Melissa Botero: Juan Cuadrado's Wife, Age and Family

Melissa Botero, full name Diana Melissa Botero Flórez, is the Colombian wife of Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, the Colombia international winger and former Juventus player. The couple married in Barranquilla on 30 March 2016, they have two children, Lucía and Lucas, and as of November 2026 Cuadrado plays for Millonarios in Bogotá, the club he joined in September 2026 after leaving Pisa.

Melissa is from Antioquia, the same Colombian region as her husband, and she met Juan while she was managing an Adidas store in Medellín. Her Instagram account is private, so most of what is known about her comes from Colombian press reports and from a rare interview the couple gave together at their church in Medellín in 2019. This guide brings her story up to date for November 2026.

Who is Juan Cuadrado's wife?

Juan Cuadrado's wife is Melissa Botero. They have been married since March 2016 and together since about 2012, and no separation has been reported.

Cuadrado talks about her often. When he launched his autobiography, Panita, esta es mi historia, in Medellín in May 2021, Noticias Caracol reported that he broke down in tears speaking about her, saying the book should really have been written with his wife, because she had been so strong in standing by him through his career.

In the post above, shared on his own account in July 2021, Cuadrado wished Melissa a happy anniversary and called it a blessing that she is his wife, tagging her account @melibotero1.

Who is Melissa Botero?

Melissa Botero is a Colombian woman from the department of Antioquia. Colombia.com described her as a young woman from Antioquia when it reported the couple's wedding in 2016, and she spent most of her husband's European career living with him in Italy.

Before she met Juan, she worked in retail. In the 2019 interview at Comunidad MDE, a Christian church in Medellín, she explained that she was running an Adidas store when he walked in, and that through her job she already knew a number of Colombia internationals and other professional footballers. She also mentioned that she had gone to university and lived on her own as a young woman.

Since then, she has kept a low public profile, and we could not find a reliable source describing a career or business of her own. What she does share publicly is her faith and her family life, mostly through the church interview and her husband's posts.

Melissa Botero age and birthday

Melissa Botero's date of birth has never been published by a reliable source, so her exact age and birthday are not known. The birthdays and ages that circulate on WAG websites have no source.

Juan Cuadrado was born on 26 May 1988 in Necoclí, Antioquia, so he is 38 years old as of November 2026.

Melissa Botero nationality

Melissa Botero is Colombian. She is from Antioquia, in the northwest of Colombia, the same department where Juan Cuadrado was born and where he started his professional career with Independiente Medellín.

How Juan Cuadrado and Melissa Botero met

The couple met in Medellín in a December, when Colombian players based in Europe are usually home on holiday. Juan, already playing in Italy and a face of the Adidas brand, came into the store she was managing to collect the clothing his sponsor provided.

Melissa told the story herself in 2019, joking that there are two versions, his and hers, and that the audience should believe hers. She said she greeted him and handed him over to a colleague. He asked to be served by her instead, then asked for her phone number, and she refused. Her colleague, one of her best friends, kept telling her how kind he was, so Melissa asked him to leave his number. After her friend insisted, she called him, they went out to dinner that same night, and that, she said, is where it all started. He then flew back to Italy and they kept talking.

What attracted her, she said, was that he seemed different from the other footballers she knew: simple, humble, always smiling and kind with people. Juan confirmed the story on stage, laughing that she had played hard to get and that the friend deserved part of the credit.

Some Colombian reports place the meeting during his years at Independiente Medellín, before he moved to Europe in 2009. Melissa's own account, in which he was already playing in Italy, is the more reliable version. Pulzo reported that their romance began in Medellín in 2012 and that she visited him in Italy in 2013.

Melissa Botero and Juan Cuadrado's wedding

Juan Cuadrado and Melissa Botero married on 30 March 2016 in Barranquilla, where Cuadrado was with the Colombia national team for two World Cup qualifiers. The couple already lived together in Italy and already had a daughter.

The ceremony was meant to be private. According to Claro Sports, it was planned for 8 in the morning at a notary's office, but curious onlookers made that impossible, so the couple married in a hotel and the ceremony only took place around midday. Colombia.com wrote that only close family and friends attended. Cuadrado flew back to Italy straight afterwards to rejoin Juventus.

The short Claro Sports Colombia report above was published the day after the wedding, in March 2016.

Juan Cuadrado and Melissa Botero's children

How many children does Juan Cuadrado have? He and Melissa have two children, a daughter, Lucía, and a son, Lucas. Both names have been made public by the couple themselves, but they keep the children's lives largely private.

Lucía was born in November 2015, while Cuadrado was playing for Juventus. The club congratulated him on becoming a father on its website, and Cuadrado had celebrated a derby goal with a thumb-in-mouth gesture shortly before.
Lucas was born in Turin in January 2019. Cuadrado announced the news on Instagram with a photo of Melissa holding the baby, calling her a super mum, according to La FM.

In the 2019 church interview, Juan said being a father was the most beautiful privilege but above all an enormous responsibility, and that he wanted his children to remember him as a great dad who showed them his faith.

Melissa Botero and Juan Cuadrado's Christian faith

Both of them speak openly about being Christians, and their faith is part of almost every public appearance they make together. English Wikipedia describes Cuadrado as a devout Christian, and in a 2018 interview with Bocas magazine he said he had drawn much closer to God during his difficult months at Chelsea.

