Gloria Estefan Reveals the Secret to Her Nearly 40 Year Marriage to Husband Emilio
Gloria Estefan is divulging secrets from her long-lasting marriage to husband Emilio Estefan!
The “Conga” singer, 60, is busy promoting the national tour of On Your Feet! — a musical depicting the rise of her and Emilio’s musical careers — and also explaining what it takes to have a healthy decades-long marriage.
“We’ve been together [for] 43 [years],” Gloria told Entertainment Tonight. “I met him when I was one.”
“Respect and love and, more than anything else, being Latino, you say, ‘Yes, baby, whatever you want,'” Emilio, 65, joked.
“That is such a crock. You know what?” Gloria responded. “He makes me laugh every single day of my life.”
The couple will celebrate 40 years of marriage on Sept. 2. They have two children together, son Nayib, 37, and daughter Emily, 23.
In March 2017, Gloria said in an interview for People Icons’ “Celebrity Love Stories” that the two first bonded over music and through mutual friends at a jam session in 1975.
“In comes Emilio. He’s playing the accordion in very short shorts, and he looked like he was naked, so that was the first impression that I got,” she recalled.
“Then my mom drags me to a wedding a few months later, and I walk in the door, and there [he is] playing ‘The Hustle.’ He tracked me down two weeks later,” Gloria said.
Shortly after, the couple began playing a wedding bank together, but things didn’t get romantic at first.
“We had chemistry for sure. But he had an older girlfriend, and he was my boss,” she explained.
Emilio jokingly added, “She’s my boss now!”
It didn’t take long for the two to fall in love and it was on their first day to see Young Frankenstein that Gloria “knew I was going to marry this man.”
The two married in 1978.
“When it’s real love, it gets better,” Emilio said. “It’s all about respect and love and communication. When you have a great foundation, it becomes easy.”