New York was a home away from home for Carlos Castro.
The popular Portuguese gossip columnist and gay activist would fly in for the city’s star-studded Fashion Weeks and had instructed his family and friends that when he died, he wanted his ashes scattered in Manhattan.
In late December, the 65-year-old writer flew in for what was supposed to be a romantic getaway with his new lover, a chiseled male model nearly 45 years his junior.
The couple dined, took in a show and rang in the New Year at the Crossroads of the World.
But only a few days later, the idyllic trip turned tragic when police found Castro’s mutilated body in his room at the InterContinental hotel and later took his lover, Renato Seabra, into custody as a person of interest.
“He loved New York City,” said Vicky Fernandes, a close friend of Castro’s. “He always said the city of his life was New York.”
She and other friends described Castro on Saturday as a courageous champion of gay rights and an eccentric, multilingual scribe who had been the first to chronicle Lisbon‘s high society.
“He enjoyed good food and drinks and always had the right word at the right time,” said Luis Pires, editor of the Portuguese newspaper Luso Americano, who had been friends with Castro for 30 years. “He’d wear designer clothes like Louis Vuitton, never suits, more like jeans and button-down shirts, Liberace-style.”
Castro counted among his friends the former president of Portugal Mario Soares and designer Ana Salazar, a fashion pioneer in his homeland.
“I was both in his best- and worst-dressed lists in the ’80s,” Salazar told The Associated Press.
She said she was shocked by his death.
“It’s like something out of a horror movie,” she added.
Armando Esteves Pereira, publisher of the Lisbon newspaper Correio da Manha, which ran his daily gossip column, described Castro as “the inventor of our jet set.” He told the Portuguese news agency Lusa that the prolific writer had left several columns that will run in the next few weeks.
Castro was born in Angola and moved to Portugal in 1975, after the former colony gained independence from Portugal.
In his teen years, his writing blossomed, earning him first place in renowned poetry contests. Friends said he went on to pen several books and appear regularly on television.
In his youth, he served openly as a gay soldier in the country’s army, according to reports.
In Portugal, film critic and friend Rui Pedro Tendinha said he drew admirers for “revealing the feminine side of his personality.”
“This is shocking everyone in Portugal,” Fernandes said. “It’s a great loss. It’s not easy to understand. We don’t know how this is possible.”
With Ben Chapman
