August 25, 2021 • 32 mins
Blindsided by a cheating scandal, blackmail, and divorce, the Estefans put it on the table for the first time in the series premiere of Red Table Talk: The Estefans.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M Benito's Me and Gloria Stefan. Here you are listening
to Red Table Talk via Stefans Podcast, all your favorite
episodes from our Facebook watch show in audio on two free.
But you're so excited to bring you an all new
Red Table Talk series with the iconic Queen Gloria Stefan. Salute.
(00:24):
Everything is special about Red Table Talk via Stefan's or
Latina's Baby. Three different women, three different generations, three different opinions.
We are so honest, pm DMI. This is my Nieasy Lily.
She is Estefan. Lily is a beloved Latin, a TV star,
(00:47):
a devoted mother of two, and she is fabulous. I
hope you're right. You will do it right. Who's the
biggest drama Queen? I was born with a drama? Is
my daughter Emily and she is as the fresh She
is a gifted musician. She's outspoken and a powerful voice
(01:09):
of her generation. When I lay down the law, zip
it and I am as the Fears. I'm Glara Stefan.
I'm a performer. I've been married forty two years. I'm
the mother of two, I have one grandson, five jobs,
and I am a survivor. I promised you will love, love,
(01:34):
love this new series. Best say on the series premiere
of Red Table Talk via Stefan's Well Girls, We have
never spoken about it publicly. If papar azzi caught my
husband with another woman and they're asking two hud dollars,
(01:59):
you never saw there. I saw the pictures. She was humiliated.
Who's the woman? You were the last person to know.
She couldn't have emotionally talked about this before. I really
thought I had a perfect lifeguard. You did flu I
think something's going on with my daughter. You kept it
inside for a year. You prove my heart feed. Everybody's
(02:27):
been asking us, are you going to be as honest
as real as Jada, Gammy and Willow. You have to
be absolutely yeah. It would be a disservice not too
For our first Red Table, we are starting with something
extremely personal. A few years ago, Lily went through very
painful divorce from her husband of twenty five years. It
(02:47):
was a scandal that made international headlines, and we have
never spoken about it publicly. She couldn't have emotionally talked
about this piece. There's no way because he was raw.
My stop in seventeen totally changed, totally changed. Three years
after a blind date, Lily married the man of her dreams,
(03:10):
businessman Lorenzo Louasss, in a beautiful family wedding in They
had two gorgeous children, Lorenzo Jr. And Lena. Lily believed
she was living a fairy tale life. Actually two thousands
anything was supposed to be a great year for me.
I was a very accomplished woman in my career. My
(03:31):
thortious anniversary in univision. My husband who protects me, he
was a very accomplished guy. I had two beautiful kids,
and I was celebrating my twenty wedding anniversary. I really
thought I had a perfect life. Guys, you did Flagga.
We all thought that it was a great marriage. That
was so wrong. We all were and I didn't see
(03:55):
it until that moment. We celebrated our university and we
were there, and two weeks later we get a hurricane
in Miami. When Category five Hurricane Irma hit Florida, we
had to take emergency cover for forty eight hours in
our music studio we call the Bunker. There's only been
(04:19):
one hurricane and recorded history in the Atlantic that has
been stronger. This was the weekend and Monday, we come
out of the bunker. Hurricane is gone. I'm supposed to
work right away. I remember standing in the parking lot
of your studios, full of people moving out. What you're
(04:40):
saying after the storm. And my husband says, I have
to talk to you, have to tell you something. And
I got what? Hurry up? I have a live show
at four And he says, a paparazzi cut me with
another woman and they're asking two thousand dollars for the pictures.
(05:01):
I go what and ready away? I go, you would
papara Why would paparaty follow you? Who's the woman? He's like,
no one important? Because I thought it was going to
be a public figure. Why would they follow him? No
one important? And I stay quiet and he says, we're
(05:25):
not paying the money. I'm like, no, we're not paying
the money. But I need more information. I need to
say anything to him. You don't want to hate him,
or of course you want you want to kill him?
And you're like, I've always contained myself, knowing that I'm
a public figure everyone around me, and I can't even
(05:49):
like spread on him, talk say anything. My kids are
in the car. Mom, I'm you know, it's one of
those moments that you're like, yeah, okay, steak quiet, steak quiet.
From my end of the story, the night before, Lorenzo
asked me to go for a walk, and we took
(06:10):
the dogs for a walk and he says, I have
to tell you something, and I go what happened? I
thought maybe he was sick or something was going I
don't know what I thought. I knew something was happening
that wasn't right. So he tells me the situation. Oh
(06:30):
my god, Lorenzo, like, what are you going to do?
He started going off on the fact that he felt
that he wasn't the center of your life, that the
kids came first and the dogs came first. And I
said to him, Lorenzo, you do realize that once you
(06:52):
have kids, the kids have to come first and Lily's career.
He goes, yeah, but man, we need to feel like
we're like being taken care of. And I said, okay,
hold on, hold on. I was upset you've been like
my daughter. I asked him if he was in love
with the woman and he said no. I said, you
(07:14):
need to tell Lily before she goes to work tomorrow,
because he told me that everyone at work already knew.
That's when I went like, cackle, Oh my god, this
is major. He tells me. Univision knows pictures were taking
to Univision more than a week before Lily's has been
told her the bombshell news. The paparazzi visited every major
(07:38):
entertainment magazine and TV show their first up Univision, where
Lily has worked for over three decades. For ten days,
everyone at Univision knew that Lily's husband was cheating except her.
When I find out that the paparazzi had caught him
(08:00):
with another woman, and the pictures were taking to my job,
to my colleagues, to the producers of my show, to Univision,
my second home for thirty years decades, I'm going like,
how come I don't know anything? And I was flipping
out because you started going like you're in the dark.
