There is much to admire about Gloria Estefan. She’s talented, hardworking, successful, resilient, brave, and outspoken. One could look at her life and think of it as charmed, but the truth is that she has overcome quite a bit of adversity. For example, in 1990, when she was at the top of her game career-wise, she was in a devastating crash and was told that she might never walk again. But she worked hard and recovered her ability to walk. Even before that trauma, when she was only 9 years old, she was sexually abused a trusted family member.
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The first time that Gloria ever spoke publicly about the sexual abuse she endured as a child was on a 2021 episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans on Facebook Watch. "Ninety-three percent of abused children know and trust their abusers. And I know this because I was one of them," she revealed. On that same episode she said, "I wanted to deal with this subject matter because it is so important to try to prevent.”
More recently, in an interview for the documentary series Life Stories, Gloria is sharing more about her experience and what we as parents or guardians can do to protect our children. Check out what she had to say.
How did it all start?
"My mother heard that one of my dad's cousins had a beautiful classical music school," Gloria said. "My dad was thrilled for me to go and study classical guitar because they thought that it would be good for me to learn music along with my singing. But it turned out that this man was a predator of the worst kind.”
How long did it take for her to let her parents know?
“It took a full year for me bring up the courage to tell my mom what was happening with this man." Why did it take her so long to tell her mom about it? She was a child, and the predator threatened violence if she said anything. She was afraid.
"I think I got even more fearful because I knew that he was getting to the point where he was going to do something irreversible to me," Gloria said. "I knew that I had to avoid that at all costs."
Her stress and fear manifested in different ways.
Even though she didn’t tell her mom what she was going through for a whole year, there were signs. “I lost a circle of hair from my head with anxiety," she recounted. She would also repeatedly make excuses to try to get out of going to class.
Look for clues.
Remember that the reason Gloria is sharing her experience is to help prevent it from happening to other children, so she urges parents to look for clues. “There’s always something that comes of it. In my instance my hair fell out. I kept making excuses not wanting to go there. So, there are very strong clues that can tell you if your child is going through that.”
How can we as parents or guardians protect our children?
She suggests, “arming them with tools like speaking to them openly about it, telling them ‘You can always tell mommy or daddy anything that’s happening to you.’”
I feel the need to add this bit.
And Gloria didn’t say this, but I think it’s important to add, if a child does reveal something awful that they are going through, please don’t dismiss their concerns or ignore them. Listen to the child! Investigate, get them out of that situation, do something to help make them feel safe.
"There are ways that we can stop this from happening, and of course, putting those predators behind bars, because they [wouldn't] get away with it," Gloria continued.
Who can you reach out to for help?
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization.
Watch Gloria’s entire interview.
She has been through so much in her life. From fleeing Cuba when she was a toddler to becoming an internationally acclaimed recording artist and performer. She’s a trailblazer, for sure.
