Gloria Estefan is no Diva. Though
encircled by her lively entourage, including a hair
stylist, makeup artist, personal assistants, and a
film crew, as soon as her eye catches me entering her
Beverly Hills Hotel cabana, she abruptly tears herself
away. Bounding toward me, Gloria extends her hand and
says warmly, ?Hi, so very nice to meet you. I?m sorry
that I?m running late.? She invites me to the private
terrace where she will conduct two short TV interviews.
Before the cameras roll, Estefan is concerned that
I have a seat. She?s friendly and gracious to everyone.
Watching Gloria during the tapings, she radiates honesty,
humility, intelligence, and passion. One interviewer
even asks her to repeat her answers directly in Spanish,
and Gloria changes gears with ease and composure. Afterwards,
I touch her shoulder and say, ?Now you can relax??thinking
she had to be ?on? for the camera. Surprised
by my comment, she politely, yet assuredly responds
matter-of-factly, ?Oh, no. I am relaxed.? Gloria?s
a no-bull kind of girl?secure and comfortable in her
own skin.
As I set up for the interview in the
living room of her lavish Mediterranean-style bungalow,
I flashback to November 1999 when I first contacted
her for an interview. It?s been a long road, which
included three polite and thoughtful rejection letters
from her longtime manager due to scheduling conflicts.
Finally, just a month ago, an interview date was set
in Miami (her home)?airline tickets purchased, etc.?but
several days prior to my departure, Gloria had to cancel. Feeling
bad about it, Gloria offered to pay for my flight and
invited me to partake in an upcoming ?media day,? to
promote her long awaited, personal album, Unwrapped.
Unfortunately, I developed an infected tooth and couldn?t
accept! Weeks later, her friendly and efficient assistant,
Zeida, called and said excitedly, ?Gloria?s going to
be in L.A. for a few days, can you see her then?!? Here
I am.
As I collect my thoughts, Gloria walks
in from the terrace and sits down next to me on the
large comfy sofa. Behind us stands an extraordinarily
huge floral arrangement set in a faux Romanesque ceramic
urn, the kind you usually see in the lobby of a five-star
hotel. Gloria is clad in a casually elegant outfit?a
long, black skirt with four-inch black boots, and a
cobalt blue long-sleeve t-shirt. Her beautiful flowing
locks are in ringlets, bouncy and shiny. There is an
unusual motif on the shirt, and she later explains
that it was designed by Carlos Betancourt (who also
created the artwork for Unwrapped) and is the
Taino symbol, which represents Cuban Indians. At forty-six,
Gloria has a youthful glow, a spirited personality,
and is poised and centered. And yes, she is short!
The five-time Grammy Award winning
singer, songwriter, and actress (1999?s Music of
the Heart with Meryl Streep), Estefan has been
an AIDS activist from the start, participating in such
benefits as LIFEbeat?s Beat Goes On II, and the New
York Toys ?R? Us Event (to help HIV-positive kids,
and crack babies). She has participated in the Miami
AIDS Walk, and has shot several PSAs. Gloria and her
husband of twenty-five years, Emilio, are co-chairs
of Miami?s Community Alliance Against AIDS, which provides
care to people with HIV and AIDS, and educates youth
about prevention. Her other humanitarian interests
include anti-violence campaigns, arts education, child
welfare, American Red Cross, United Way, and paralysis
research (she is chairwoman for the Miami Project to
Cure Paralysis). In 1992, the Estefans staged a concert
that raised $3 million to help South Florida residents
who were devastated by Hurricane Andrew.
Gloria practices what she preaches.
At home, she maintains open lines of communication
with her children, Emily, nine, and her son, Nayib,
twenty-three, a filmmaker. Nayib recently completed
a documentary of his mother putting together her CD, Unwrapped?a
musical photo album of her life that was inspired by
the five-year hiatus from her career in order to hang
with her family. (For the first time in all of her
twenty-two albums, Gloria wears the producer?s hat.
She wrote most of the songs and the introspective soulful/pop
CD features duets with Stevie Wonder and Chrissie Hynde.) ?When
Magic Johnson came out, we were in Australia and Nayib
was about eleven. He started asking questions about
AIDS, so I took the opportunity to talk to him about
condoms. We had already had the talk about sex so that
was already under the belt. After the conversation,
I went to take a shower. I guess he had been
a little embarrassed to ask more questions then, so
he sat on the toilet, like being in a confessional,
and said, ?Mom, you said to ask you more questions?? And
then he laid into me with questions like you would
not believe. I was sweatin? there in the shower!? she
exclaims, recalling the incident.
?But I?ve always been very honest
and normal about these things because it?s important.
