Gloria Estefan (née Fajardo García) was born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García in Havana, Cuba, on September 1, 1957 to parents José Fajardo (1933–1980) and Gloria García (1930–2017).Estefan’s maternal grandparents were Spanish immigrants. Her maternal grandfather, Leonardo García, emigrated to Cuba from Pola de Siero, Asturias, Spain, where he married Gloria’s grandmother, Consuelo Perez, originally from Logroño, Spain. Consuelo’s Father, Pantaleón Perez, served as the head chef to two Cuban presidents. Estefan’s paternal side also had musical sensibilities, as the lineage had a famous flutist and a classical pianist.

Estefan’s mother, Gloria Fajardo (nicknamed “Big Gloria won an international contest during her childhood and received a Hollywood offer to dub Shirley Temple’s films in Spanish. However, Leonardo García did not permit his daughter to pursue the proposal. Gloria Fajardo earned a Ph.D. in education in Cuba, but it was destroyed upon her arrival in the United States.

Estefan’s paternal grandparents were José Manuel Fajardo González and Amelia Montano. José Manuel was a Cuban soldier and a motor escort for the wife of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and Amelia Montano was a poet. As a result of the Cuban Revolution, the Fajardo family fled and settled in Miami, Florida, in 1959 and ran one of the first Cuban restaurants in the city. In 1961, Estefan’s Father, José, participated in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. He was captured by his cousin, a Fidel Castro’s army member, and imprisoned in Cuba for nearly two years. On his return, he joined the United States military and fought in the Vietnam War.

After returning from the Vietnam War in 1968, Estefan’s Father became ill with multiple sclerosis, attributed to Agent Orange exposure that he suffered in Vietnam. Estefan helped her mother care for him and her younger sister Rebecca, nicknamed “Becky” (b. 1963), while her mother worked to support them. Gloria Fajardo first had to regain her teaching credentials, then worked as a Dade County Public School system schoolteacher. When Estefan was nine, she alleged that a music teacher hired to teach her guitar lessons sexually abused her. She alleged that the man told her he would kill her mother if she told anyone about the abuse. Estefan told her mother, who alerted the police of the allegation; charges were not pressed because of the additional trauma she felt Estefan would undergo as a result of testifying against the perpetrator. When Estefan was 16, her Father’s illness led him to be hospitalized at a Veterans Administration medical facility.

Estefan became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1974 under the name Gloria Garcia Fajardo.

Estefan was raised Catholic and attended Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, where she was a member of the National Honor Society.

Estefan attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where she graduated in 1979 with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in French. While attending the University of Miami, Estefan also worked as an English, Spanish, and French translator at Miami International Airport’s Customs Department and, because of her language abilities, says she was once approached by the CIA as a possible employee. In 1984, she was inducted into the Iron Arrow Honor Society, the highest honor bestowed by the University of Miami.

Estefan became romantically involved with the Miami Sound Machine’s band leader, Emilio Estefan, in 1976. She later revealed, “he was my first and only boyfriend.” They married on September 2, 1978, and have a son, Nayib (born September 2, 1980), and a daughter, Emily (born December 5, 1994). Emily was conceived after Gloria’s devastating tour bus accident in 1990; doctors told her she couldn’t have any more children. The family lives on Star Island. ≥≥ Estefan’s daughter, Emily, is a recording artist, and her son, Nayib, is an aspiring filmmaker and owner of the Nite Owl Theater in Miami. In June 2012, Estefan became a grandmother. In addition, she and her husband are active LGBTQ advocates, as their daughter Emily is openly a lesbian.

Few celebrity couples like Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan have stood the test of time.

The pair met when Gloria was just 17 years old and fresh out of high school, and Emilio was 22. While they have experienced plenty of hardships in their lives, their relationship was the one thing that stayed consistent.

“When it’s real love, it gets better,” Emilio said in 2017 on PEOPLE and ABC News’ series People Icons. “It’s all about respect and love and communication. When you have a great foundation, it becomes easy.”

The pair have always been partners in life and business, starting with their band Miami Sound Machine in 1977 and then with their hotels, restaurants, foundations, musical and children’s books.

“We love and respect each other,” Gloria previously told PEOPLE, why their partnership works so well. “We’re different, but we balance each other. And we have the same priorities, the same values. We rarely discuss business or music, so it’s been good.”

