This Tuesday a new installment of Blood Ties returned, dedicated once again to Julio Iglesias. On this occasion, the program dealt with the quarrels between the singer and his son Enrique Iglesias without hesitation. A rivalry and jealousy that led both of them to stop talking.
It seems that there were ten years of brutal distancing. However, for this Blood Ties special, Enrique Iglesias did not have the slightest qualms about participating, talking about his father, and even trying to take the edge off the issue of professional jealousy. Have they finally made peace?
The kidnapping of Dr. Iglesias Puga, father of Julio Iglesias, led the singer and his then-wife Isabel Preysler to send their three children to Miami. Chábeli, Julio José and Enrique left their life in Madrid to live in “dad’s” mansion, but for a short time.
“My father didn’t want us to see that he was a womanizer and he bought a house next to his for us,” Chábeli and Julio José recalled in Blood Ties. So the three little ones lived with their grandmother and ‘La seño’, who acted as tutor, educator and second mother.
This woman, called Elvira Olivares, was one of the rocks of the three children, especially little Enrique, who all he wanted was to be a singer. In fact, it was Elvira who gave her the $500 she needed to record a demo of the song Si tú te vas. No one but her knew Enrique’s dream.
The news that Enrique was starting to sing fell like a bomb on the family. In fact, Julio Iglesias called his son and they had a monumental fight. “We had a fight on the phone. He told me: ‘Why are you doing this’, ‘you’re crazy’, ‘why have you done this without telling me anything’, ‘I know the one who knows about this’, ‘you’re not going to get anything without me.’ I got into a fight with him, I packed my bags and left home,” he said.
From there, a story of jealousy and rivalry was created between them, mainly on the part of Julio, who for the first time saw his position as a Latin lover shake in the face of the new American generations. Such is the competitiveness between the two, that Julio Iglesias said in an interview regarding the love life of his son Enrique’s, that Enrique did not follow in his footsteps in terms of womanizing. “No, no, I’m a champion at that!” said Julio, bursting out laughing.
Regarding fame and record sales, Julio José explained: “My father is very proud of us, but he is a great competitor and always wants to win.” “If you have to be a number, him or me? Me!” Julio Iglesias once said. Everything became even more tense when father and son competed for the award for Best Latin Singer. “Above all I want to tell my son that, as long as he continues to go on stage, I will continue competing with him,” he said.
Father and son went ten years without speaking, and they met on very few occasions. During an interview with Julio Iglesias for RTVE, the singer settled the years of bitter controversies on this topic.
“What is happening with Enrique is an incredible thing, he is a great artist, a world, universal artist,” he told Pepa Bueno. “Is it going to end up where you arrived?” the journalist wanted to know. “I think more. Enrique can go wherever he wants to go,” Julio answered proudly.
