Spanish Court Rules Julio Iglesias Is Father To 42-Year-Old Javier Sanchez Santos After 17-Year Battle

A Spanish court has ruled that Julio Iglesias is the biological father to a 42-year-old man, whose mother said she had a brief affair with the singer in the 1970s.

The case dragged on for two years until a judge in Valencia ruled that Javier Sanchez Santos, who currently lives in Italy, is the Spanish singer’s son. Although, Iglesias repeatedly refused to give a DNA sample.

The judge’s decision was based on the testimony of Maria Edite, a former ballerina. Edite said she had a one-week affair with Iglesias in Sant Feliu de Guixols on the Costa Brava in 1975 and that Santos was born as a result of that relationship.

The case was initially dismissed in 1992 but Santos’ lawyer, Fernando Osuna, insisted DNA evidence procured by a detective in the U.S. was cause for the case to be reopened.

The detective managed to get a hold of a water bottle that the singer’s son, Julio Iglesias Jr, was drinking from while he was surfing in Miami.

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Osuna claimed that the DNA test showed that Santos and Iglesias Jr were brothers.

The judge refused to admit the DNA as evidence and based his ruling on that “there [was] a clear physical resemblance between father and son,” as well as evidence that “at the time of conception there was a certain amount of contact between Maria Edite Santos and Julio Iglesias during which time it is not implausible that they had a sexual relationship.”

The 75-year-old singer was not in court and consistently denied the accusation. His lawyers said that he will appeal against the decision.

Before the ruling, Isabel Preysler, who was Iglesias’ wife at the time of the alleged affair, said she believed that if it was proven that Santos was his son, Iglesias would “do his duty as a father because Julio has always been a very responsible person.”

The Grammy-winning singer has eight children, three from his relationship with Preysler and five with his second wife, Miranda Rijnsburger.

Preysler and Iglesias’ third son, Enrique, is also a successful singer who has also won five Latin Grammys.