 SINGER GLORIA ESTEFAN AND HUSBAND EMILIO by Jose Antonio Olivar Photographed by Jesus Carrero Despite massive and enduring success worldwide, Cuban-born singer Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio are a perfect example of how to keep a showbiz marriage strong. Currently celebrating 20 years together, they marked their anniversary by showing us around their Star Island home, which is decorated in original style throughout, with furniture and articles brought from India, Thailand, Singapore and South Africa. The singer, who has sold 72 million copies of her records around the world, and is now storming the charts with her new album, "gloria!", revealed some of the keys to her long and solid marriage, which has produced two belowed children, Nayib, 17, and three-year-old Emily. Emilio too had some words to say about his wife, both as a woman and as a star. Gloria, you married Emilio on your 21st birthday, and now you're celebrating two decades together. But 'twenty years is nothing', according to one tango lyric. What do you think? "It's a lot in terms of the happyness it represents. But at the same time it's nothing because those 20 years have flashed by so fast! Emilio makes me laugh a lot and that's huge part of why our marriage works". Do you remember the first time you saw Emilio? "Of course. I'd been invited to form part of a musicl group - I used to play the guitar in a church - and one day they called Emilio, who played the accordion for a group called Miami Boys, to come and give us some advice. I noticed his hands, and I thought he was nice, too... But he just gave us some advice and disappeared, and I didn't see him for another three months, when we met at a wedding. Which of you laid your cards on the table first? "We started seeing each other among mutual friends. He used to crack a lot of jokes. He had a girlfriend back then and I'd never been out with a boy because I'd always been looking after my father, who was ill. And anyway, I never thought Emilio would be interested in me. "But on the Fourth of July 1976, on the Bicentenary of the United States, we went to play in some place and on the bus, he suddenly said to me: 'Do you know, I think that if we got married it would work out really well?' I looked at him as if to say, what is this guy talking about? and he went on; 'Yes, because your character goes very weel with mine'. "Later on that evening he suggested a drink on the terrace and once we were out there, he told me it was his birthday - which was a lie because it's on march 4 - and said; 'Why don't you give me a kiss here, on the cheek? I said; 'I think I'd better buy you a present'. But he insisted on 'a birthday kiss, that's all'. So I went to give him the kiss, he turned his head... and I got his lips instead of the cheek". "That's how it all began. I'd never had a boyfriend and Emilio was the first man to kiss me". One take a spouse 'for richee and poorer'. Is it the same for you now you're living in luxury as it was when you had a more modest lifestyle? "Exactly the same. It's true that sometimes luxury can complicate things. But we've always said that if we lost everything and were on our own in a little flat with our family, we'd be just as happy". "Of course, we're not daft, and we do know how to enjoy all the things we have, but that's not what brings happiness. Happiness is about being comfortable with the person you sleep, eat and go for walks with, the one you've created a family with. In that sense, we've been super-happy and our relationship has got deeper and deeper". "You never know what's going to happen from one day to the next, but I hope Emilio and I stay together for the rest of our lives. I don't think I'd want to go through life with anyone else". Is love a lottery? It's not a lottery. It's a dance: there are moments when you dance apart and others when you are almost one. I'ts something that changes from day to day and every day you have to nourish and water that love as you would plants or flowers. Love only flourishesif you put in a little effort every day to make it grow. If you and Emilio hadn't both left Cuba and gone into exile, you might never met. Maybe not, because he lived in Santiago and I lived in Havana. But destiny put certain people in your path. And I believe things were destined to be like this for both of us". Despite the wonderful life you've built here, do you still think of living in Miami as being in exile? "No Miami is my home. I don't see it as exile because I left Cuba when I was two years old. However, it is curious that the older I get, the more nostalgia I feel fro my homeland. As if there were some business outstandind between Cuba and myself. I've travelled all over and I've sung to all different nationalities, except my own. And that is sad". They say that for you and Emilio, who's your manager, your family is your greatest hit. "Emilio and I say it's our best production, what most satisfies us. I'm more interested in being No. 1 as a wife and mother than as an artist. My will always be important for me, my fans will always be superimportant, and that's why I do things I don't have to do, like go on tour, because, like marriage it needs to be nourished. But in life, everything changes, new voices emerge, new music, new tastes, while one family is, of course, for ever. And that's the most important thing for me". And Emilio treats you like a queen, doesn't he? "Yes. Emilio spoils me rotten, he reallt does. He's so thoughtful; he's always buying me things because he's thinking of me all the time. And he's really well organised. I couldn't hope for a better manager in my career". And how do you treat him? "I try to treat him like a king. But the problem is that he's always there before me, he doesn't give me a chance! But emotionally he knows I'm always there for him and that I support him in everything". Do you think you would be what you are if Emilio were not what he is? "No way. We would both have been successful separately - he's a man who would have made it no matter what he set his hand to. But separately, we would never have achieved together. It's been a remarkable partnership, unique". Tell us about your Foundation. "The Gloria Estefan Foundation, which got underway about ten years ago, is my way of being able to work for good causes. At the moment we're thinking of opening, in Miami, one of the biggest neurological centres in the world. It will focus on multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, children with AIDS and so on. I have a group of excellent professionals who are collaborating with me on a voluntary basis. I rust them and I believe that people who really need help will be treated through the Foundation. I've achieved all I wanted to life, I'm in a social position in which I'm able to help people. Even with my music: I've always wanted people listening to my songs to feel strenght, hope, cheerfulness, desire. It makes me happy that my music can brighten up other people's lives". Emilio, those close to you say you're the soul, the 'inventor' of Gloria. "I'm not the Gloria's inventor. When my wife goes out on stage, it's just her. If tehre's no raw material, you can't do anything. Talent is not something you can invent or whip out of your sleeve just like that, because the public soon realises what you're up to". How do you see Gloria? "She's a very human person., the kind of woman we need a lot more of in the world - the sort who think about other people more than themselves. That's a great virtue. Professionally speaking, she's got a lot of integrity. And for her, the main thing is always her family. As a wife and as a mother, I'd always give her a '10', with a star! There couldn't be a better mother than Gloria. And as a woman, well, she's the only one I ever imagined marrying. Gloria hasn't been changed by success and fame. That means she has strong values. Over the past 20 years, we've had a lot of happiness and sme difficult times. With and without money. There are marriages that get unstable when success comes along. That happens because tree has no roots and the wind of fame, or even a little breeze of success, can bring it down. But if you're got deep roots and a strong base, all abundance should do is make you more humble and more thankful to God for having given you the wonderful opportunity to helps others. I think that Gloria and I are the dream for a lot of young people because, in a way, we represent the ideal that everything can be achieved i f you lead a decent life based on work". |