(08:23):
So imagine right from the beginning, I just felt so
humiliated privately and then publicly. My boss Mariella. First of all,
she says, I can't buy these pictures. The husband of
my talent, I can buy these pictures, and the papa,
he said, no problem. I have a bunch of places
(08:45):
that I can go and sell the pictures, and then
she tells me, you just found out today. You're the
last person to I go, yes, flag, you know what
really blinded. I'd like to bring in Emilio, my husband,
her uncle, Emily's dad, who was actually the first to
find out that all of this was going on, so
(09:06):
that my poor uncle, he loves you so much. My husband,
Emilio is Lily's uncle and in many ways, her second father.
A few days before we all headed to the bunker,
he received an alarming phone call and was the first
in the family to hear the shocking news. Photos of
Lily's husband with another woman were being shopped around by
(09:27):
the paparazzi. A handsome man. All my favorite girls in
the world, all my favorite girls. You're the one that
got the call from which this never could happen. The
lawyer from the Univision called me when the pictures. That
call to me was like the biggest surprise, because I
(09:48):
saw everything was going fine. I called Lorenzo. He was
not aware that somebody was following it. I'm taking pictures
as a number one, Lorenzo. I'm gonna tell you they
got you. They have many pictures, and I don't know.
How are you going to handle that? And I said,
I don't want to take Gloria now. I don't want
to tell Lily. I don't want to talk about it.
That's not my my position. This is your your gig.
You have to deal with that thing. I think they're
(10:08):
gonna ask you for a lot of money. He said,
let me handle it, and I said, I don't think
I want to pay. The big problem here comes. I
advise him, you play, you pay. I'm sorry. The only
thing you have to think here is about your kids.
And I said, and you need to talk to Gloria
before you talk to living, to seach and give you
any kind of advice. And never saw him back. So
it's like somebody died well for me, guys for me.
(10:31):
I get the news then, rather the parking lot there
we talked and he came up with the idea, Lily,
why don't you come out publicly, like get ahead of
the paparazzi and say that they're trying to black Melis Lorenzo.
(10:51):
He told me that, Yes, he told me too, So
of course I said, fine, we're not paying the money.
I'm going to follow your advice. And I sit with
my boss and the lawyers. I defended him for hours.
He wanted to be like this, so if I'm coming
up public, this is what I'm doing united front. I
(11:12):
was like, I'm protecting my family and no one is
going with my husband and my kids. I went like
this and I'm like, this is a one time thing.
They followed him, We'll find out who's the paparazzi. Why
this happened. Lilian Lorenzo made a pact they would get
ahead of the paparatti and go public with the story
(11:33):
that they were being blackmailed. When everyone leaves, I stayed
with my boss and that's when I freak because she
tells me, I have to tell you that the paparazzi
left here. He's number for you and he has a
lot of information. And that's when I realized, whoa, this
(11:59):
is a this is not a one time thing. I
go home and I realized, oh my god, the paparatti
has had the pictures for eleven days. They're coming out
any minute, and right away I go my kids, they
can wake up tomorrow morning. I have the pictures all
over social media. Saw was Lorenzo in the house. Yes,
(12:21):
he was in the room with me like all the kids,
and I said, which I don't know if it was
a mistake, I should have maybe let him explain the
kids what happened. He didn't tell them, You told them
it was me. I cat home with all this information.
That's quite a nervous freaking out. So I sit with
them and I tell them, this happens a lot in
(12:43):
marriages that have been together for a long time. And
I think the only thing that happened to your father
is that he's married to a public figure. That's why
if Paparatzi has done this to him, has done this
to us. There are a lot of men that you
guys know, that have been unfaithful and they take it
(13:08):
back and you go through therapy whatever, and you keep
on going. So right away I try to excuse him
in front of the kids, and at some point I
finished the conversation and I look at him and I'm like,
you broke my heart. And I stormed out of the room.
(13:31):
And what did he do? Did he live? And he
left and he never came back after that. So that
was the last time he was announced. Yes, after I
defended him for hours in front of my boss and
the lawyers, and I can say that I got divorced
and never ever had ever had a conversation with him,
which I think is the heartest thing because no closure. Yeah,
(13:55):
and I would just say, God, help you, help me,
help me. I know my mind was going crazy. The
worst moment of my life. And didn't even get a
call from him. For me, that was the moment because
it was totally out of character. I'm like, this is
(14:16):
not the guy. Who is this? Who is this? He
was with us, he a lion, and for me, Lording
has been one of my favorite people in the world.
I love him. I don't like him too much right
now or not him. I don't like some of the actions,
but you don't stop loving somebody just because, especially somebody
(14:40):
that's been in our lives over twenty five years. The
family is also going through this divorce. We have relationships
with him. It's been so hard. I haven't talked to
him in two years. We don't communicate. He communicates to
me through the kids at him for leaving you like that.
How he did that? Should be at the table exactly.
(15:01):
I started seeing you start to break down and a
few times, you know you, you know you, you said
I can't go on. I can't go to work. I
can't do this. And I would say to you, flack, breathe,
you cannot let him take away the one thing that
(15:22):
is you and that it's gonna get you through this,
and it's gonna get your family through this. I remember
you took off in your car in your pajamas and
just started driving. We were all on the phone trying
to find you. We were holding our breaths. I was like,
something feels wrong. I had no idea what was going on,
but I'm like, something feels wrong. That night, I got
(15:44):
a call from Lena at like two in the morning,
hysterically wondering where you were. Everybody was looking for you
that point, that point came for me at Electricity because
the hurricane, my husband's a disaster. I was pulling apart.
So I'm supposed to sleep at my mother in law's house.
She has, which I don't know why. I had never
(16:06):
noticed she had the Laura Ashley said betting, the first
one that I had when we got married, and the
two night tables with the lamps. And I go into
the room and I'm like, oh boy, oh my god,
(16:26):
I'm sleeping this is the same room that I had
when we got married. It became so real to me
that I got out of the room getting my court.
