Quote: ‘I now live with a smile in Spain, working as a waitress’ – Sister Cristina Scuccia
A nun who became a singing sensation after winning Italy’s version of The Voice is now a waitress in Spain.
“I now live with a smile in Spain, working as a waitress!,” said Sister Cristina Scuccia.
Scuccia, from Sicily, had a blind audition for the show in 2014, singing Alicia Keys’ hit song ‘No One’.
Scuccia, who at the time was among the nuns at the Ursuline Sisters of the Holy Family convent in Milan, went on to win the show with her performance of ‘What a Feeling’, the theme song from the film Flashdance.
Pope
She later produced an album, which she gave to Pope Francis, that included a cover version of Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’.
Her talent attracted praise from some Italian cardinals, but eight years on Scuccia, 34, has left the nunhood.
Dressed in high heels and a red trouser suit, with a pierced nose and long dark hair flowing freely, she told the Verissimo programme: “I believe that you need to listen to your heart with courage.
“Change is a sign of evolution, but it is always scary because it is easier to anchor oneself to one’s certainties rather than questioning oneself. Is there a right or wrong?”
Psychologist
Scuccia said that leaving the nunhood, a decision a psychologist helped her to process, did not mean she had renounced her faith, and that she was still chasing her dream of a career in music.
“I chose to follow my heart without thinking about what people would say about me,” she said.
“I took a leap of faith and was worried about ending up under a bridge, I always repeated this to my psychologist,” said Scuccia.
Scuccia’s audition for The Voice of Italy was supported by her mother superior, but faced harsh criticism from more traditional factions of the Italian Catholic church, especially when she released Like a Virgin, which was described by Italy’s Religious Information Service as “a reckless and calculated commercial operation”.
“Cristina reached such high levels of fame. She was getting calls from around the world and also some criticism, which probably left her in a state of confusion,” said a church source.
“Leaving was her own decision, after appearing on TV so much you perhaps lose the compass a little. She was young and under a lot of pressure,” they added.
