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La Madrastra
Directed by	Eric Morales Édgar Ramírez
Written by	Arturo Moya Grau (original) Mauricio Aridjis, Julián Aguilar & Liliana Abud (adaptation)
Script by	Martha Olaíz
Cinematography by	Jesús Nájera Saro Lino Adrián Gama Esquinca (on location)
Produced by	Salvador Mejía
Starring	Victoria Ruffo César Évora Jacqueline Andere Guillermo Garcia Cantu
Music by	Jorge Avendaño
Theme song	Víveme
Performed by	Laura Pausini
Country	Mexico
Language	Spanish
Network	Televisa
Broadcast	2005
No. of episodes	120

La Madrastra is a Mexican telenovela, which was produced by and broadcasted on Televisa in 2005.

It is a remake of the Chilean production of the same name of 1981 (which was originally written by Arturo Moya Grau and directed by Oscar Rodriguez). Two other productions were made as Vivir un poco (1985) with Angélica Aragón and Para toda la vida (1996) with Ofelia Medina in the starring roles.

The show got attention in the United States via E!'s The Soup which would have weekly recaps of the show and clips of its more outrageous moments. Host Joel McHale would often get excited talking about it, at one point stating "I can think of fourteen network shows I understand that aren't this good!"

Maria (Victoria Ruffo) is on a trip with her husband Esteban and other friends, when she finds her friend Patricia dead. She is accused of the murder and incarcerated. While in jail her husband divorces her. Everyone makes a pact to keep this a secret, Maria has two young children who have no idea that their mother is still alive, their father tells them that she died and everyone goes along with it.

Twenty years later Maria is let out for good conduct and is full of vengeance and hate. Her goal is to get back her children Hector and Estrella whom she loves very much. Maria makes her way back to the people that she once knew, and she finds out that there's a portrait of a woman in her ex-husband's house whom he has told their children that its the picture of their mother. Every year they have a memorial service for the woman in the portrait. The woman in the portrait looks nothing like Maria. This angers Maria even further.

She eventually goes on to marry Esteban but her children do not accept her because they don't know that she's really their mother. They can never accept a stepmother. Esteban has another son Angel, but he's not really his son, he raised Angel as his own. It turns out that Angel is the son of one of his aunt's and to avoid scandal he has raised him as his own. Maria bonds with Angel, although she has a much harder time bonding with Estrella and Hector. Estrella is particularly rebellious because although she has everything a girl her age could want, she misses the love of her mother. Maria also finds out that one of Esteban's aunts, Fabiola has always been in love with Esteban and has always hated Maria. In the end, Maria gets back her children and uncovers the murderer of Patricia.

• La Madrastra at the Internet Movie Database
• (Spanish) Official site on Televisa