That's when I break down and I started driving, driving,
and I would cry, cry, cry, cry. I ended up
(16:49):
in Orlando when I realized at four o'clock in the morning,
oh my, what the heck am I? I was in
pajamas and I had gone. I guess blank, you needed
to escape. You loyal to that man for every moment.
(17:09):
He's going through hell and back and you're there. You support,
you build, you love, and then at the end you're like, so,
why did did they need my position? They fired you.
I didn't get a raised, they fired me. I'm so
proud of you because you handled this situation so an
example for women all over the world, the way you
(17:30):
handed your kids. You never talked bad about him, being
a professional woman, famous person to be in television for
many years. That takes a lot of cares to do
that last. You can break my heart, but you cannot
take my soul. That's how I felt. I'm like, dude,
you know that I love you, You know that I
wish the best for you, and I'm a witness because
(17:52):
he is the father of my kids, and he gave
me the two most beautiful things that I have. You
never saw the pictures. I never saw the picture. At
the beginning, we said we're not buying the pictures. At
some point, I don't know why he decided he was
buying the pictures. I think I know why I saw
the pictures. I think he decided for the kids. I
think he did not want his kids to sue the pictures.
(18:17):
And I think it was the right, you know, choice,
play pay. When we were going to do the show,
you hadn't said anything to your kids about being a
part of this, because you were trying to protect them. Yes,
And I asked you, I think you need to ask Lena.
She's eighteen, she's an adult, and I think she might
(18:37):
have some things to say. And she told you that
she wanted. She's here for you things to say. Like
all children involved in a divorce, this has been very
traumatic for Lily's two kids. Her beautiful daughter, Lena is here,
the baby baby, she's a woman. Listen, before I leave,
I just want to tell you something that I'm so
(18:59):
proud of you how you handled things, and I hope
you be a role model for many many women in
the world that go to this kind of the tough
times and you have to come to So I'm very
proud of you. Yes, we love your dad. Probably welcome
(19:21):
the red table. I'm glad that I told your mom
to ask you because I know that she has only
through all of this. I wanted to protect you, and
unfortunately life is not about that learning how to deal
because life is always going to throw us a lot
of difficulties. When did you have an inkling that something
(19:42):
was happening. It was probably about a year and a
half before everything happened. You were traveling. I was supposed
to stay at the house with my dad and he
was getting ready to go somewhere and I was like, oh,
where are you going? And he was like, oh, I'm
going to eat with some friends. And I was like, okay,
what friends? And he was like, you don't know them?
(20:04):
And right away I was like, that's kind of weird
because I know all of his friends. I was like, okay,
but which restaurant. I wanted to have some idea of
what was going on because I was going to be
staying home alone, and I felt safer that way. Just
know you were. I never liked being home alone at night. Ever,
since I was a kid, I was always terrified. So
(20:25):
I started calling my dad and he wasn't responding, and
then he finally responded and I just heard really loud
music and he was like, I can't hear you. I'll
text you, and he just hung up, and then I
was like, can you please come home? I just don't
feel safe. So he got home and I was I
got really upset because I was like, I called you
twenty times. I could have been getting kidnapped, I could
(20:46):
have been I was at home by myself, anything could
have been happening. You were who was supposed to be
taking care of me. And he was like, this is
why I hate being here. The second I walk in,
I'm always getting punished or someone's getting mad at me
so hard. So then he was like, no, I'm leaving again.
And then he left and I was home by myself
(21:07):
and left yes. So then I texted one of my
really close friends, I think something's going on with my dad.
I think he's seeing someone else, because this is just weird.
At this point, did you ever think about telling your mom?
Did that even ever cross your mind? Because I just
felt like if it wasn't true. First they would have
hurt him to be thinking that his daughter's accusing him
(21:31):
of something like that. So I was like, I don't
want to start something and it not be true and
then just be a bunch of times inside for a year. Yeah.
And I didn't want to tell my brother either, because
he was probably going to be thinking that I'm crazy.
But I didn't feel like there was anyone that I
could tell that it wouldn't affect them too. He kind
of went from fourteen to thirty exactly. Imagine my reaction
(21:55):
acid mother when after everything that I was going through.
We try to store a family therapy and they would
tell me things like that, and I would be like,
where was I what happened? What happening? All this time?
It's hard, am I know it's hard because I'm thinking
(22:16):
everything that we're going through. And I was also blinded.
When you eventually found out that you were right, Obviously,
that's devastation, that's horrible, But did you feel like kind
of like, Okay, at least I'm not crazier. I remember
vividly that night when they told us. I just remember
seeing my brother's face and he was like I was
(22:38):
just like, okay, I was right, I felt like it
wasn't new news to me because I saw it coming.
Did you think he was going to leave? No? I
just never saw having divorced parents. I never thought of
it as a possibility because all my friends who had
divorced parents happened when they were really young. Usually, when
you've made it to a quarter century like we did,
(23:00):
you're thinking. I remember someone telling me of marriages and
the divorce. I was like, thank God that my parents
will never be one of them. And I remember my
dad being like, Oh, we're probably gonna get a divorce.
I was like, there's no way. Like even when he
said that, I was like, exactly, I was like, there's
just no way. There's no divorce in our family, exactly.