Melissa has told her own story too. In 2019 she said that at 14 or 15 she first prayed with neighbours who had told her about their church, but that she only fully committed to her faith years later, around the time she and Juan began reading the Bible with friends and their pastor. She described a normal day in Italy as one built around prayer, sermons and reading, with evening video calls with their pastor and with other players' wives.

Asked what advice they would give to newly married couples, Melissa said marriage is very hard and that she did not know how they would have managed without God, explaining that when they argue they turn to the Bible for guidance. Juan added that during disagreements he sometimes steps away to pray before coming back to talk, more humbly.

The full 2019 interview at Comunidad MDE in Medellín, in Spanish, is on the church's YouTube channel. In it Melissa, introduced by Juan as nervous because she had never spoken in public before, and Juan talk about how they met, their marriage, their children and their faith. In July 2024, El Heraldo reported that Cuadrado was spending his time off in Colombia sharing reflections at the New Life Christian church in Sabaneta, Antioquia.

Melissa Botero Instagram

Melissa Botero is on Instagram as @melibotero1. As of November 2026 the account is private, so only approved followers can see her photos.

Juan Cuadrado is on Instagram as @cuadrado, with about 13 million followers, and that is where most public photos of the couple appear, usually for anniversaries, birthdays and Mother's Day.

Who is Juan Cuadrado? Career timeline

Juan Guillermo Cuadrado Bello was born on 26 May 1988 in Necoclí, a small town on the Gulf of Urabá in Antioquia. His father was killed when he was four, and his mother, Marcela Bello, raised him while working at a banana distributor. He became one of the most decorated Colombian players in European football, playing as a winger and later as a right-back.

His club career up to November 2026:

2008 to 2009: Independiente Medellín
2009 to 2012: Udinese, including a 2011/12 loan at Lecce
2012 to 2015: Fiorentina
February to August 2015: Chelsea, Premier League and League Cup winner in 2014/15
2015 to 2023: Juventus, on loan from Chelsea until 2017 and then permanently. He won five Serie A titles in a row (2015/16 to 2019/20) and four Coppa Italia titles, and left when his contract ended in June 2023
2023/24: Inter Milan, Serie A champion, although an Achilles tendon injury and surgery in December 2023 cost him most of the season
2024/25: Atalanta, on a one-year deal
2025/26: Pisa, newly promoted to Serie A. He made 19 appearances and scored one goal, a penalty against AC Milan, but Pisa were relegated on 1 May 2026
September 2026 onwards: Millonarios, who officially announced him on 10 September 2026 on a contract until June 2027, according to La República

Off the pitch, he has a foundation, the Fundación Juan Cuadrado, which works with children in Medellín, and La República reported in 2026 that he has a sneaker brand, 95JC, developed with the Colombian company Quest, and is a partner in the Guatapé Plaza shopping centre with fellow internationals Yerry Mina and Jefferson Lerma.

The video above is Millonarios' official live stream of the press conference welcoming Cuadrado to the club, broadcast on 16 September 2026.

Juan Cuadrado and the Colombia national team

Cuadrado made his Colombia debut in 2010 and has more than 110 caps, according to Wikipedia. He played at the 2014 World Cup, where he scored against Japan and was the tournament's joint top assist provider, and at the 2018 World Cup, where he scored against Poland. He also won bronze at the 2016 and 2021 Copa América.

He has not been called up by coach Néstor Lorenzo since before the 2024 Copa América, according to El Colombiano. He was named in Colombia's preliminary list of 55 players for the 2026 World Cup but was left out of the final 26-man squad announced on 25 May 2026, as Blu Radio reported. We found no announcement of his retirement from international football.

For more than a decade his Colombia teammates included goalkeeper David Ospina, whose story with his wife Jesica Sterling we have also told.

Life with Juan Cuadrado at Juventus

Juventus is where the couple spent most of their years together in Europe, from 2015 to 2023, and both of their children were born during that spell. Cuadrado's Juventus teammates in those years included Giorgio Chiellini, married to Carolina Bonistalli, and Leonardo Bonucci, married to Martina Maccari.

In the 2019 interview, Melissa described the hardest part of being a footballer's wife as time and loneliness: living in another country, having babies without knowing if Juan would be there, and never being able to celebrate his birthday on the day itself because of matches. She also said it can be hard to know who likes her for herself rather than for her husband.

Quick facts about Melissa Botero

Full name: Diana Melissa Botero Flórez
Nationality: Colombian, from Antioquia
Husband: Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Millonarios winger and former Juventus player
Together since: about 2012
Married: 30 March 2016, Barranquilla
Children: Lucía (born November 2015) and Lucas (born January 2019)
Previous job: managed an Adidas store in Medellín
Faith: Christian, as she has said publicly
Instagram: @melibotero1 (private)
Age: not published

Frequently asked questions about Melissa Botero

Who is Melissa Botero?

Melissa Botero, full name Diana Melissa Botero Flórez, is the Colombian wife of footballer Juan Guillermo Cuadrado. They married in 2016 and have two children.

How old is Melissa Botero?

Her date of birth has not been published, so her age is not known.

What is Melissa Botero's nationality?

She is Colombian, from the department of Antioquia, like her husband.

When did Juan Cuadrado marry Melissa Botero?

They married on 30 March 2016 in a private ceremony at a hotel in Barranquilla, during a Colombia national team trip.

How did Juan Cuadrado meet his wife?

They met in Medellín, at an Adidas store Melissa was managing, when Juan came in during his December holidays to collect his sponsor's clothing. She at first refused to give him her number.