Leila Melo Rodriguez is a major antagonist of the Brazilian TV Globo's telenovela Amor à Vida.

She was portrayed by Fernanda Machado.

Her Evil Ranking[]

What Makes Her Close to Being Pure Evil?[]

• She abused and mistreated her autistic sister, not respecting her health condition and even treating her with such discrimination, to the point of suggesting that they place her in the laundry, as if she were an animal. By verbally abusing and afflicting her sister, Leila made Linda freak out and think that she really was what her sister said, which worsened her mental condition.
• She despised her own family and insulted them for being poor, not hesitating to offend and hurt them. When she managed to get rich, Leila cruelly made it clear to her family that she despised them completely and would not even remember that she had a family, now that she was rich.
• In order to deliver a scam and get rich, Leila choose a rich girl called Nicole, who discovered she has cancer and is only 6 months of life, to be her victim. Leila plays her friend and takes advantage of the girl's desire to live a romance before she dies and induces her lover, Thales, to seduce Nicole, taking advantage of her feelings, marrying her and thus inheriting her inheritance when she dies, assuming Leila as a wife and making her rich, despite Thales' resistance to starting the plan.
• When Nicole's housekeeper, Lídia, who raised her, begins to distrust Thales' real intentions, Leila arms her to be fired, taking Nicole's jewelry and hiding it between Lídia's belongings, making Nicole think that the housekeeper stole it, which further affected his health and resulted in Lídia's dismissal.
• Having continued their romance with Thales even after he and Nicole fell in love and committed to getting married, Leila and Thales end up causing Nicole's early death in their marriage, when Lídia, in order to end the hoax and protect Nicole from the gold digging couple, reveals the case of Leila and Thales to everyone, including Nicole, when showing a photo she took of the two kissing. And although Thales feels remorse and grieves for being responsible for her death, as he genuinely loved Nicole in a genuine way, Leila feels no remorse, no sadness and reacts coldly, without any feeling, quite the contrary, she, deep down, feels happy, since with Nicole's early death, she wouldn't have to wait for months until she died to finally enjoy Nicole's wealth with her lover.
• As pointed out by Thales himself, what Leila feels for him cannot be considered genuine love. Her love for Thales can be considered more of a case of hedonistic and carnal passion and also a means by which she would became rich.
• When she discovers that Nicole has a sister, Natasha, who can claim the inheritance for herself, Leila induces Thales to get involved with her as she got involved with Nicole and plans to simulate an accident so that she dies, since, unlike the previous one, this one was not terminally ill. But this time, Thales doesn't accept and breaks up with Leila.
• She tries to kill Natasha by hitting her on the head with an iron rod and setting Nicole's mansion on fire so that unconscious Natasha dies by burning even after Natasha still left a piece of jewelry for her in an act of mercy.
• Although her death is horrible as she is burned alive by the fire she herself caused, is not played with sympathy but instead for karmic and satisfaction.

What Prevents Her from Being Pure Evil?[]

• She isn't heinous enough to her actions stand out in Amor à Vida, since there's villains who are so heinous as her or even more heinous than, such as Alejandra, Glauce, Aline or even Felix, who thrown his newborn niece at a dumpster.

Trivia[]

• She and Aline Noronha, both from Amor à Vida, are the first, and currently, only two villains from Brazilian soap operas to be Near Pure Evil.