(23:23):
I never ever guys expected to get a letter from
a lawyer that he had filed for divorce. That was
another choking moment in my life. I never thought we
would get divorced. Never thought I would mention the deep
word impossible, and I would have done anything to save
(23:45):
my family. Do you think if it weren't a relationship
and it was like an isolated incident, that you guys
would still be married. Oh? Yes. The day that divorce
paper became public. I won in Daytime National. Yes, Emmy,
(24:06):
I always got to thank the Academy because I like,
I would like to thank the academy because my personal
life was the lowest. It was ship horrible day for
me and in my professional life. Was hi that you
are like, because is talking to me? Lena. You've always
(24:27):
been an amazing student and when you went through this,
I know it had to be rough because of the
public nature of it, so much so that you even
decided to change schools. Yeah. I remember people always saying
they're like, when kids go through stuff like this, they're
a different person. I was like, there's no way that
would never happen to me. I was a competitive dancer.
(24:50):
I was always doing super well in school. Slowly I
started losing interest in everything. My grades started slipping, but
got to school sleep. I quit my school dance team,
and I was just coming up with excuses and my friends,
probably my friends were noticing, and I didn't understand that
depression that's what happened. It was depression that I wouldn't
(25:11):
really talk about it either. Maybe you didn't want to
admit it to yourself. Yeah, I think I was in
denial getting out of bed in the morning was so hard.
I remember checking my attendance one day. I had like
forty absences I saw affecting my relationships and bottle it up.
And after a month I would explode, But then I
would bottle it up again and I would explode. At
(25:33):
some point, I feel I can't fight with her anymore.
We decided therapy. She studied therapy little by little, but
it was long road to recovery. Lena. I was scared
for you, and I would talk to your mom and
I would say to your mom, Lily, Lena is clinically depressed.
(25:54):
We need to find a way to get her to therapy.
You've always controlled your environment, and what was sudden you
couldn't control your own emotions. Listen, this is a horrible process.
You were depressed to flag and through that depression had
to go on your show every day and pretend like
nothing happened, and everybody's throwing in your face. Oh well,
you talk about everybody else's relationship. That's what you can
(26:17):
talk about, you know. And it was also really hard
for me because I didn't even have the chance to
tell my friends. I just remember one day I woke
up and my mom had gone on the show that
day and said the news, and at that point I
(26:41):
had gotten two texts already. Within half an hour after
the show ended. One of my best friends was like, Hey,
I know you didn't tell us anything, but if you
need anything, I'm here, And then another one texting me,
oh my gosh, is this true, Lena? How's your relationship
with your dad now? It's definitely still not where I
wish it would be. Whenever I tell my friends the
(27:02):
stories are like, oh my gosh, he's such an ass,
and I'm like, Okay, I kind of got uncomfortable because
as much as I could be upset with him, at
the end of the day, he's my dad and I'm
always gonna love him no matter. I love that I
know exists and that I grew up seeing between you
and your father, the way that your father was with
(27:25):
you and loves you. I know still to this day.
I think really that what it is is when you
can't face yourself what you just spoke about, what we've
been talking about now, I bet that it would even
break him down to see you where you are. He's
a grown man, he's got to do the work. So
if he wakes up tomorrow and he starts working on himself,
then I'm sure we'd all be here to accept him
(27:48):
and integrate our lives with him. My message to him is,
I love you, Lorenzo, but man up and do the
work so that we can you know the program, because
there's a lot that no matter what's going on between
you guys, I still would I would have loved to
have him at my graduation. I would love to see
him at my birthday. That's what I'm saying. That's what
(28:09):
I'm saying. It's not us at that point exactly. Maybe
he's not ready. We have to mention my son. Yes,
Lorenzo has been a rock through all of this, by
the way, and it's been so rough for him, and
he's also doing amazing in school doing his thing. Yeah,
we love hearing you speak and like hearing where you're
(28:34):
coming from. Like it's inspiring me. Like I'm always proud
and inspired by you. But the way that you've taken
this and done what it seems this with it, Yeah,
you're talking in a way that really is enlightening. I
think you grow where you've caught up with your actual height.
I think I think your soul is stretching out to
fit those arms. Lily, you said when we started that
(28:57):
you thought you had the perfect life. No matter what
the hell. What I'm looking at right now is to
improve strong, bad ass women exactly. Okay, guys, but this
is what I learned, and I want to talk to
divorce women. I made a choice from the beginning to
lead with love because what happened is for us, for
(29:20):
Lorenzo and for me, and I decided to keep the
best with me, not the worst. I didn't want to
get a divorce, and I pushed and push and push
to get past everything that was going on. It didn't happen,
and one day I just woke up and said, Okay, Lily,
it's time to let go in speeda they. There's one
(29:46):
thing that I do every night before I go to sleep,
I pray for my kids to meet the guy that
I married, because the guy I married it's not the
guy that I divorced, and not for me anymore. But
(30:11):
then they they served to meet that incredible guy that
I married, and I can't say any more than that.
You know, cry, you guys are gonna be just fine.
(30:36):
They will love you. I love you. They are all
right here. We are on the next Red tabletop the Stephens.
I remember telling you, are you gay? You're glorious, Stefan,
You're a gay icon. I really didn't want to let
(30:56):
you down, he said, I can tell your m I
and she dies. Her blood is on your hands. You're
remembering things in a different way I was seeing with Sino.
I'm sorry that we didn't kick that, and I hate
to know that I was part of that hurt. One
(31:17):
second cloak our family friend Rosie o'donnald Emily, do you
forgive her for that? And actress Michelle Rodriguez reveals her
truth she's openly bisexual. I like boys, I like girls,
I like both everything. What was so beautiful about it
(31:40):
is just the familial just everybody coming together during a
difficult time because you know, we can all take that
low roll because we really be wanted to. Oh my god,
I could have gone like this. I know. You got
to see the generational aspect. We got to see everybody's personality,
We got to see your point of view, my guy,
let's talk about Thanks for listening. To join the Red
(32:04):
Table Talk family and become a part of the conversation,
follow us at facebook dot com. Forward Slash, red Table
Talk Stefans. Red Table Talk via Stefans is a production
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Tura podcast Network. For more podcasts from my Heart, visit
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(32:27):
listen to your favorite shows.
