Gradually, the accounts against António Capelo are mounting: stories from individuals who were minors at the time recount how the Portuguese actor approached them, sent persistent and uncomfortable messages, and invited them to his home.
The latest testimony was shared with Público by Mia Filipa, a 43-year-old woman, who claims to have been one of António Capelo’s victims in 1998 when she was 16 years old and had not yet transitioned from male to female.
Mia identifies as a transgender woman, and despite being a boy during the events, she is described using feminine pronouns.
Last week, it was reported that actor António Capelo was the subject of numerous complaints, particularly from former students of the Academia Contemporânea do Espectáculo (ACE), where the actor served as director.
The actor António Capelo is being accused by several young people, including former students, of harassment. The behavior allegedly occurred over many years. The artist asserts that the affection shown had no improper intentions. The Left Bloc (BE) confirms receiving a complaint involving “very serious acts” by the former representative.
Mia, an educator and former student at the ACE in Porto, recounts that she arrived at the educational institution with the dream of becoming “a great actress,” but quickly, the dream turned into a “nightmare.”
“It was in the first year that António Capelo began to surround me,” she says. “At first, there were little jokes, making it clear he knew I liked boys. He called me ‘little bird.'” At the time, António Capelo was 42 years old.
Mia recalls that, often, the actor’s words were not suggestive on their own, but the tone in which they were spoken gave them a different, uncomfortable meaning. That, and the “looks,” but more than anything, it was Capelo’s touches.
“Sometimes, when he walked past me in a tighter space, he would put his hand on my butt. It was like ‘oh, sorry!’, as if it was unintentional,” the educator recounts. “It was very strange for me because he was the school director, a public figure,” she remembers.
Capelo invited Mia to his house: “There was penetration”
Later, the actor began offering her gifts, notably books, claiming Mia “should read more because if she wanted to be an actor, she needed to be a person who reads.”
Capelo eventually invited Mia to his house in Porto, claiming that “there was an RTP soap opera needing someone” with her characteristics – but, Mia recounts, it was just a “strategy of approach and manipulation.”
At the time, the young person explains that she “allowed herself to be seduced,” feeling that “she had to do it because otherwise, she’d be opposing Capelo.”
“I remember we were on the couch, and he started getting closer. He took my hand, placed it on his penis, and began to rub it. He was still wearing his pants and was aroused. I was left without reaction. How does one react to this at 16?”, she questions today, nearly thirty years later.
“Meanwhile, he pulled me to kiss me. He slobbered on me, and I pulled away. Then he opened his trousers and started masturbating in front of me, talking about how we could be really good friends and such. He asked me to perform oral sex. He dismissed me when he climaxed.”
Mia recalls that, back then, she knew what had happened “was not right,” that “he was not an attractive person,” and that “she was somewhat doing it to appease him.”
Even so, she let things continue – and escalate.
“Capelo called me to his house several times, perhaps about five. He called me ‘tender,’ among other things. This continued into the second year. There was penetration. I didn’t want it, but he insisted a lot. I felt I had to satisfy his needs to continue at the school, and the school was very important for me at that time,” she recalls.
At school, when others were present, they “pretended nothing was happening,” but during lessons, when there was an exercise that “involved touching,” Capelo would always say: “little bird, come here.”
“There was a distance,” and Capelo began to humiliate Mia
Midway through the second year, Mia recounts “there was a distance,” not only because she started realizing “the opportunities to join soap operas and series weren’t going to happen,” but also because “something wasn’t right.”
“I think Pedro Aparício, who was Capelo’s partner at the time, started realizing something was happening because he changed his behavior towards me. He was never home when I went there, and Capelo said I couldn’t tell anyone, that everything had to be secret. I only heard about cases with other boys afterward, not at the same time as me.”
With the distancing, the relationship between the two also began to change.
During lessons, there was no more “little bird, come here,” and Capelo began humiliating Mia, leaving her “a big mess, because in the first year he almost carried me, then halfway through the second year, he completely turned.”
“Started saying really ugly things to me during lessons and in private – that I would never be an actor with the body I had, that I had a girl’s body, that I needed a ‘visible’ body, that it wasn’t a theater body,” she recalls, admitting she delayed her transition to womanhood for a long time.
The situation “became so unpleasant” that Mia stopped going to school. Every day, she left home as if going to lessons, but “spent the whole day out,” unable to face the alleged aggressor.
At the end of the second year, her mother, who “made a big effort to pay the tuition,” found out that Mia had been skipping classes, but still, the young woman had to repeat the year.
“I went back to school to repeat the year, but ended up giving up and never finished it. I started working at 17 years old.”
Ten years later, the reason Mia never completed her studies (and probably never became an actress) sent her a message on Facebook.
“He asked if I wanted to arrange something, and there, I told him straight: ‘Do you realize what you did?’ He said nothing more. Now and then, I still cross paths with him in the artistic field, but I never greet him,” she says.
António Capelo denies all harassment and sexual abuse accusations
In a statement to Público, António Capelo adamantly denied “ever having had ‘relations’ with Mia Filipa,” adding that the “accusation is serious and false.”
In comments to Notícias ao Minuto, the actor stated that he was being “the target of anonymous and defamatory accusations,” which challenge his “honor, professional, and even private life.”
“I do not identify with anonymous complaint practices nor public lynching, which do nothing for justice or truth,” he highlighted, adding that the accusations against him “are severe and totally distorted from reality.”
“My conduct has always been led by professional demand, respect, and care for the students. Gestures of closeness, affection, or support – like hugs, lending books, sharing meals, or offering shelter in times of need – never had any purpose other than educating, supporting, and mentoring human beings and professionals,” he assured in the same note.
Mia Filipa is currently a candidate for the Left Bloc in the Porto municipal elections – the same party of which António Capelo was once a representative, though he currently holds no connections with them.
She is also one of the members of Porto’s LGBTI+ Pride March, which has called for a demonstration at the ACE’s door next Monday, September 15, at 6 PM, in collaboration with the Instagram page “Não Tenhas Medo,” where complaints against António Capelo have been exposed.