I said to him, ?Fatherhood is a responsibility of yours?don?t
ever leave it up to only the girl. Because regardless
of whether you love this woman or not, that baby is
going to be yours and you?re gonna have to take care
of it. It?s going to be your family for the rest of
your life.??
Along with pregnancy, Gloria made
sure that her son understood that disease can also
be a by-product of an intimate relationship. ?If you
don?t take care of yourself on a wild night?you?ve
had a couple of drinks, you?re not worried about anything?that
night can come back to haunt you. And you will
have to deal with it. It?s a choice you make. It?s
always a choice. Don?t ever blame it on anything else,
like, the liquor, a drug, that night, another person.
No. You have to make the choice before you get
into that situation,? she emphasizes.
At that moment, as if on cue, Emily
and Emilio enter, laden with packages, apparently returning
from a shopping spree. Gloria sweetly shouts ?hi? to
Emily and informs Emilio, ?We?re doing an interview.? An
enthusiastic Emily darts toward Gloria to show the
boxed shoes they bought for her Las Vegas appearance
(Gloria replaced Celine Dion for one week in October),
but daddy sweeps Emily along. ?I can?t wait to see
them,? Gloria asserts. ?You?ll show me right when I?m
done. All right, baby?? Emilio apologizes for
interrupting, then he and Emily depart. ?She?s so good.
She?s really a joy,? Gloria boasts, as she scoots forward
on the sofa. (Gloria wrote the song You for
her daughter, which is on the new album.) ?AIDS or
sex hasn?t come up yet. Believe me, once she
has any curiosity about it, I will most definitely
deal with her as well. She?s very mature and responsible,
so I know that that conversation will go a long way.
I think women tend to grow up a little faster.?
Cuban born and Miami raised, Glorita
(as her dad called her) was just two-and-a-half when
her mother and father fled Cuba on one of the last
freedom flights. Shortly afterwards, her father, Jose
Fajardo, returned to Cuba as a freedom fighter in the
Bay of Pigs invasion. He was captured and jailed in
Havana. After his release, he returned to Miami, enlisted
in the American Armed Forces and fought in Vietnam. After
the war, Jose became seriously ill from the effects
of Agent Orange, and was confined to a wheelchair.Gloria,
eleven at the time, took care of her ailing father,
even picking him up when he failed to remember that
he couldn?t walk. She also looked after her younger
sister, Rebecca, while her mother taught elementary
school.
Music was Gloria?s escape, and singing
in her bedroom kept her sane. Music was a staple
in her life. Even as a baby, her mother would sing
to her as she changed her diapers. Gloria?s father
was later hospitalized and diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis. Gloria was devastated. In 1978, Gloria
graduated summa cum laude from University of Miami
with a major in psych, and married Cuban-born bandleader,
Emilio, whom she met several years prior at a wedding
where he was playing. Emilio coaxed a shy Gloria to
join his band, The Miami Sound Machine (formerly called
the Miami Latin Boys but renamed after she joined),
pushed her to center stage, and boosted her confidence
(think Karen Carpenter hiding behind those drums, who
is also one of Gloria?s all time favorite singers).
In another interview, upon meeting Gloria, Emilio has
said, ?She was sad because of her father. The only
moments I saw her happy was when she sang. Her
eyes would come alive.? In 1980, after years of sickness,
Gloria?s father died at home. Near the end of his life,
he barely recognized the daughter who cared for him.That
same year, Nayib was born, and the Miami Sound Machine
signed their first record contract.
In 1990, at the peak of her career,
a road accident nearly claimed Gloria?s life. Her tour
bus collided with a semitrailer on a snowy Pennsylvania
highway. She was paralyzed from her injuries. It was
an arduous road to recovery, including an operation
to place two steel rods into her spine, and a yearlong
agonizing physical rehabilitation.
Throughout her recovery, memories
of her father flooded Gloria?s mind and of her experiences
having a terminally ill person in the home. Even
though she believes that she gained strength from that
experience and that strength aided her in her own recovery,
Gloria didn?t want to burden her own family. Her prognosis
was very bad. The doctor confided to her: ?This
is definitely what medicine says, but as a human being,
I?m now going to tell you that I think it?s up to you. Depending
what you decide will be the outcome.? Gloria was determined
to do the maximum in terms of healing to regain her
independence and to save her family the pain of caring
for her. She tried practically everything, including
alternative medicine to heal herself. She took herbs,
received massages, meditated, ate healthy, and so on. ?I?m
a very independent person, and people had to sit me
up, lay me down, turn me, and it was like, how am I
going to get through this?! Thanks to my husband,
who was incredible. He would have to walk me, since
I couldn?t walk by myself. And I couldn?t sleep for
more than forty-five minutes because the pain was really bad. Emilio
would be up every several hours to comfort me,? Gloria
says reverently, then declares, ?I almost threw a party
four months later when I put my underwear on myself.