M Benito's Me and Gloria Stefan. Here you are listening
to Red Table Talk via Stefans Podcast, all your favorite
episodes from our Facebook watch show in audio on two free.
But you're so excited to bring you an all new
Red Table Talk series with the iconic Queen Gloria Stefan. Salute.
(00:24):
Everything is special about Red Table Talk via Stefan's or
Latina's Baby. Three different women, three different generations, three different opinions.
We are so honest, pm DMI. This is my Nieasy Lily.
She is Estefan. Lily is a beloved Latin, a TV star,
(00:47):
a devoted mother of two, and she is fabulous. I
hope you're right. You will do it right. Who's the
biggest drama Queen? I was born with a drama? Is
my daughter Emily and she is as the fresh She
is a gifted musician. She's outspoken and a powerful voice
(01:09):
of her generation. When I lay down the law, zip
it and I am as the Fears. I'm Glara Stefan.
I'm a performer. I've been married forty two years. I'm
the mother of two, I have one grandson, five jobs,
and I am a survivor. I promised you will love, love,
(01:34):
love this new series. Best say on the series premiere
of Red Table Talk via Stefan's Well Girls, We have
never spoken about it publicly. If papar azzi caught my
husband with another woman and they're asking two hud dollars,
(01:59):
you never saw there. I saw the pictures. She was humiliated.
Who's the woman? You were the last person to know.
She couldn't have emotionally talked about this before. I really
thought I had a perfect lifeguard. You did flu I
think something's going on with my daughter. You kept it
inside for a year. You prove my heart feed. Everybody's
(02:27):
been asking us, are you going to be as honest
as real as Jada, Gammy and Willow. You have to
be absolutely yeah. It would be a disservice not too
For our first Red Table, we are starting with something
extremely personal. A few years ago, Lily went through very
painful divorce from her husband of twenty five years. It
(02:47):
was a scandal that made international headlines, and we have
never spoken about it publicly. She couldn't have emotionally talked
about this piece. There's no way because he was raw.
My stop in seventeen totally changed, totally changed. Three years
after a blind date, Lily married the man of her dreams,
(03:10):
businessman Lorenzo Louasss, in a beautiful family wedding in They
had two gorgeous children, Lorenzo Jr. And Lena. Lily believed
she was living a fairy tale life. Actually two thousands
anything was supposed to be a great year for me.
I was a very accomplished woman in my career. My
(03:31):
thortious anniversary in univision. My husband who protects me, he
was a very accomplished guy. I had two beautiful kids,
and I was celebrating my twenty wedding anniversary. I really
thought I had a perfect life. Guys, you did Flagga.
We all thought that it was a great marriage. That
was so wrong. We all were and I didn't see
(03:55):
it until that moment. We celebrated our university and we
were there, and two weeks later we get a hurricane
in Miami. When Category five Hurricane Irma hit Florida, we
had to take emergency cover for forty eight hours in
our music studio we call the Bunker. There's only been
(04:19):
one hurricane and recorded history in the Atlantic that has
been stronger. This was the weekend and Monday, we come
out of the bunker. Hurricane is gone. I'm supposed to
work right away. I remember standing in the parking lot
of your studios, full of people moving out. What you're
(04:40):
saying after the storm. And my husband says, I have
to talk to you, have to tell you something. And
I got what? Hurry up? I have a live show
at four And he says, a paparazzi cut me with
another woman and they're asking two thousand dollars for the pictures.
(05:01):
I go what and ready away? I go, you would
papara Why would paparaty follow you? Who's the woman? He's like,
no one important? Because I thought it was going to
be a public figure. Why would they follow him? No
one important? And I stay quiet and he says, we're
(05:25):
not paying the money. I'm like, no, we're not paying
the money. But I need more information. I need to
say anything to him. You don't want to hate him,
or of course you want you want to kill him?
And you're like, I've always contained myself, knowing that I'm
a public figure everyone around me, and I can't even
(05:49):
like spread on him, talk say anything. My kids are
in the car. Mom, I'm you know, it's one of
those moments that you're like, yeah, okay, steak quiet, steak quiet.
From my end of the story, the night before, Lorenzo
asked me to go for a walk, and we took
(06:10):
the dogs for a walk and he says, I have
to tell you something, and I go what happened? I
thought maybe he was sick or something was going I
don't know what I thought. I knew something was happening
that wasn't right. So he tells me the situation. Oh
(06:30):
my god, Lorenzo, like, what are you going to do?
He started going off on the fact that he felt
that he wasn't the center of your life, that the
kids came first and the dogs came first. And I
said to him, Lorenzo, you do realize that once you
(06:52):
have kids, the kids have to come first and Lily's career.
He goes, yeah, but man, we need to feel like
we're like being taken care of. And I said, okay,
hold on, hold on. I was upset you've been like
my daughter. I asked him if he was in love
with the woman and he said no. I said, you
(07:14):
need to tell Lily before she goes to work tomorrow,
because he told me that everyone at work already knew.
That's when I went like, cackle, Oh my god, this
is major. He tells me. Univision knows pictures were taking
to Univision more than a week before Lily's has been
told her the bombshell news. The paparazzi visited every major
(07:38):
entertainment magazine and TV show their first up Univision, where
Lily has worked for over three decades. For ten days,
everyone at Univision knew that Lily's husband was cheating except her.
When I find out that the paparazzi had caught him
(08:00):
with another woman, and the pictures were taking to my job,
to my colleagues, to the producers of my show, to Univision,
my second home for thirty years decades, I'm going like,
how come I don't know anything? And I was flipping
out because you started going like you're in the dark.
