Ines Garcia, the partner of Barcelona and Spain forward Lamine Yamal, has spoken publicly about suffering a herpes outbreak in a personal disclosure shared with her approximately five million Instagram followers.
The 21-year-old influencer said she had not experienced an outbreak for a considerable period before waking recently to find a cold sore on her nose. Her comments, reported by German newspaper Bild, quickly prompted widespread debate on social media.
Writing on her Instagram story, Garcia said: “It has been a long time since I had herpes. Do you remember a year ago? At that time, I was having at least one outbreak a month. Yesterday, I woke up and found one on my nose, and this is what I have looked like for the past 24 hours.”
She accompanied the message with a photograph showing the sore clearly. Garcia also posted a video in which she filmed her face from several angles, appearing determined to address the condition openly rather than conceal it.
The disclosure drew both criticism and mockery online. Some users questioned why she had chosen to share details about her health, while others made personal comments about her relationship with Yamal.
One post on X criticising Garcia’s decision to discuss the issue received more than 18,000 likes. Another user joked that she woke up every day intending to embarrass Yamal, while a third, making light of how difficult it would be to obtain such information from the person concerned, attracted more than 2.4 million views.
The reaction is the latest controversy involving Garcia since she confirmed her relationship with Yamal in May 2026. She has repeatedly faced criticism and rumours on social media, including allegations concerning previous relationships.
Garcia has previously said she received hundreds of thousands of hate messages. She has also described dealing with fake accounts and artificial intelligence-generated content about her, meaning her activity on social platforms has frequently been accompanied by intense online scrutiny.
The material also listed a La Liga fixture between Barcelona and Villarreal scheduled for 22 November 2026.
