Lyn May, the amazing Chinese Mexican showgirl who enchanted presidents and appeared in almost 100 movies, was at the peak of her popularity when an unexpected turn of events changed everything.
Back in the early 1990s, a regular Botox visit took a terrible turn, and instead of getting the usual treatment, something went really wrong and changed her looks in a bad way.
You may not be familiar with Lyn May, but in Mexico, she is a famous icon. Often called “The Goddess of Love,” her life story is just as fascinating as her work in the entertainment industry.
This amazing star of the Mexican movie world is known for captivating audiences and is even said to have charmed presidents. Her incredible story is something you definitely don’t want to overlook – so let’s dive in!
The American sailor
Lyn May, whose real name is Lilia Guadalupe Mendiola Mayares, was born in 1952. She comes from Acapulco, Mexico, and has Chinese roots.
Since she was little, she understood that you have to work for what you want, so she helped her family with money. When she was a kid, she sold little trinkets to tourists, which helped her family earn more. As she got older, she took a job as a waitress, and that’s when everything changed for her. While working there, she met her first true love, an American sailor who was 30 years older than her.
Even though there was a big age gap, the couple was always together. Lyn relocated to Mexico City with her husband, and they welcomed two daughters into their family. But after five years, Lyn decided to leave her husband, claiming that he had hurt her physically and taken advantage of their children in terrible ways.
Breakthrough
After she got divorced from her American husband, Lyn May moved to Acapulco and started working as a dancer. Even though she didn’t have much formal training, she really caught people’s attention when she danced in a miniskirt.
What began as an easy job soon led to much bigger chances. Before she knew it, she was on Mexican TV, starring in the famous show Siempre en Domingo. This show was one of the most important and loved TV programs in Latin America, turning Lyn May into a well-known personality throughout the area.
Lyn’s growing popularity grabbed the eye of businessman Enrique Lombardini, who managed the famous Teatro Esperanza Iris. He asked Lyn to join his burlesque shows, but she felt uneasy about it at first. This showed when she performed on stage, as the crowd booed her for not taking off all her clothes.
Just a week later, Lyn chose to fully dive into the burlesque scene, and when she took off her clothes on stage, the crowd went wild. Wikipedia says it created a huge buzz among the guys in the audience. Seeing how much of an impression she made, Lombardini named her “Lyn May: The Goddess of Love.” She quickly became a well-known star in the Ficheras films during the 1970s and 1980s, which were all about funny and sometimes risqué stories about working-class Mexicans and their romantic adventures.
However, as the popularity of Ficheras films waned, Lyn May gradually faded from the spotlight.
But the late 1990s saw her make a triumphant return to television screens.
Lyn May always grabbed people’s attention with her daring words and eye-catching actions, showing off her brave and fearless character.
She showed up in music videos, hit TV shows, and documentaries, reminding everyone of the special charm that had turned her into a star.
Dug up her husband
After going through a rough time with her American husband, Lyn May discovered love once more with businessman Antonio Chi Su. They tied the knot in 1989 and started a Chinese restaurant in Mexico City together. Their relationship was solid, but in 2004, they faced a heartbreaking challenge when Chi Su was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The couple bravely faced the illness together for several years, but Chi Su sadly passed away in 2008.
Lyn May was really sad and found it hard to handle her feelings. To cope with her deep sorrow, she took some drastic steps. In a heartfelt interview on the show El Minuto Que Cambió Mi Destino, she talked about some surprising rumors that were going around about her. Lyn courageously admitted that she had dug up her husband’s body and brought it back to her house, sharing that she even slept next to his remains.
”I lived with him for 25 years; it was a 25-year marriage, and I didn’t want to let him go. I loved him… Yes, I dug him up and slept beside him,” Lyn May confessed.
”My mother fought with me every day, she told me, ‘You are not going to let him rest.’ We fought every day because I would not let go of him.”
In the end, Lyn’s mom helped her understand that it was time to say goodbye. Lyn May never talked about how long she stayed with her husband’s body or how she finally found a way to move forward.
Affair with the president
Lyn May once made a bold claim that she had a relationship with a past President of Mexico, but she never shared who he was.
Some people think that the President being talked about could be José López Portillo. There were also stories that he had a relationship with actress Sasha Montenegro, and they eventually got married.
Lyn May got married to film producer Guillermo Calderón Stell in 2008, and they stayed together until he passed away in 2018.
Pregnant at 68
In August 2021, Lyn May surprised everyone with some big news. The 68-year-old star announced that she was expecting a baby, and the father is her 29-year-old fiancé, Markos D1.
The news sent shockwaves around the world, leading many to question the authenticity of this bombshell revelation.
“I am very happy to announce that I am 3 months pregnant and Markos D1 is very happy that he will be dad,” May Lin wrote on her Instagram.
A few weeks later, Lyn May excited her fans by sharing a sneak peek of her pregnancy adventure. She uploaded a short video of her baby scan, happily showing off that her baby is due on January 12, 2022.
It’s not surprising that this news caught the world’s eye. The Guinness World Records states that the oldest confirmed mother is María del Carmen Bousada Lara from Spain. In 2006, she had twin boys through a cesarean section when she was 66 years old at Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona. If Lyn May’s pregnancy goes well, she could break this record. To give you some perspective, in the United States, there were 539 births recorded from mothers over 50 years old between 1997 and 1999.
It quickly became clear that everything might not be what it looked like. Lyn May first said she was going to marry her fiancé, Markos D1 (whose real name is Marcos Hernandez), but soon after, she started removing posts about the engagement and the baby.
It turns out that Lyn May’s relationship with Marcos might not have been as serious as she claimed. Marcos, a musician from California, shared with Newsweek that their connection was likely just a drunken one-night stand.
He said, “We never really had a real relationship. It was kind of interesting to me because I went to Mexico for an event at the Pepsi Center that we were invited to. We had drinks, and I ended up drinking so much that I can’t even remember what happened that night. It was just wild.”
”And then… she never told me anything. I was just getting [messages] on my Instagram, like, ‘Happy that you’re gonna be a dad,’ and it just went crazy.”
In a recent interview with Newsweek, Marcos Hernandez shared that he talked about the situation with Lyn May. He mentioned that the Mexican actress and dancer admitted she made up the pregnancy story as a way to get attention for her upcoming farewell tour.
Truth about her face
As an exotic dancer and actress, Lyn May has always been meticulous about her appearance. Early photos showcase her striking features and her ability to captivate men.
However, the pursuit of beauty has not been without its challenges. Initially, Lyn sought to enhance her facial features, such as her cheekbones and jawline, through cosmetic procedures. But one of her attempts went horribly wrong and continues to haunt her.
OkChicas reports that Lyn was tricked by a con artist who claimed he could make her look younger. Being young and a bit gullible, she believed his story. Instead of getting the collagen injections she expected, which are usually used to make skin smoother and reduce wrinkles, Lyn ended up with injections of cooking oil, baby oil, or even just water.
The outcome was the ugly bumps that are still on her face now. When Lyn was in her 30s, she decided to try plastic surgery to fix the problems. Sadly, things got worse before they improved. Even though the doctor was able to take out a little bit of the oil that had ruined Lyn’s face, the experience left a lasting impression, serving as a strong reminder of her search for beauty.
Despite the setbacks, including the unfortunate cosmetic mishap and the public scrutiny surrounding her, Lyn May remains a figure of intrigue and strength.
Her story is not just about fame and beauty, but also about the complexities of personal struggle and the pursuit of one’s own path.
