Maria Thereza Goulart

Director Susanna Lira will make the film Vestida de Silêncio, whose production was scheduled to begin in 2021, which will review the story of João Goulart through the eyes of Maria Thereza.

In 2019, the writer Wagner William released a biographical book about the former First Lady Maria Thereza Goulart.

On November 15, 2008, Maria Thereza and Jango received political amnesty from the Federal Government. The former First Lady will receive an indemnification of R$ 644,000 (around US$ 322,000) to be paid in pensions of R$5,425 (around US$2,712) per month for Jango being restrained from practicing his job as a Lawyer. She will also receive an indemnification of R$100,000 (around US$50,000) for the 15 years in which her family was forbidden to return to Brazil.

After the deposition of Jango on April 1, 1964 by the military, the Goulart family was forced to live in exile. Jango, Maria Thereza and their children lived in Uruguay. Later, Denise and João Vicente moved to London, while Jango and Maria Thereza went to Argentina, where Jango had business affairs. Jango died in the city of Mercedes on the night of December 6, 1976. The official version of his death is that he suffered a heart attack. This is uncertain as his body was not submitted for an autopsy and the attending physician wrote only the Spanish word enfermedad (sickness) as the causa mortis on his medical chart. He was buried in his native São Borja. Thirty thousand people attended his funeral, media coverage of which was censored by the military regime. Maria Thereza and her children were forbidden to return to Brazil until 1979's Amnesty law.

In August 1961, Maria Thereza and her children were guests in a Spanish hotel owned by a friend of the Goulart family, while her husband was on a diplomatic mission in the People's Republic of China. One day, at breakfast, she was told that Jânio Quadros had resigned and that her husband would become the new president. Shortly after, journalists started incessantly calling her room.

In 1960, Jango was re-elected Vice President, which allowed Maria Thereza to serve as Second Lady from 1956 to 1961, when Jânio Quadros resigned from the Presidency. When her husband assumed office, Maria Thereza became the youngest First Lady of the history of Brazil, at just 21 years of age.

In 1955, when Maria Thereza finished her studies, she and Jango started dating. They got married in the following year when Maria Thereza was 16 and Jango was running for the Vice Presidency. At that time, there were separate elections for President and Vice President in Brazil and Jango would receive more votes than Juscelino Kubitschek, who was elected president. After her marriage, Maria Thereza became sister-in-law of Leonel Brizola, who was married to Jango's sister Neusa.

As First Lady, Maria Thereza was responsible for the foundation of the headquarters of the Legião Brasileira de Assistência (Brazilian Legion of Aid) -- an organization founded in 1942 by then First Lady Darcy Vargas to help poor families—in Brasília. She hosted a large number of charitable events, being responsible for bringing members of the high society to participate in such events.

Maria Thereza Fontella Goulart (born August 23, 1936) is the widow of the 24th president of Brazil, João Goulart, and served as First Lady during his presidency from 1961 until 1964, when he was deposed by a military-led coup d'état.