(08:23):
So imagine right from the beginning, I just felt so
humiliated privately and then publicly. My boss Mariella. First of all,
she says, I can't buy these pictures. The husband of
my talent, I can buy these pictures, and the papa,
he said, no problem. I have a bunch of places
(08:45):
that I can go and sell the pictures, and then
she tells me, you just found out today. You're the
last person to I go, yes, flag, you know what
really blinded. I'd like to bring in Emilio, my husband,
her uncle, Emily's dad, who was actually the first to
find out that all of this was going on, so
(09:06):
that my poor uncle, he loves you so much. My husband,
Emilio is Lily's uncle and in many ways, her second father.
A few days before we all headed to the bunker,
he received an alarming phone call and was the first
in the family to hear the shocking news. Photos of
Lily's husband with another woman were being shopped around by
(09:27):
the paparazzi. A handsome man. All my favorite girls in
the world, all my favorite girls. You're the one that
got the call from which this never could happen. The
lawyer from the Univision called me when the pictures. That
call to me was like the biggest surprise, because I
(09:48):
saw everything was going fine. I called Lorenzo. He was
not aware that somebody was following it. I'm taking pictures
as a number one, Lorenzo. I'm gonna tell you they
got you. They have many pictures, and I don't know.
How are you going to handle that? And I said,
I don't want to take Gloria now. I don't want
to tell Lily. I don't want to talk about it.
That's not my my position. This is your your gig.
You have to deal with that thing. I think they're
(10:08):
gonna ask you for a lot of money. He said,
let me handle it, and I said, I don't think
I want to pay. The big problem here comes. I
advise him, you play, you pay. I'm sorry. The only
thing you have to think here is about your kids.
And I said, and you need to talk to Gloria
before you talk to living, to seach and give you
any kind of advice. And never saw him back. So
it's like somebody died well for me, guys for me.
(10:31):
I get the news then, rather the parking lot there
we talked and he came up with the idea, Lily,
why don't you come out publicly, like get ahead of
the paparazzi and say that they're trying to black Melis Lorenzo.
(10:51):
He told me that, Yes, he told me too, So
of course I said, fine, we're not paying the money.
I'm going to follow your advice. And I sit with
my boss and the lawyers. I defended him for hours.
He wanted to be like this, so if I'm coming
up public, this is what I'm doing united front. I
(11:12):
was like, I'm protecting my family and no one is
going with my husband and my kids. I went like
this and I'm like, this is a one time thing.
They followed him, We'll find out who's the paparazzi. Why
this happened. Lilian Lorenzo made a pact they would get
ahead of the paparatti and go public with the story
(11:33):
that they were being blackmailed. When everyone leaves, I stayed
with my boss and that's when I freak because she
tells me, I have to tell you that the paparazzi
left here. He's number for you and he has a
lot of information. And that's when I realized, whoa, this
(11:59):
is a this is not a one time thing. I
go home and I realized, oh my god, the paparatti
has had the pictures for eleven days. They're coming out
any minute, and right away I go my kids, they
can wake up tomorrow morning. I have the pictures all
over social media. Saw was Lorenzo in the house. Yes,
(12:21):
he was in the room with me like all the kids,
and I said, which I don't know if it was
a mistake, I should have maybe let him explain the
kids what happened. He didn't tell them, You told them
it was me. I cat home with all this information.
That's quite a nervous freaking out. So I sit with
them and I tell them, this happens a lot in
(12:43):
marriages that have been together for a long time. And
I think the only thing that happened to your father
is that he's married to a public figure. That's why
if Paparatzi has done this to him, has done this
to us. There are a lot of men that you
guys know, that have been unfaithful and they take it
(13:08):
back and you go through therapy whatever, and you keep
on going. So right away I try to excuse him
in front of the kids, and at some point I
finished the conversation and I look at him and I'm like,
you broke my heart. And I stormed out of the room.
(13:31):
And what did he do? Did he live? And he
left and he never came back after that. So that
was the last time he was announced. Yes, after I
defended him for hours in front of my boss and
the lawyers, and I can say that I got divorced
and never ever had ever had a conversation with him,
which I think is the heartest thing because no closure. Yeah,
(13:55):
and I would just say, God, help you, help me,
help me. I know my mind was going crazy. The
worst moment of my life. And didn't even get a
call from him. For me, that was the moment because
it was totally out of character. I'm like, this is
(14:16):
not the guy. Who is this? Who is this? He
was with us, he a lion, and for me, Lording
has been one of my favorite people in the world.
I love him. I don't like him too much right
now or not him. I don't like some of the actions,
but you don't stop loving somebody just because, especially somebody
(14:40):
that's been in our lives over twenty five years. The
family is also going through this divorce. We have relationships
with him. It's been so hard. I haven't talked to
him in two years. We don't communicate. He communicates to
me through the kids at him for leaving you like that.
How he did that? Should be at the table exactly.
(15:01):
I started seeing you start to break down and a
few times, you know you, you know you, you said
I can't go on. I can't go to work. I
can't do this. And I would say to you, flack, breathe,
you cannot let him take away the one thing that
(15:22):
is you and that it's gonna get you through this,
and it's gonna get your family through this. I remember
you took off in your car in your pajamas and
just started driving. We were all on the phone trying
to find you. We were holding our breaths. I was like,
something feels wrong. I had no idea what was going on,
but I'm like, something feels wrong. That night, I got
(15:44):
a call from Lena at like two in the morning,
hysterically wondering where you were. Everybody was looking for you
that point, that point came for me at Electricity because
the hurricane, my husband's a disaster. I was pulling apart.
So I'm supposed to sleep at my mother in law's house.
She has, which I don't know why. I had never
(16:06):
noticed she had the Laura Ashley said betting, the first
one that I had when we got married, and the
two night tables with the lamps. And I go into
the room and I'm like, oh boy, oh my god,
(16:26):
I'm sleeping this is the same room that I had
when we got married. It became so real to me
that I got out of the room getting my court.