 Gloria and Emilio Estefan ‘Rarely Argue’ After More Than 40 Years of Marriage

Even after more than 40 years of marriage, Gloria is still smitten with her husband. “Look at this man; he’s so cute. Makes me laugh every day of my life,” she said. “He makes me happy, and we make each other happy.”

From creating hits like “Conga” and “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” to welcoming two children and launching a business empire together, here’s everything to know about Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s relationship.

1975: Gloria and Emilio Estefan meet at a jam session

The pair first met while playing music with mutual friends during the spring after Gloria graduated from high school. Emilio’s first appearance made an impact. “In comes Emilio. He’s playing the accordion in very short shorts and looked like he was naked, so that was the first impression I got,” Gloria told PEOPLE in March 2017.

“Then my mom drags me to a wedding a few months later, and I walk in the door, and there [he is] playing ‘The Hustle.’ He tracked me down two weeks later.” The duo kept their relationship platonic at first and chose to start playing in a wedding band together rather than strike up a romance. “We had chemistry for sure. But he had an older girlfriend and was my boss,” Gloria said.

1975: Emilio Estefan takes Gloria on their first date

Gloria was not very experienced in dating, but once she found Emilio, she had no interest in meeting anyone else. “He was my first and only boyfriend,” she told WBUR in 2016.

July 4, 1976: Gloria and Emilio Estefan share their first kiss

The duo waited more than a year to lock lips for the first time. Finally, “45 years ago today, your lips met mine for the first time,” Gloria wrote beside a sweet.

September 2, 1978: Gloria and Emilio Estefan get married

Three years after the meeting, the couple tied the knot. “I always felt that we were meant to be together,” she told AARP in 2013 while recalling the special day. Immediately after the ceremony, Gloria and her new husband visited her ailing Father, Jose Fajardo, in the hospital. She said that though he hadn’t recognized her in years, he said “Glorieta” when he saw her in her wedding dress.

September 2, 1980: Gloria and Emilio Estefan welcome their first baby, Nayib

Gloria and Emilio welcomed their first child, Nayib Estefan, on September 2, 1980.

“You were so wanted and well planned by your dad and me that you were born on our second anniversary,” Gloria wrote in 2020 while celebrating her son’s 40th birthday on Instagram. “You were the best gift we could have ever given each other.”

Nayib spent years touring with his parents and now works as a music composer and producer — he even filmed some of his mom’s music videos!

She and Miami Sound Machine earned worldwide success with their 1985 single “Conga,” which became Estefan’s signature song and led to Miami Sound Machine winning the 15th annual Tokyo Music Festival’s grand Prix in 1986. In 1988, she and Miami Sound Machine achieved their first number-one hit with “Anything for You.”

10 Facts To Know About Gloria Estefan

1. Gloria has sold over 100 million albums worldwide and 31.5 million in the U.S. alone.

2. Gloria was born in Havana, Cuba, as Gloria Maria Milagros Fajardo Garcia De Estefan.

3. Gloria’s favorite quote is, “you can put things off until tomorrow, but tomorrow may never come.”

4. While a student at the University of Miami, Gloria was only allowed to perform on the weekends.

5. She graduated from the University of Miami in 1979 with a degree in Psychology and a minor in French.

6. Gloria worked as an English/ Spanish/French translator at Miami airport because of her language abilities.

7. Gloria has a son and daughter, Nayib and Emily.

8. Gloria has written 2 children’s books and made the New York Times best-seller list.

9. Gloria has released 15 albums so far.

10. Gloria resides on Star Island with her husband, Emilio.

March 20, 1990: Gloria Estefan is injured in a tour bus crash

On March 20, 1990, Gloria was in a near-death accident after her tour bus was rear-ended by a semi-truck on a snowy Pennsylvania highway.

“I was taking a nap on the bus, trying to be fresh for the show that night, and suddenly I was lying on the floor, unable to stand up, looking up at the ceiling, going, ‘What happened?’ The pain was excruciating,” Gloria recalled to PEOPLE in August 2020.

Though the accident was traumatizing, it brought the couple closer together, finally winning Emilio’s approval of Gloria’s mother, Gloria Fajardo. “[My mother] tortured Emilio for 12 years until that accident happened, and she realized that he really loved me for me and that he wasn’t going to run and cut and run and leave me there,” she told WBUR in April 2016.

