Gloria Estefan says she was sexually abused at 9-years-old
On the latest episode of her Facebook Watch series "Red Table Talk: The Estefans," Gloria Estefan said she was sexually abused by a family member when she was 9 years old.
"I knew one day I would share this story," Estefan said at the start of the show. "I was waiting for the right opportunity and space to do so."
Estefan began her revelation by stating: "Ninety-three percent of abused children know and trust their abusers. And I know this because I was one of them."
She then said that she used to attend a music school run by a man she did not name, who she described as "family, but not close family" and as someone who she says her mother trusted.
"He immediately started telling [my mom] how talented I was, and how I needed special attention, and she felt lucky that he was focusing this kind of attention on me," Estefan said, adding, "It starts little by little and then it goes fast."
When Estefan tried to stop the abuse, she says the man told her, "Your father's in Vietnam, your mother's alone and I will kill her if you tell her."
She continued: "I knew the man was insane and that's why I thought he might actually hurt my mother." But finally, Gloria said, she broke down and told her mother the truth.
But when her mom called the police, the singer claims they advised her mother not to press charges. "They said I was going to go through worse trauma having to get on a stand and testify," Estefan claimed. "And that's the one thing that I feel bad about, knowing that there must have been other victims."
Estefan said that years later, after she had her first big hit with "Conga," the same man "wrote a letter to the paper criticizing my music."
"At that moment, I was so angry that I was about to blow the lid off of everything, and then I thought, 'My whole success is going to turn into him,'" she recalled. "That's what they do, they take your power."
In the episode, Estefan and her family also talk to Clare Crawley, the first Latina "Bachelorette," about Crawley's abuse as a child at the hands of a priest.
If you or someone you know is in need of help, the National Sexual Assault Hotline -- 800-656-HOPE -- is free, confidential and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also use the hotline's chat online option.
