For decades, Adriane Yamin kept her most precious memories locked away – letters, photos, moments with the man the world knew as a racing god, but she knew simply as Ayrton. Now, in her deeply personal memoir “My Girl,” she’s finally opening that drawer, revealing the young, vulnerable man behind the legend of Formula 1 champion Ayrton Senna.
“It was laughter and tears, writing this,” Adriane admits in a rare, intimate interview. “I felt the sweetness all over again. Sure, it was painful digging it all up, but it was also beautiful. Really rewarding.”
Their story started unexpectedly. She was just a teenager; he was already a rising star in the high-octane world of Formula 1. For four intense years, they navigated a passionate but complicated relationship. Fame, relentless travel, their age difference – it all piled up. “It was a struggle,” she recalls honestly. “Eventually, one of us decided they wanted to live life differently than the married path we were on.” The breakup shattered her, especially seeing Senna move on with women who seemed to inhabit a “very different world” than hers.
To heal, Adriane packed everything away – the handwritten notes, the pictures, the feelings – into a literal drawer and tried to move forward. Writing “My Girl” meant unlocking it all. “I had to find the courage to face it again,” she says. “That relationship was so incredibly intense. Shutting it away was the only way I could cope at the time.”
But opening those letters brought Ayrton back to life on the page. “His voice is there,” Adriane explains, her tone softening. “His love, his doubts, his joy… Because of those letters, this story isn’t just mine. It’s ours. He’s part of it. His heart is on every page.”
What emerges isn’t the untouchable icon in a racing helmet, but the man Adriane knew. “He was electric, so much fun,” she remembers, “but also incredibly loving and affectionate. Even though I was young, he made me feel truly seen, cared for, admired.” She doesn’t shy away from the tough parts either – the rumors that swirled about him, the pain of their split, the misunderstandings people had. “There were whispers about his private life, about us,” she states. “But I wrote with complete honesty and sincerity. That’s what our story demanded.”
Her goal wasn’t to put him on a higher pedestal. “I don’t like this idea of him as some perfect, saintly hero. That person doesn’t exist,” Adriane insists. “Seeing him as a real man, flaws and all? That only makes what he achieved even more incredible.”
The book is already hitting a nerve with fans. It’s more than a love story; it’s a chance to meet Senna away from the roar of the engines, through the eyes of someone who shared his private world. “If I thought this book would tarnish Ayrton’s memory, I never would have written it,” Adriane says firmly. “I truly believe it honors him.”
What comes next? Adriane hints at possibilities – maybe a book of photos, perhaps even a film. She imagines a movie capturing the love behind the legend: “Ayrton dedicating wins to his ‘Girl’… that’s a story only I lived.” For now, she steps back into her private life, simply grateful to have finally shared their truth. “Thank God I wrote it,” she says quietly. “Otherwise, no one would believe how beautiful it really was.”
Why This Story Resonates:
“My Girl” does something rare. It gently removes the armor around a global icon, reminding us that every legend was once just a person – flawed, tender, and sometimes, wonderfully ordinary, especially when in love.
