods, and was well educated in private schools, she did not receive much affection and attention from her parents, always being in the company of the nanny and maids. She was always the subject of humiliation by her brother, who never accepted the fact that her parents had adopted her and taken him from the position of only child, and therefore sole heir.