Julio Iglesias and The Insane Story of His (Alleged) Illegitimate Son

By Alberto Cox Délano | Celebrity | October 7, 2023 |

By Alberto Cox Délano | Celebrity | October 7, 2023 |

1. The One Where Julio Iglesias Turns 80.

Julio Iglesias turned 80 last September, a living legend on par with Francis Albert. Wherever you are in the world, you most likely know who Julio Iglesias is, if not at least as Enrique Iglesias’ father. Quick question though: Can you name a Julio Iglesias song? If the answer is a resounding no, don’t fret, neither can I! And I’m Latino! Granted, my mum did not raise me listening to the Top 40 of Spanish Music. In my house, we listened to the highly poetical and political tunes of Joan Manuel Serrat (think Leonard Cohen if he had been Bob Dylan-massive), Pablo Milanés or Silvio Rodríguez. The funny thing is, my mum actually met Julio Iglesias when she was a teenager, at a friend’s party in Viña del Mar, a few days before his international breakthrough. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if for most young Spanish-speakers, Julio Iglesias is someone you recognize by name, but not by his songs, until you listen to a familiar song and realize it’s by him.

Nevertheless, he is a legend, and perhaps one of the biggest gossip legends in Latin America and Europe. Just like with the British Monarchy and the press, Iglesias and his family might make up 35% of the business for Spanish-language gossip tabloids, and that’s not counting the one called Enrique … mostly because he is pretty private. But the tabloid industry has more than enough with his other children, five Gen-Zers by his current wife, Miranda Rijnsburger, Enrique’s two full-siblings by first wife, Isabel Preysler, who is a gossip legend in her own right and deserves her own article.

But you might be wondering: “Wait, doesn’t every superstar from the ’70s conceive at least one love child per decade? How come Julio Iglesias only has children by marriage, spaced so far apart?”

Well, this is the insane story of one such love child, the only one to come forward: Javier Santos Sánchez, now 47, who has spent the better part of three decades trying to be recognized. And he has a pretty solid case.

2. The One Where Julio Iglesias F**** the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, and Somehow We’re Supposed to Believe He Didn’t Father Any Extra Children.

Part of the legend of Julio Iglesias, the one that made him the best-selling Spanish-language artist, is that he became the embodiment of the Latin Lover… even if he’s European. Tanned skin, blazing smile, permanent knowing smirk, a lush head of hair even in old age (shout-out to our MENA ancestors!), perfectly tailored suits or casual wear, and a deep, melodic voice. And Julio Iglesias fulfilled the role: Some have claimed, with a straight face, that he has slept with over 3,000 women. Probably that number is a bit too high, but I’d buy him having a body count in the low four digits, considering a career that started in 1968 and only slowed down in the late 2000s. His music career, that is.

If you were to suspect that this track record would only increase the probability that he would leave someone pregnant, you’d be correct. Because all things considered, Julio Iglesias is a very old-school, traditionalist man, the son of a Francoist supporter (and a gynecologist!) and a staunch supporter of Spain’s right wing, which for our purposes here, can only mean one thing: Julio is probably the kind of man who avoids condoms like a sex-ed curriculum in Kentucky.

What we know for a fact is that Iglesias met Javier Santos Sánchez mother, dancer Maria Edite, during the summer of 1975, while he performed at a nightclub in Sant Feliú de Guixols. At the time, Julio was married to Isabel Preysler and Enrique Iglesias had been born just a few months prior. The following year, Mr. Santos was born and he was adopted by his mother’s eventual husband. Then, in 1992, Mrs. Edite began claiming that Iglesias was Santos’ biological parent, while starting a legal case that has been dragging on to this day, as Julio has steadfastly refused to submit himself for a DNA test.

Some questions to get out of the way: Does Javier Santos look like Julio Iglesias? Well, judge for yourself, I’d say I guess, but Mr. Santos’ face has aged naturally while Julio’s has become a cartoon of itself. He does look similar to his alleged half-brother Julio Iglesias Jr though. And yes, there is plenty of photographic evidence that puts Maria Edite in the same room with Julio Iglesias. The question is, why would the singer refuse to confirm or deny the paternity when Maria Edite made her allegations? In 1992, Iglesias was single and it’s not like the news would shock anyone, if anything, it would only make sense for him to have gone the Duggar route but with love children. Well, we’ll get to that later.