I wanted to celebrate!?
Estefan spent five to six hours a
day in rehab. ?I would talk to myself daily into getting
up and moving those extra five feet because the next
day it?d be harder. It?s a process. It?s not easy.
You just stick with it. You get down, you cry.
It comes to the point where you say, Okay, I got it
out, I cried, but now I?ve got to go forward. You have to
move ahead,? attests Gloria, ?How can I make this better?
You take it one day at a time.? She thinks a
moment and with a measure of self-assurance continues: ?Had
it worked out another way, then I would have played
sports in a wheelchair or have done my writing. I would
have kept going. I?m a person that always looks forward.
But I tried as hard as I could.?
But Gloria triumphed. Today, her doctor
is dumbfounded. ?My doctor still believes it was miraculous,
since they said I?d never walk again. He says, ?I
operated on you! I saw what was there.? Two
girls were in rehab with me who had the exact same
thing wrong with them, and they are still in wheelchairs.
All my life I had that fear because of my dad being
in a wheelchair. But I always had the feeling it?s
going be okay, plus I?ve been a little physic here
and there. That?s all I kept thinking?I?m gonna be
fine. It has to be.?
What advice would she give someone
who is facing a medical challenge? ?First of
all, medicine is in its infancy, so you take it with
a grain of salt. Thoughts create reality and we have
amazing powers to heal ourselves. Every seven years,
every single cell in your body is totally new and different.
What does that mean? With meditation and conscious
awareness you can steer yourself. You can affect your
health in a negative way or in a positive way. If
you?re not going to be smart enough to say I?m tired,
I need to rest, your body will zap you down and make
you sick. It?ll give you what you need,? explains
Gloria resting her head on her hand, with an elbow
on her knee. ?If you?re ill, you go inwards?it doesn?t
mean you don?t take medicine, you do?but you can accelerate
the healing. Sometimes if you are strong enough in
your thought processes, you can replace a lot of medications.
Don?t fall into the trap of believing what they tell
you is the status quo.?
?I learned that we all have amazing
discipline, each of us, whether we know it or not.
I learned to have patience with myself, and about the
incredible power of prayer. I could feel it around
me. The response was worldwide. I received tens of
thousands of cards and letters,? she says elatedly. ?People
were on their knees praying in the lobby of the hospital.
I could feel it as a physical energy around me, and
I sucked it in. I meditated and used it in my recuperation.
I?m a cynic; I need some kind of proof. So many people
wanted to help. I saw the goodness in people. The outpouring
of love was great. It?s as close as you could be to
seeing your own funeral, quite honestly. And I read
every letter and card. It was beautiful.?
The effects of this unfortunate event
are evident today. ?It?s very hard to stress me out,
quite honestly. It?s all relative,? she says sternly
with commitment. ?When I compare any problem I may
have?career or life?to starting over from scratch,
what it took to get past something like that, it?s
doesn?t mean anything. It doesn?t. I think, Why am
I going to get upset about this little problem?! This
is nuts. This is nothing. I can walk, I can talk, get
up and get water. I can run. I can make music. I wouldn?t
want to go through it again,? she says with deadpan
humor then reveals in a solemn mode, ?but I would
not change it.?
Death has clouded Gloria?s life many
times over the years. How does she deal with the pain
of loss? ?I feel that death is a transition and you
are simply growing into a different experience. We
may not be able to communicate with the tuning in [device]
that we have right now, though some people can and
psychics too can pick it up. It?s like tuning in a
radio, if you don?t have a radio that can tune into
a certain station, you won?t pick up the information.
When people pass on to a different realm, it?s a growing
experience, an evolution,? she states. ?I focus
and say, This person is out of life temporarily but
at some point we?ll meet up again. I really do believe
that. It?s not the end. For them it?s a new beginning,
and somehow you will meet up again in a different place.?
To Gloria, one?s concept of an afterlife
depends upon the belief system or religion in which
one was raised. ?Like I said before, thoughts create
reality. After death, you go into a different
experience perhaps you are still in this physical cycle
and you may come back; perhaps you don?t. I certainly
don?t know. To me, our soul is like a tree,? she explains. ?The
roots are having a different experience than the leaves
but it?s still apart of that tree. Perhaps this life
is one leaf on that tree, and simultaneously you?re
having many experiences as part of that soul. And your
soul memory is attached to God and everything. Time
is just an illusion; in fact, there?s a song on the
current album about time (Time Waits). Time
could be existing parallel, or whatever.? She
throws her hands up.
