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Gloria Estefan speaks for the first time about childhood trauma. In Thursday’s episode of Red round table: Les Estefans, the singer revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a parent when she was 9 years old.
“Ninety-three percent of abused children know and trust their abusers. And I know that because I was one of them, ”began the 64-year-old“ Conga ”singer.
“You’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” said Gloria’s niece Lili Estefan, also at the table.
“I did it,” Gloria continued on the Facebook Watch show. “He was someone my mother trusted. He was family, but not close family. He was in a position of power because my mother put me in her music school and he immediately started telling her how talented I was and how much I needed special attention… she felt lucky that he was focusing his attention on me. “
The Grammy winner added: “He said it by saying ‘Oh, you’re so good at this and let me teach you’ … it starts little by little, then it goes fast.”
Gloria knew she “was in a very dangerous situation”, especially when the man threatened her mother’s life.
“When I rebelled and told him ‘This can’t happen, you can’t do this’, he said’ Your father is in Vietnam, your mother is alone, and I will kill her if you can. say ‘”, she recalled. “And I knew he was crazy because at no point did I think it was because of me that this was happening. I knew the man was crazy and that’s why I thought that he could actually hurt my mother. “
Gloria said that she “tried by all means to get out of this school”, such as pretending to be sick. Her mother had no idea that anything was going on. “[Sexual abuse] we did not talk about it at all during his lifetime, “noted the singer.
The anxiety eventually became too much to bear, with “a circle of hair” falling from her head. She ran to her mother’s room in the middle of the night and told her everything. Her mother called the police.
“Then the police came … and they told my mother not to press charges because they said I was going to suffer worse trauma than having to testify and testify,” Gloria said. “And that’s the only thing I feel bad about, knowing there must have been other victims.”
The man, whom Gloria calls a “predator”, has remained “a respected member of the community”.
“When we had our first big success with Conga, [he] wrote a letter to the newspaper criticizing my music, ”she revealed. “At that point, I was so angry that I was about to blow everything up and then I thought… ‘All of my success is going to turn into him.'”
Gloria criticized “this manipulation and control, but that’s what they do. They take your power.”
Old Bachelorette Clare Crawley joined the table for the emotional episode and discussed being sexually assaulted by a priest as a child. The reality TV star helped Gloria share her story, which only family members knew.
“I wanted to deal with this topic because it’s so important to try to prevent. I also didn’t want to sit here quietly while you share and are brave,” she told Crawley. “I knew that one day I would share this story. I was waiting for the right opportunity and space to do so. And that’s one of the reasons I said yes to the table at all. Because we wanted to create this space where we talk about important things and I hope that will make a difference for everyone watching out there. “
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