Everyone is talking about Nico Bolzico

MANILA, Philippines - On a tranquil, overcast Saturday morning, Solenn Heussaff and her husband Nico Bolzico are perched on their balcony having coffee and feeding their pet turtle, Patato. In their home, the two seem to be completely themselves: Away from the spotlight of the camera, they meander around their own sacred space unguarded, so at ease. It is rare for celebrities to open themselves up with such indifference, and the sight is refreshing.

With Solenn routinely dubbed an It girl, it was only natural and inevitable that her husband, businessman Nico Bolzico, would be shoved into the spotlight, too. Showbiz has always been concerned not only with celebrities’ success, but more so with their private life — so when news spread that the bombshell Solenn was getting hitched, it made headlines in its own right.

Now, the story could’ve ended there. But lately, everybody can’t stop talking about Nico Bolzico — and his accidental fame is not unwarranted. The fact that he is slowly becoming a household name does beg us to take notice: He is rising above and beyond just being “Solenn’s husband,” successfully bagging endorsement deals of his own. Nico is making a name for himself, amassing a degree of unintentional social media fame.

Growing up in a very rural neighborhood in Argentina, Nico admits that the newfound attention is a little bit surprising. “I’m from Argentina, a small town of only about 30,000 people. We were surrounded by cows and horses… we’re farmers there,” says Nico. There was no real industry that was similar to showbiz, and he says the most popular man in town was a sports journalist. So this is all new to him, and hardly part of the plan.

“On a regular basis, I have had my own company for the last five years that is focused on agricultural technology. If you actually look at my (Instagram) posts before, nothing’s changed. It’s just now everyone is taking notice, and it’s mostly because of Solenn.” Nico’s company, LM10, is involved in processes and technology in the agricultural sector. “Showbiz is completely new for me. I’m not part of it and I will never be. There’s a lot going on in show business. You feel sort of like Superman — not that I’m saying I’m Superman — but, like, this week from Tuesday to Friday I was in Cagayan De Oro, working on a processing plant there, and I’m getting dirty and dusty; and then I come here and I have to shower and I have to shoot for this magazine and then shoot with this brand, and then later I have to attend a ball; and then next week, I have to go plant corn and be with the farmers again. So it’s like I’m jumping from one site to another, and it’s okay. I like it. I enjoy it as long as I’m not being fake and I can be myself, as long as I don’t disrespect anyone, and there’s nothing illegal about it. I like it, I don’t change anything — maybe I write longer captions, but everything that I post is natural, I don’t plan anything, just whatever happens, happens.”

And perhaps therein lies his charm: At a time when content creators are continuously struggling to make their content “viral,” here is someone who has managed to hack away at it in the old school, organic, unexplainable way we all know and love.

How much of it is real, we ask, referring to his countless Instagram posts that multiple people have shared? His reply? All of it.

Right after he says this, Solenn walks into the living room — she is dressed down in a house robe and goes about her daily duties. Nico stops what he’s saying mid-sentence: “Babe, I’m having an interview here, please,” he says jokingly, fully aware that the real superstar in the room isn’t the one doing the interviews.

He says he was always a joker, and that hasn’t changed. “Our personality is what you see: I’m the messy one, the loud one, she’s tidy — and when I say she’s intense, she’s intense. We actually complement each other: The left side of her brain is more developed than mine; my right side is more developed than hers.”

For a couple that has exposed their love life to the public, the fame game can be a make-or-break thing (hello, Hollywood couples!). You are essentially allowing the public to have a say in your relationship, which can be detrimental to any normal couple trying to deal with their own issues. Nico insists it has never gotten in the way of theirs. “I think (social media) gets in the way when you’re faking something — but there’s nothing that we’re faking here, what you see is what you get. That’s what keeps it fun and we’re very open with each other and always with a lot of respect and trust. And because of that, I know her, and she knows me very well.” He admits, though, that prank he pulled on her one time — when he put powder inside her hair dryer and it exploded all over her face— that went a little bit too far. But Solenn says she was upset… in a “nice way.”

Everybody is talking about Nico Bolzico, and it’s because he has broken down something that show business has often fought to keep control over: the fact that celebrities are expected to be groomed to perfection, to act, talk and walk a certain way, the better to be fashioned and consumed by the public. Celebs usually shy away from scandal and uphold some kind of impeccable persona. And maybe the charm of Nico is his self-awareness: that he can get away with poking fun at all the smoke-and-mirrors of stardom. He is giving us content that we all want to see: stuff that still has the semblance of something real, in a sense that these celebrities are people too, that somebody like Solenn Heussaff, at home, is an artist, an obsessive compulsive, #wifezilla; that she can get upset too, that she is self-conscious, or “intense.” They’ll be dressed in their PJs on a weekend morning, without makeup — realities we don’t get to see on TV, and that’s probably why we love to stay tuned to their Instagram feeds. And in this sense, we should be talking about Nico — because we’ve forgotten how much fun this whole social media thing should be when we became obsessed about our personal curating. He’s a reminder to keep it real, and to have a lot of fun while we’re at it.