?For me, music can change things.
I always consciously think about that when I?m writing. In
some way, I want to empower the person that?s listening
or let them express themselves emotionally because
that?s what music did for me when I couldn?t do it.
This is the best thing about what I do.? Gloria pauses
to think of more AIDS-related songs that she has been
associated with. ?Oh, several years ago, Liza [Minnelli]
called me at home. She was at the studio recording
a song for an AIDS charity. She asked me to write Spanish
lyrics for it. I did, talked her through pronunciation,
and she recorded it on the spot. I have a Spanish heart,
and an American head,? she says proudly.
As a role model for Latinos, and a
trailblazer for performers like Christina Aguilera,
Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, and Shakira, Estfan has
been instrumental in introducing Latin music to a worldwide
audience. She has successfully promoted AIDS awareness
in the Latino community, as well. ?I?ve done PSAs in
Spanish where I talk about HIV and advise the parents
to talk to their kids. Education is the number tool
in the fight against AIDS, and we need to start early
so that this awareness becomes a part of their lifestyle.?
Unfortunately, there has been a rise
of HIV infection in the Latin community. How can she
address this? ?It?s probably because we don?t like
to talk about it,? she says in a straightforward manner. ?Hispanics,
they love having relationships! They?re sensual; they?re
sexual but talking about it, that?s tough. Parents
don?t talk to their kids early enough. A lot of guys
venture out and don?t let their families know what
they?re involved in, so they can?t talk to them even
if they wanted to,? she notes. ?Then there?s a lot
of embarrassment about it. It?s a culture thing. Information
is a big part of AIDS prevention, and the macho mentality
gets in the way. Information is the only tool. Fortunately,
as generations go by, we tend to get more into the
melting pot and become more apart of the American culture
thus weakening that macho mentality. People like us,
who are bicultural and bilingual, we deal with our
kids differently than our parents did. My mother
would have never talked to me about any of that.
She?s still embarrassed about it. I kid her like crazy
and make her very uncomfortable.?
Yikes, the interview is coming to
a close, and I feel as though I didn?t get enough of
Gloria Estefan. It?s nearly 10 p.m, and although her
day has included an appearance on The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno and numerous other interviews?even
now a wardrobe fitting beckons her in another room?Gloria
gently escorts me to the door. ?Hopefully they?ll soon
be a cure. And once there is a cure you will
see cures for other diseases like multiple sclerosis,
Parkinson?s, Alzheimer?s?anything that is neuron-related.? Because
of her celebrity, Gloria feels it is her responsibility
to use the media attention for the public good. She
uses her platform wisely. Bidding farewell with gratitude,
Gloria sums up: ?It?s imperative that we continue
the dialogue about AIDS, especially with the younger
generation.?
GLORIOUS GLORIA
Where is you favorite place to
disappear to? Where do you go to recharge your batteries? Our
beach house. It?s very private. It?s a couple of
hours north of Miami, right on the treasure coast.
We found it about a year and an half ago. The whole
family meets there and spends quality time with each
other. We?re either at the beach or in the
pool all day. [She ponders.] And we have great dinners
together!
When they make a movie of your
life, whom would you like to play Gloria Estefan?
I hope I?m not around. I?ll be dead,
so who cares?!
Out of the many people you have
met, is there one in particular who stands out who
impressed you or inspired you the most?
[She thinks.] That?s difficult. Meryl
Streep.
What would you most like to change
about yourself?
I wouldn?t mind having a little more
torso. Taller, maybe, even though I have long legs.
Not that I feel short but apparently to everyone I
go by, they say, ?She?s so tiny! She?s so tiny!?
On Connie Francis with whom she
is co-writing a screenplay about Connie?s life, and
who also will portray her in the movie:
Connie is a brilliant lady?so funny
and so much to offer. I want her in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame. I?ve been working with her for two years
now. She had the best contracts in Hollywood at that
time. What an amazing businesswoman, and an amazing
person.
Gloria gives her reaction to these people who have
touched her life
- Ricky
Martin: sexy, and very spiritual
- Mandy
Moore: so cute, young, fresh, smart
- Enrique
Iglesias: very loving, warm, and a flirt
- Shakira: incredible
energy, talented writer, consummate performer
- Celia
Cruz: the most remarkable human being I?ve
ever met, quite honestly
- Marc
Anthony: sexy, and a bit shy
Name one word to describe Gloria
Estefan: Honest.
Dann Sulin is Senior Editor of A&U.
December 2003
