Estrellita Reyes

* Real
* Animated

> "*I want to make a toast. To Ophelia. At least she got to see our president make America great again.*"
> —Estrellita, *The Funeral*
>
>

**Estrellita Reyes** is a minor character on the Pop TV Original Series *One Day at a Time*.

She is portrayed by Melissa Fumero.

## Physical Appearance

**Estrellita** is a young-looking woman with black hair and dark brown eyes around the same age as Penelope.

She appears to be well-dressed with a more formal-style attire.

In "The Politics Episode," an animated Estrellita has long brown hair. She wears large gold circular earrings. She wears a heavy brown eye shadow. She is seen wearing a lavender v-necked long-sleeved shirt with light pink trim, dark brown pants, and shoes.

## Personality

**Estrellita** is revealed to be conservative and a Trump supporter at the end of "The Funeral." Her personality comes across as somewhat manipulative as well.

She also shows Penelope her true colors when they are fighting over what they thought was the mantilla. She says believes Penelope and Victor's names should be removed from it. Also, she believes it makes no sense for Penelope to keep it even though her kids are the next oldest to get married because Elena is gay.

However, despite these flaws, she is a generally nice person who cares very much about her family nonetheless, as she was there to comfort Penelope during her time in Afghanistan and loved hanging out with her. She proved she is above admitting to her mistakes, and reconciled with Penelope and Lydia after the mantilla incident ended. She is implied to have been very rebellious like Penelope when she was younger, and appears to be still quite fun-loving like her cousin.

## Bio

**Estrellita** is Penelope's cousin and best friend. Growing up, they used to have a lot of fun together. When Penelope joined the army, Estrellita would write letters to Penelope as comfort while she was having rough days in the army.

They lost touch after Lydia and Mirtha started feuding over who stole the mantilla (unaware that their cousin Pilar was the one who had the mantilla). They meet up again at the funeral and plan to get Lydia and Mirtha to make up so they can hang out again. When they find the mantilla, Estrellita and Penelope fight over who gets to keep it.

Estrellita wants to get her name and her husband Juan's name stitched into it, but Penelope wants to keep it because her kids are the oldest and next in line to get married. Estrellita even mentions that it doesn't make sense, hinting that it's because Elena is gay. Then she suggests Penelope and Victor's names should be removed since they are divorced.

Eventually, they learn that it wasn't the real mantilla, rather a random piece of lace, because there were no names on it. Pilar reveals she had it because she stitched her and her wife, Susan's names in it. This makes everyone apologize and stop fighting.

At the end of the episode, Estrellita makes a toast for Ophelia, but it shocked Penelope to learn that it was because she got to see President Trump "Make America Great Again," revealing that Estrellita is most likely a conservative Republican and supports President Donald Trump.

## Storyline

### Season 3

In "The Funeral," the Alvarezes attend the funeral of  Tía Ophelia. Penelope says that at least they will get to see the family at the funeral and names of some of them. Lydia says that it will be good to see everybody, except *La Diabla*, who is her younger sister, Mirtha. Schneider then asks about Tía *La Diabla*and Elena explains she is Lydia's little sister, Mirtha. Penelope points out that Lydia has been mad at Mirtha for twenty years over a stupid mantilla. Alex starts to point out that Lydia has it, but she interrupts him calling Mirtha a liar. Alex then starts to ask if Lydia had the mantilla the entire time but she cuts him off saying she rightfully accused Mirtha of having it all these years because she does.

Lydia then asks how Penelope can not take her side, saying family is everything, and she has to hate her sister. Penelope then says she is sick of this old lady beef and that cost her the relationship she had with her best friend, Estrellita. Schneider then says that Estrellita is Mirtha's daughter and Penelope's cousin. Penelope then threatens to tell the whole family that Lydia had a stroke if she doesn't end the feud with Mirtha.

Penelope then reminds Lydia she said she was going to apologize. Lydia then walks up to Mirtha and gives her a hug. Penelope then goes up to her cousin Estrellita and tries to talk to her and catch her up on her life. Estrellita reminds her they are not allowed to talk due to the feud between their mothers and it's not safe. Penelope then explains she talked Lydia into smoothing things out with Mirtha and they will be able to hang out like old times.

Just then, Mirtha comes by and walks past this saying if Lydia gets close to the coffin, she will push her in. Estrellita then says "really?" Penelope then says no and says she doesn't know what just happened but the feud will end that day. She takes Estrellita's hand and says they will be together again.

Penelope then starts to walk away and Estrellita pulls her back, telling her not to make promises she can't keep. She then tells Penelope she loves her curls and always has and will. The two then embrace by holding hands and putting their heads together. Penelope then tries once again to confront Lydia about Mirtha. Lydia tells her this will all be over soon which Penelope doesn't like the sound of.

Penelope then sees Lydia stuffing the mantilla in Ophelia's casket. Penelope then questions if she had the mantilla the whole time. Lydia then points to Ophelia and says no *she* had it. Mirtha then walks up to Ophelia's casket and says Ophelia was the only one who understood her. Mirtha then picks up the mantilla and calls Ophelia a thief. Lydia pretends to look shocked and asks if Ophelia had the mantilla the whole time.

Penelope gives Lydia a look and says that it makes sense. Lydia then claims Ophelia had her eyes on it for a long time, until 1952 then she had her eye on it. Mirtha then says all these years she blamed Lydia. The two sisters then grudgingly make up both saying they'll never actually say they are sorry out loud. They then hug.