1992: Gloria and Emilio Estefan buy a hotel in Miami together

Gloria and Emilio purchased a gorgeous art deco hotel in Miami together around 1992. The property held a special place in Gloria’s heart, and she predicted that she would one day own the hotel when she was just a child.

“My mom asked me why I was looking at the Cardozo,” Gloria told PEOPLE in a July 2019 interview. “I was so excited to be on the Beach because we never went to the Beach in Cuba. So I told her I would buy my dad this hotel when I grew up!”

“This hotel is really Emilio’s baby. We both talk about the design, but I trust him completely,” she said. “He is on top of everything … I tell him he works too much!” The duo later opened a second resort: their Costa d’Este Beach Resort and Spa in Vero Beach.

1992: Gloria and Emilio Estefan open their first restaurant

The pair quickly developed a taste for entrepreneurship and opened their first restaurant, Larios on the Beach, the same year. “From the beginning, their vision was to bring authentic Cuban food in an atmosphere that celebrates the spirit of Cuba in its heyday right to the heart of South Beach,” reads the restaurant website. They’ve opened five other restaurants in the years since.

February 3, 1993: Emilio Estefan supports Gloria as she receives her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Gloria’s career was memorialized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 3, 1993, with her proud husband at her side. Her mother and close actor friend Andy Garcia were also there to support her on her big day.

December 5, 1994: Gloria and Emilio Estefan have their second baby, Emily

Gloria and Emilio had planned to conceive a second baby at the time of her 1990 bus crash, but injuries from the accident caused complications. After surgery and treatments for fertility, Gloria gave birth to their daughter, Emily Marie Consuelo Estefan.

Gloria Estefan shares how her Cuban grandmother was her biggest champion Gloria Estefan and her daughter Emily publicly discuss the 25-year-old’s sexual orientation for the first time.

In a new episode of “Red Table Talk: The Estefans,” the legendary singer, her daughter, and her niece, Lili, had a candid conversation about how they first approached the subject.

Gloria Estefan said that although she suspected her daughter might be gay, she wasn’t sure.

People reported that Emily Estefan first went public with her same-sex relationship in 2017.

1997: Gloria and Emilio Estefan launch the Gloria Estefan Foundation

In 1997, Gloria and Emilio, who have always been highly charitable, founded the Gloria Estefan foundation, which “promotes education, health, and cultural development,” according to their website. The pair raises money through proceeds from Gloria’s songs, charity concerts, and fan donations and uses it for spinal cord research and animal causes.

 WATCH: Emily Estefan on Continuing Her Parents’ Emilio and Gloria’s Legacy: ‘I Can’t Step in That Blueprint’

“My foundation tries to help people that fall through the cracks, that can’t get help from big organizations,” she said. “We try to fill in where immediate help is needed.”

June 5, 2010: Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s son Nayib get married

Gloria and Emilio’s son Nayib married his wife Lara Coppola in the backyard of his parent’s house in 2010. Though Nayib is relatively private, Gloria celebrated her son’s 12th wedding anniversary on Instagram on June 5, 2022, along with a beautiful photo from the family event.

June 21, 2012: Gloria and Emilio Estefan become grandparents for the first time

Gloria and Emilio’s son Nayib welcomed his first baby in 2012 — a son named Sasha Argento Estefan Coppola. Gloria was the one to share the news with fans. “My heart was already full, and now it runs over!” she wrote on Twitter. “There’s a new man in my life! Sasha Argento Estefan, our first grandson, was born at 8:04! I’m in love!” Sasha has made many appearances on Gloria’s social media over the years.

June 2, 2015: Gloria and Emilio Estefan premiere a musical about their life together

On Your Feet!: The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan premiered at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago on June 2, 2015, and has since toured worldwide. The jukebox musical follows their love story and careers and features many of their most famous songs.

“The reason we didn’t [call the show “Conga”] was because of [screenwriter] Alex [Dinelaris]’ approach. It’s not just an empowering title; it’s literally how Emilio and I, constantly through our lives, have had to get back up on our feet,” Gloria told WBUR in 2016. “So it was just for us the most fitting title.”

October 7, 2020: Gloria Estefan gets candid about their sex life during her new talk show

Gloria began hosting a new Red Table Talk spinoff show with her daughter Emily and cousin Lili Estefan on October 7, 2020. She got more accurate than ever about her sex life with Emilio.