That's when I break down and I started driving, driving,
and I would cry, cry, cry, cry. I ended up
(16:49):
in Orlando when I realized at four o'clock in the morning,
oh my, what the heck am I? I was in
pajamas and I had gone. I guess blank, you needed
to escape. You loyal to that man for every moment.
(17:09):
He's going through hell and back and you're there. You support,
you build, you love, and then at the end you're like, so,
why did did they need my position? They fired you.
I didn't get a raised, they fired me. I'm so
proud of you because you handled this situation so an
example for women all over the world, the way you
(17:30):
handed your kids. You never talked bad about him, being
a professional woman, famous person to be in television for
many years. That takes a lot of cares to do
that last. You can break my heart, but you cannot
take my soul. That's how I felt. I'm like, dude,
you know that I love you, You know that I
wish the best for you, and I'm a witness because
(17:52):
he is the father of my kids, and he gave
me the two most beautiful things that I have. You
never saw the pictures. I never saw the picture. At
the beginning, we said we're not buying the pictures. At
some point, I don't know why he decided he was
buying the pictures. I think I know why I saw
the pictures. I think he decided for the kids. I
think he did not want his kids to sue the pictures.
(18:17):
And I think it was the right, you know, choice,
play pay. When we were going to do the show,
you hadn't said anything to your kids about being a
part of this, because you were trying to protect them. Yes,
And I asked you, I think you need to ask Lena.
She's eighteen, she's an adult, and I think she might
(18:37):
have some things to say. And she told you that
she wanted. She's here for you things to say. Like
all children involved in a divorce, this has been very
traumatic for Lily's two kids. Her beautiful daughter, Lena is here,
the baby baby, she's a woman. Listen, before I leave,
I just want to tell you something that I'm so
(18:59):
proud of you how you handled things, and I hope
you be a role model for many many women in
the world that go to this kind of the tough
times and you have to come to So I'm very
proud of you. Yes, we love your dad. Probably welcome
(19:21):
the red table. I'm glad that I told your mom
to ask you because I know that she has only
through all of this. I wanted to protect you, and
unfortunately life is not about that learning how to deal
because life is always going to throw us a lot
of difficulties. When did you have an inkling that something
(19:42):
was happening. It was probably about a year and a
half before everything happened. You were traveling. I was supposed
to stay at the house with my dad and he
was getting ready to go somewhere and I was like, oh,
where are you going? And he was like, oh, I'm
going to eat with some friends. And I was like, okay,
what friends? And he was like, you don't know them?
(20:04):
And right away I was like, that's kind of weird
because I know all of his friends. I was like, okay,
but which restaurant. I wanted to have some idea of
what was going on because I was going to be
staying home alone, and I felt safer that way. Just
know you were. I never liked being home alone at night. Ever,
since I was a kid, I was always terrified. So
(20:25):
I started calling my dad and he wasn't responding, and
then he finally responded and I just heard really loud
music and he was like, I can't hear you. I'll
text you, and he just hung up, and then I
was like, can you please come home? I just don't
feel safe. So he got home and I was I
got really upset because I was like, I called you
twenty times. I could have been getting kidnapped, I could
(20:46):
have been I was at home by myself, anything could
have been happening. You were who was supposed to be
taking care of me. And he was like, this is
why I hate being here. The second I walk in,
I'm always getting punished or someone's getting mad at me
so hard. So then he was like, no, I'm leaving again.
And then he left and I was home by myself
(21:07):
and left yes. So then I texted one of my
really close friends, I think something's going on with my dad.
I think he's seeing someone else, because this is just weird.
At this point, did you ever think about telling your mom?
Did that even ever cross your mind? Because I just
felt like if it wasn't true. First they would have
hurt him to be thinking that his daughter's accusing him
(21:31):
of something like that. So I was like, I don't
want to start something and it not be true and
then just be a bunch of times inside for a year. Yeah.
And I didn't want to tell my brother either, because
he was probably going to be thinking that I'm crazy.
But I didn't feel like there was anyone that I
could tell that it wouldn't affect them too. He kind
of went from fourteen to thirty exactly. Imagine my reaction
(21:55):
acid mother when after everything that I was going through.
We try to store a family therapy and they would
tell me things like that, and I would be like,
where was I what happened? What happening? All this time?
It's hard, am I know it's hard because I'm thinking
(22:16):
everything that we're going through. And I was also blinded.
When you eventually found out that you were right, Obviously,
that's devastation, that's horrible, But did you feel like kind
of like, Okay, at least I'm not crazier. I remember
vividly that night when they told us. I just remember
seeing my brother's face and he was like I was
(22:38):
just like, okay, I was right, I felt like it
wasn't new news to me because I saw it coming.
Did you think he was going to leave? No? I
just never saw having divorced parents. I never thought of
it as a possibility because all my friends who had
divorced parents happened when they were really young. Usually, when
you've made it to a quarter century like we did,
(23:00):
you're thinking. I remember someone telling me of marriages and
the divorce. I was like, thank God that my parents
will never be one of them. And I remember my
dad being like, Oh, we're probably gonna get a divorce.
I was like, there's no way. Like even when he
said that, I was like, exactly, I was like, there's
just no way. There's no divorce in our family, exactly.
(23:23):
I never ever guys expected to get a letter from
a lawyer that he had filed for divorce. That was
another choking moment in my life. I never thought we
would get divorced. Never thought I would mention the deep
word impossible, and I would have done anything to save
(23:45):
my family. Do you think if it weren't a relationship
and it was like an isolated incident, that you guys
would still be married. Oh? Yes. The day that divorce
paper became public. I won in Daytime National. Yes, Emmy,
(24:06):
I always got to thank the Academy because I like,
I would like to thank the academy because my personal
life was the lowest. It was ship horrible day for
me and in my professional life. Was hi that you
are like, because is talking to me? Lena. You've always
(24:27):
been an amazing student and when you went through this,
I know it had to be rough because of the
public nature of it, so much so that you even
decided to change schools. Yeah. I remember people always saying
they're like, when kids go through stuff like this, they're
a different person. I was like, there's no way that
would never happen to me. I was a competitive dancer.
