This is an interview with Gloria%Estefan that appeared in womans own a%while ago. Not that I read womans own
or anything...
$Q You speak english and spanish with
the same ease, but which do you
and Emilio use for your most romantic conversations together?
!A Spanish, most definitely! We're#both from Cuba, and when we have to$express - in arguments as well as in$loving moments - we'll automatically
choose Spanish. It's a very"passionate and emotional language.$ But when I need to think carefully$or analyse things, it will always be!in English - it's a very succinct$language, direct and to the point. I#would say that I have a cuban heart
and an American-English head.
$Q Your new album recreates the Latin$music from the Thirties and Forties."Is that an era in which you'd have
felt comfortable living?
$A I know that, in all sorts of ways,$that period was a very tough one for#the world, what with the Depression$and so on. But in many ways it seems%to have been a more hopful time, too.
People were looking forward to$better times, and we had yet to mess$up the world in the way we have done!since. And although it was a more$innocent place in that sence, it was$pretty fun and decadent, too. I like$the past , even though I look to the%future. The radio in my car is always
tuned to an oldies station.
!Q When did you last cry, and why?
A It was three months ago and I#remember it clearly. It was when my!cocker spaniel died. Her name was$Chitan - my husband is half-Lebanese and it means "the devil" in that"language - and I'd had her since I$was 17, before we were even married.%We were all having dinner and saw her$collapse on the lawn - her heart had#given out. I cried and cried, but I
know she had a great life - my#animals get pretty spoiled! Now I'm
left with three Dalmations, two"wallabies, a parrot and some fish.
"Q What do you keep on your bedside
table?
A The phone. Always a book (Your$phone is a book? -P.V.F.C.) - at the#moment it's one called Chaos, which%is about different world philosophies
and the religion-versus-science"debate. And a figurine that my son$Nayib gave me for mother's Day. It's
a pretty sentimental thing, in$porcelain with a message about being$the world's greatest mum, but I love
"Q If your home was on fire and you#could save only one possesion, what
would it be?
%A Just one? That's too hard! But, no,"I know what it would be - my album#of photos of Nayib, because that is
irreplaceable.% Actually, I was in a situation just#like that last year, when Hurricane#Andrew was heading for Miami and we$had to evacuate our home. We put our%paintings up at the top of the house, cushioned against whatever might!happen, but we took all the photo%albums with us... No insurence policy"can cover you for the loss of your memories.
%Q Do you have one piece of advice for
your son to prepare him for the
future?
!A To be good to other people - to
treat them as you'd like to be treated. It's the most important"thing. But it's not easy to instil%the right values in a child when he's#growing up surrounded by affluence.
"Q What's the best present you have
been given lately?
$A One thing that particulary touched%me was a family newsletter that Nayib$printed out on his computer. He made#one for me and one for his dad, and#wrote about all the things that had%happened recently, including when the#parrot pecked the housekeeper - and
exactly what she said!
Q What or who makes you laugh?
A I laugh all the time, and at"everything. Humour can really pull$you through dark times, and I relied!on it a lot after the accident. I$remember being in the hospital, only"just off the critical list, and my
cousin saying to me, "You'd do"anything to win a Grammy, wouldn't
you?"
I laughed so much it was!excruciating. But I truly believe$it's the best way to deal with pain. If you don't laugh, what are you
going to do?
"Q What do you like most about your
looks?
A My eyes. They're trusting, I%think... People have always opened up to me. As a teenager, whenever I
travelled on the bus I'd get
strangers telling me thier life$story. Life can make you cynical, so I'm glad my eyes still have that%look. After all, they say they're the
window to the soul.
$Q And what do you dislike most about
your looks?
#A I'd be taller if I could be - I'm$only 5ft 2in. When I was about to be opened up on the operating table
after my accident, I asked the$surgeon if he could slip in a couple#of extra vertabrae for that reason.
It dosn't really bother me -%otherwise I would be wearing platform!shoes all the time - but I do get"tired of people saying, "Arn't you
small?"
"Q If you wern't Gloria Estefan the!singer what career might you have followed?
A I guess I might have been an!interpreter - as well as speaking%Spanish, I studied French all through
high school.% But my degree was in psychology, so I suppose I could have practised!that. I do find it pretty hard to!divorce myself from other peoples#problems, though, so unless I could%have found a way to develop some sort of professional distance between"myself and my clients, I think I'd
have ended up one depressed
psychologist!
$Q Following the few months you spent%last year as an American envoy to the"Unitied Nations, do you feel there
might be a future for you in politics?
A No! Never! I'm far too used to#getting immediate action to be able to deal with all the bureaucracy"that's involved. When Emilio and I
set up our relief fund for the"victims of the Miami hurricane, we$deliberately kept the government and
politicians out of it for that
reason.% That's not to say I'm not eternally!grateful for my experience at the%United Nations, and for everything it#taught me about human relations and"the global agenda. But I do belive$that it has to be streamlined into a$more active body taking a democratic$role in world government. The way it"is at the moment, it's hampered by"far too much red tape and too many
special interest groups.
"Q If there is one thing that would!make you happier now than you are
already, what would it be?
%A I enjoy every single part of what I$do, so I don't have the right to ask!for more. But, of course, I would"love to have the certain knowledge$that my son will enjoy a healthy and happy life - just a nice, normal#existance, the same as I'd wish for everyone.
The other thing I've already!admitted to in the recent past is$that Emilio and I would love to have
another child. As yet, there is$nothing to report, but I promise you#we're working on it diligently! And
I'm sure that, when the time is
right, it will happen...
ORIGINALLY REPORTED ON BY ALAN"JACKSON FOR "WOMANS OWN", RE-TYPED
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