Gloria Estefan revealed one of the darkest passages in her life: the abuse she suffered at the hands of one of her father's relatives (Source: Life Stories)
Gloria Estefan has revealed shocking details about a painful chapter in her childhood: the sexual abuse she suffered at the age of nine at the hands of a family member. In a recent interview for the Life Stories documentary series The Thread, Estefan elaborated on the incident, which he previously revealed with the goal of helping other survivors.
Uriel Monterrubio
Estefan described his attacker as “a predator of the worst kind.” The artist began spending time with him to study music, encouraged by her parents who, learning about a classical music school run by her father's cousin, saw an opportunity for her to learn classical guitar and perfect her singing.
Over time, Estefan faced the challenge of speaking about what happened, but it took a year before she mustered the courage to tell her mother. Her refusal was out of fear of the consequences of revealing the abuse, but from a young age she realized that if she did not stop, the consequences could be irreversible.
“I think I was even more scared because I knew I was getting to the point where something irreversible was going to happen to me. “I knew I had to avoid it at all costs.”
To keep the abuse secret, Gloria made up endless excuses to avoid class. The fear caused by her parents' lying and dealing with her predator's constant attacks led to Gloria's severe physical consequences, such as the loss of a “wreath of hair.”
After this traumatic experience, the singer gave parents advice to prevent similar situations. He stressed that the most important thing is to give children the confidence to tell their parents anything and also support them with enough knowledge so that they can recognize when someone is trying to harm them.
“Arm them (kids) with tools like talking openly with them about it and telling them, 'You can always tell mom or dad anything that happens to you,'” the eight-time Grammy winner also shared assured that this type of people they are must be sent to prison without hesitation.
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