Annalisa Minetti discusses the pain of blindness and motherhood

Italian singer and Paralympic athlete Annalisa Minetti has spoken about the emotional hardship of living with total blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. During an appearance on the program ‘La Volta Buona’ hosted by Caterina Balivo, the 49-year-old shared the profound pain of being unable to see her eight-year-old daughter, Elena, grow up.

Minetti described feeling a sense of suffocation when people comment on her daughter’s beauty or tell her that the child resembles her, noting that she has not seen her own reflection since she was 18 years old. To cope with the loss of sight and to build shared experiences, Minetti focuses on traveling with Elena, relying on her daughter to help her ‘see’ the world through descriptions and shared moments.