“With age, different things become more important,” she said on an episode. “We’ve been sexually happy, and we’re very connected. I think that’s one of the secrets of the marriage.”

April 7, 2022: Emilio and Gloria Estefan are honored for putting Miami on the map of the music industry

Gloria and Emilio were honored at Variety’s first Miami Entertainment Town Breakfast with the Legends and Groundbreakers award for making Miami a legitimate music town with their band, Miami Sound Machine.

“One of the things that I’m proud [of] is to see you guys — The next generation to be proud of where [they] come from, creating the new moves of what is happening in the music business,” said Emilio in his acceptance speech. “For us, it was difficult…before somebody used to tell you, you have to take the congas out, take the tumbao out, take your last name out — and we didn’t do that.”

May 9, 2022: Gloria Estefan discusses kissing another man for the first time since meeting Emilio

Gloria enjoyed filming her Father of the Bride remake with her friend Andy Garcia, but there was one element that made her slightly nervous.

“The thing I fretted about the most was that I had to kiss Andy because he is my friend and his wife is my friend,” she told PEOPLE in 2022. “I’ve never kissed another man in the last 46 years or 47 of my life. But you know it wasn’t me kissing him. Ingrid, his wife, in the movie, and it all felt natural and great.” Gloria Estefan Didn’t Let Husband Emilio See Her Kiss Andy Garcia on Father of the Bride: ‘Hell No’

When asked if she would let Emilio watch as she filmed that scene, she told Entertainment Tonight, “Oh hell no. He wasn’t even in the city. I was not having that, girl, no way! I was nervous enough.”

Gloria Estefan Reveals She Was Sexually Abused by a Family Member at Age 9

For the first time, Gloria Estefan is opening up about being sexually abused by a family member at 9.

The “Conga” singer, 64, revealed her past trauma in an episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans on Facebook Watch, with niece Lili Estefan, 54, and daughter Emily Estefan, 26, by her side.

“Ninety-three percent of abused children know and trust their abusers. And I know this because I was one of them,” she said.

Estefan said the abuse started when she was 9 years old and attending a music school taught by a distant relative, someone her mother “trusted.”

“He was in a position of power because my mother had put me in his music school, and he immediately started telling her how talented I was and how I needed special attention. She felt lucky that he was focusing this kind of attention on me,” she recalled. “He said, ‘Oh, you’re so good at this, and let me teach you whatever.’ And then, it starts little by little, and then it goes fast.”

The three-time Grammy winner said she was aware that she was in a “dangerous” situation, and though she tried to ward the man off, she was unsuccessful, as he threatened violence if she took the abuse public.

“I revolted and told him, ‘This cannot happen, you cannot do this,’ and he says, ‘Your father’s in Vietnam, your mother’s alone, and I will kill her if you tell her,’” Estefan recalled. “And I knew he was crazy because at no point did I ever think that it was because of me that this was happening. I knew the man was insane, so I thought he might hurt my mother.

Red Table Talk: The Estefans’ Series Return: ‘Deeper Than Ever Before

Estefan said she came up with various excuses to get out of going to music class, but her mother still had no idea what was happening, as sexual abuse “was not talked about at all in her lifetime.”

The singer even shared a recording of a conversation she had with her Father while he was in Vietnam, in which he says that the man has praised the young Estefan’s musical talents to her mother, while Estefan calls the classes “a little boring.”

Eventually, Estefan said her anxiety grew to the point where her hair began to fall out, and she was frustrated enough to run to her mother’s room at 3 a.m. and fill her in.

“I couldn’t take it anymore. So I told her about it, and the police came, and she said, ‘This is what’s happening.’ And they told my mother not to press charges because they said I would go through worse trauma having to get on a stand and testify,” she said. “And that’s the one thing I feel bad about, knowing that there must have been other victims.”

Among those other victims was an aunt, whom Estefan said was also abused by the same man in Cuba when she was a child.

Is Gloria Estefan still working?

Though Gloria Estefan has not released an album since 2020’s Brazil305, she is still working. In addition to her recent acting work in the remake of Father of the Bride that was released last month, she also works as a co-host for Red Table Talk: The Estefans and the singer still performs, mostly at special events. However, a new tour has not been ruled out for the future.

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