As Javier Santos came of age, and because Spain’s gossip journalism makes TMZ look like Mother Jones, he would go on to become his own TV personality: Julio Iglesias’s perpetual, unconfirmed, very probable bastard. Lawsuits came and went, so he and his lawyer took matters into their own hands in order to get that darned DNA test. But, what is one to do if you have limited resources in order to obtain a DNA sample from a famous and powerful man? It’s not like you can have one of your half-siblings followed in another country, picking up the cups they throw in the trash to get a DNA sample.

3. The One Where They Followed Julio Iglesias Jr. in Miami in Order To Collect Cups He Threw in the Trash To Get a DNA Sample.

You knew that punchline was coming. But it’s true. And if you’re thinking “There’s no way that’s admissible evidence”…

Honey.
Sweetie.

This is Spain we’re talking about. The sample (which we’re hoping was reduced to a vial at that point) was analyzed, yielded a 99.9% match to Javier Santos, confirming Julio Jr. was his brother and Julio Sr. was, indeed, the father. And then, for some freaking reason, it was admitted as evidence by a Spanish court in 2019, ruling in favor of Javier Santos. But then, in 2021, the Spanish Supreme Court rejected the ruling based on a completely unrelated procedural issue. That wouldn’t stop Javier Santos. You don’t go all the way to Miami to steal some spit from your probable brother just to give up because of some Byzantine court ruling. So he is now presenting his case at the European Court of Human Rights. On an unrelated note, here is a map of European countries colored according to whether they implemented the ECHR’s rulings. Good luck, Javier!.

By the way, if you feel that this whole thing was a terrible invasion of Julio Iglesias Jr.’s privacy, don’t worry. He was probably thrilled to actually be included in the family narrative for once. Consider that this is how he introduced his current girlfriend to the press.

All the craziness aside, you still have to wonder, why is Julio Sr. so intent on not recognizing his (probable, alleged) paternity? Javier Santos insists that he isn’t doing this for the money. But perhaps what Julio Sr. fears is that he could set a precedent, one that would mess up his fortune.

4. The One Where This Paternity Suit Could Affect the Economies of Two Countries.

Julio Iglesias is loaded, and not just from the hundreds of millions he made off his music career. He’s a savvy businessman, and alongside Oscar De la Renta, he was one of the leading investors in a little place he calls home and that is also called Punta Cana, the premier tourist destination in the Dominican Republic, including being a part-owner of the airport, the busiest airport in the DR and one of the busiest in the Caribbean. His fortune is estimated by Forbes at $800 million euros, making him one of the wealthiest in Spain. Others have valued him at $5.2 Billion dollars, probably an exaggeration, but considering this guy literally lives in the Caribbean, a stone’s throw away from most tax havens, he is likely a billionaire now.

But he still has eight kids, only one of whom actually has a successful career. The other seven haven’t even bothered to use their nepo-baby privileges, becoming influencers, socialites, and in the case of the eldest, Chabeli, starting a line of tablecloths. Yep, true Comrades the Iglesias children are, redistributing away their intergenerational wealth.

Now, consider this, and imagine if Julio were to welcome Mr. Santos within his family, and more importantly, the family trust. Javier Santos is the only known claimant, but if you’re doing the math in your head, there must be more out there. That’s just how probabilities work. Now imagine being 80, having been through a few health scares recently, and thinking how are your descendants going to manage your fortune? Now imagine that mess, but with dozens of people coming out of the woodwork claiming to be your children. The trust would be tied up in lawsuits for decades to come, not to mention it could be further dissolved into smaller pieces, which would generate further chaos in his investments. Perhaps in anticipation, Julio sold his stake in the Punta Cana hedge fund in 2018.

Not that I’m justifying it. He could’ve just done the DNA tests back in 1992 and recognized Mr. Santos accordingly, creating a trust for his potential illegitimate children. But back then, doing that would’ve meant opening up a then fresh wound from his divorce from Isabel Preysler: The settlement.

As the son of an absent Bio-father, I feel for Mr. Santos, pity he ended up swallowed by the hoopla of the tabloid’s fever. I’m mostly convinced that he is indeed Julio Iglesia’s love child. This whole sad, insane story exposes the other side of the traditional Latin Lover persona: A deeply conservative, misogynist man who, for all the pride he takes in his sexual adventurousness, can only conceive one way of being a family and of being a father, under the blessing of the Church. Those kids conceived outside of marriage don’t count.

This song rules though (NSFW if you’re in Utah):

Alberto Cox says Enrique Iglesias should’ve been the one to be disowned by Julio Sr. after making “Tonight (I’m F***** You)