(24:50):
I was always doing super well in school. Slowly I
started losing interest in everything. My grades started slipping, but
got to school sleep. I quit my school dance team,
and I was just coming up with excuses and my friends,
probably my friends were noticing, and I didn't understand that
depression that's what happened. It was depression that I wouldn't
(25:11):
really talk about it either. Maybe you didn't want to
admit it to yourself. Yeah, I think I was in
denial getting out of bed in the morning was so hard.
I remember checking my attendance one day. I had like
forty absences I saw affecting my relationships and bottle it up.
And after a month I would explode, But then I
would bottle it up again and I would explode. At
(25:33):
some point, I feel I can't fight with her anymore.
We decided therapy. She studied therapy little by little, but
it was long road to recovery. Lena. I was scared
for you, and I would talk to your mom and
I would say to your mom, Lily, Lena is clinically depressed.
(25:54):
We need to find a way to get her to therapy.
You've always controlled your environment, and what was sudden you
couldn't control your own emotions. Listen, this is a horrible process.
You were depressed to flag and through that depression had
to go on your show every day and pretend like
nothing happened, and everybody's throwing in your face. Oh well,
you talk about everybody else's relationship. That's what you can
(26:17):
talk about, you know. And it was also really hard
for me because I didn't even have the chance to
tell my friends. I just remember one day I woke
up and my mom had gone on the show that
day and said the news, and at that point I
(26:41):
had gotten two texts already. Within half an hour after
the show ended. One of my best friends was like, Hey,
I know you didn't tell us anything, but if you
need anything, I'm here, And then another one texting me,
oh my gosh, is this true, Lena? How's your relationship
with your dad now? It's definitely still not where I
wish it would be. Whenever I tell my friends the
(27:02):
stories are like, oh my gosh, he's such an ass,
and I'm like, Okay, I kind of got uncomfortable because
as much as I could be upset with him, at
the end of the day, he's my dad and I'm
always gonna love him no matter. I love that I
know exists and that I grew up seeing between you
and your father, the way that your father was with
(27:25):
you and loves you. I know still to this day.
I think really that what it is is when you
can't face yourself what you just spoke about, what we've
been talking about now, I bet that it would even
break him down to see you where you are. He's
a grown man, he's got to do the work. So
if he wakes up tomorrow and he starts working on himself,
then I'm sure we'd all be here to accept him
(27:48):
and integrate our lives with him. My message to him is,
I love you, Lorenzo, but man up and do the
work so that we can you know the program, because
there's a lot that no matter what's going on between
you guys, I still would I would have loved to
have him at my graduation. I would love to see
him at my birthday. That's what I'm saying. That's what
(28:09):
I'm saying. It's not us at that point exactly. Maybe
he's not ready. We have to mention my son. Yes,
Lorenzo has been a rock through all of this, by
the way, and it's been so rough for him, and
he's also doing amazing in school doing his thing. Yeah,
we love hearing you speak and like hearing where you're
(28:34):
coming from. Like it's inspiring me. Like I'm always proud
and inspired by you. But the way that you've taken
this and done what it seems this with it, Yeah,
you're talking in a way that really is enlightening. I
think you grow where you've caught up with your actual height.
I think I think your soul is stretching out to
fit those arms. Lily, you said when we started that
(28:57):
you thought you had the perfect life. No matter what
the hell. What I'm looking at right now is to
improve strong, bad ass women exactly. Okay, guys, but this
is what I learned, and I want to talk to
divorce women. I made a choice from the beginning to
lead with love because what happened is for us, for
(29:20):
Lorenzo and for me, and I decided to keep the
best with me, not the worst. I didn't want to
get a divorce, and I pushed and push and push
to get past everything that was going on. It didn't happen,
and one day I just woke up and said, Okay, Lily,
it's time to let go in speeda they. There's one
(29:46):
thing that I do every night before I go to sleep,
I pray for my kids to meet the guy that
I married, because the guy I married it's not the
guy that I divorced, and not for me anymore. But
(30:11):
then they they served to meet that incredible guy that
I married, and I can't say any more than that.
You know, cry, you guys are gonna be just fine.
(30:36):
They will love you. I love you. They are all
right here. We are on the next Red tabletop the Stephens.
I remember telling you, are you gay? You're glorious, Stefan,
You're a gay icon. I really didn't want to let
(30:56):
you down, he said, I can tell your m I
and she dies. Her blood is on your hands. You're
remembering things in a different way I was seeing with Sino.
I'm sorry that we didn't kick that, and I hate
to know that I was part of that hurt. One
(31:17):
second cloak our family friend Rosie o'donnald Emily, do you
forgive her for that? And actress Michelle Rodriguez reveals her
truth she's openly bisexual. I like boys, I like girls,
I like both everything. What was so beautiful about it
(31:40):
is just the familial just everybody coming together during a
difficult time because you know, we can all take that
low roll because we really be wanted to. Oh my god,
I could have gone like this. I know. You got
to see the generational aspect. We got to see everybody's personality,
We got to see your point of view, my guy,
let's talk about Thanks for listening. To join the Red
(32:04):
Table Talk family and become a part of the conversation,
follow us at facebook dot com. Forward Slash, red Table
Talk Stefans. Red Table Talk via Stefans is a production
of Westbrook Studios in partnership with I Heart Radio's Michael
Tura podcast Network. For more podcasts from my Heart, visit
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(32:27):
listen to your favorite shows.
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