Penelope goes up to Estrellita and says they are back. They then hug and laugh and Estrellita says there is so much to talk about. Estrellita catches Penelope up on her life and the two hug.

Penelope and Estrellita are seen dancing in the kitchen. The two do their improvised choreography for Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation video. Estrellita then questions if it's weird that they are dancing at a funeral. Penelope replies it's a Latino funeral, it would be weird if they weren't dancing. Estrellita then says they didn't always nail it but they sold it with a confident face. Penelope adds it's also the face they used to sneak into R-rated movies.

Estrellita then asks her if she remembers what they do after this. Penelope then says they steal wine coolers from their parents and kiss magazine pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio. The two then high-five and Penelope pours some wine. Penelope then says she forgot how much fun they had together and Estrellita tells her those were the best years of her life.

Penelope then tells Estrellita she saved all the letters she wrote her while she was in the army because they mean a lot. Penelope tells her there were a lot of really rough nights when she was in the army and she would read one of the letters and it felt like Estrellita was right next to her making her laugh and she felt a little less alone and telling her everything was going to be okay.

Estrellita then says with tears in her eyes she can't believe she has her best friend back as they share a hug.

Later, Mirtha then starts singing a song dedicated to Ophelia, and Lydia buries her face in her hands. Lydia then says she sings like a donkey and goes to approach Mirtha. Mirtha then invites Lydia to sing with her. Lydia tells her she doesn't think she can sing as beautifully as she can. The two then start singing together.

Lydia and Mirtha hold hands and finish their song and everyone applauds. Penelope then tells Estrellita she is glad the stupid mantilla crap is behind them, Estrellita agrees and asks where the mantilla is, saying she wants to get her and her husband Juan's names stitched into as they didn't have it at their wedding. Penelope takes it out of Lydia's purse and asks if she will give it back after.

Estrellita then asks if she's getting remarried. Penelope says she might but she wants to save it for her kids as they are the next oldest in the family, so it makes sense. Estrellita asks "Does it?" Penelope then questions what she means. Esterellta elaborates saying that doesn't make sense because Elena is gay and Penelope retorts saying her son Flavio is super gay, a comment that clearly does not sit well with Estrellita. Flavio then makes a comment on the apartment walls in the apartment being yellow. This then leads to the two women fighting over the mantilla and Estrellita says Penelope and Victor's names should be removed as they are divorced.

She retorts that Penelope couldn't keep Victor tied down so neither should the mantilla. This comment causes Penelope to look away in shock. Schneider then says that was nasty and says Monica is no longer Tía Bitchy, Estrellita is. Monica then questions who calls her Tía Bitchy.

Mirtha then tells Lydia to tell Penelope to let go of the mantilla. Lydia then yells out that she had a stroke. This temporarily distracts Estrellita who lets go of the mantilla. Penelope and Lydia look at the piece of lace and realize there are no names stitched in it.

Mirtha then reveals she knew Lydia stuffed a worthless piece of cloth in with Ophelia instead of the real mantilla, saying they are Cubans, not ancient Egyptians. Estrellita then questions who has the real mantilla and Lydia says it's obviously with Mirtha. Mirtha then calls Lydia a liar in Spanish and Lydia retorts that Mirtha walks around like her hair color is natural.

Mirtha then counters she can salsa without breaking a hip and demonstrates this. Lydia admits Mirtha is light on her hooves and says she would like to demonstrate what the step would look like when one does not have feet like a chupacabra and then proceeds to demonstrate the dance move while vocalizing merengue music. Mirtha then asks her to admit she has the mantilla.

Pilar comes up and says she and Susan used it at their wedding and she has it. She then pointedly tells the family they were all at the wedding which confuses them because they had not realized the event was a wedding. Lydia even goes so far as to say she thought it was an affectionate barbeque. Penelope then says they should at be ashamed at themselves for fighting over nothing. Lydia finally admits she had a stroke and she and Mirtha makeup and apologize to each other.

Penelope then says just because they have their differences doesn't mean they will stop being family. Estrellita then proposes a toast to Ophelia and says at least she was alive to see the president make America great again. Everyone else looks uncomfortable and the episode ends with Penelope saying "I'm, sorry. What?"

### The Politics Episode

In "The Politics Episode," Estreillta appears in the animated special. She is seen chanting "Make America Great Again" with her family during an imagined scene. When Penelope is practicing a speech to Estrellita, she mentioned that if Flavio was in the Walmart where a guy said he was going to shoot all of the Mexicans, he wouldn't have cared to stop and ask if Flavio was Cuban. She appears for real at the end, along with the rest of his family when Penelope answers the door. The conclusion of the episode is the Alvarezes, the Reyeses, and Schneider all embracing in a group hug.

## Relationships

### Juan

**Husband**

Juan is the husband of Estreillta. He is only seen on screen in animated form in "The Politics Episode." It is implied the two are happily married.

### Flavio

**Son**

Flavio is the son of Estreillta. There is not much known about their relationship. It is heavily implied that Flavio is gay which may put a strain on their relationship as he gets older as it's implied his mother is homophobic.

#### **cousin/former best friend**

*For more info, visit the Penelope and Estrellita page.*

Penelope was the best friend and is the cousin of Estrellita. The two share a common love of dancing and having a good time together. When Penelope was in the army Estrellita would write her letters that would help her feel less lonely.

## Trivia

* It's hinted that she is homophobic:
	+ Interestingly enough, her son Flavio is hinted to be gay because of the way he acts and sounds.