Massiel, recognized for her victory in Eurovision in 1968, reveals one of the most shocking episodes of her life in the program Lazos de Sangre. Among them, her marriage to Luis Recatero stands out shortly after winning the festival. However, the relationship did not work out and she and Massiel separated from her, finding comfort in Carlos Zayas, with whom she had a son.
Given the lack of legal options, Massiel decided to travel to London to give birth: “I need to have my son in London, I had no other option. I had to look for a place where the law of ‘Ius solis’, the right of nationality by birth, was in force”. According to the laws of the time, her son could legally belong to her previous husband: “Either he was the son of Carlos Zayas of an unknown mother, to which he was not willing: or, if I recognized it, since he was still married by the church to Recatero , he could claim paternity.”
The singer, with the help of the writer Hugh Thomas, obtained a passport and escaped from Spain hiding in the back seat of a car to avoid the paparazzi: “Hugh Thomas had a lot to do with it because he managed to give me the passport and that I could enter London while pregnant. I left Spain thrown in a car, as if I were a criminal.
On June 1, 1977, Massiel gave birth to her son Aitor Carlos in London and returned to Spain on June 13. Her objective was clear: not to miss the opportunity to vote in the elections to be held on June 15.
“I scheduled the delivery of the child with epidural anesthesia, which in Spain was not yet used. The child was born on June 1 at Westminster Hospital in London and I returned to Spain on the 13th because I knew I had to vote on the 15th. They were the first elections in which I could vote; the previous ones, went back to the Republic”. His determination to exercise his right to vote earned him the nickname “the election kid.”
In the program, Massiel reveals that he scheduled the delivery of his son to be able to go to the elections. Her story of her bravery and dedication to have her child and return in time to vote will always remain in her memory.
