Enrique Iglesias Height, Age, Wife, Girlfriend, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Enrique Iglesias

• At birth, Enrique Iglesias was diagnosed with Situs Inversus Totalis (SIT), a condition in which major organs like heart are positioned on the opposite side of the body from their usual location.
  

  A picture of Enrique Iglesias with his mother as an infant

• His paternal roots are traced back to Galicia and Andalusia in Spain. His father once claimed to have Jewish and Puerto Rico heritage from his mother’s lineage.

• His maternal roots are traced back to the Philippines. Her mother has Spanish and Asian-Filipino ancestry.

• While studying at the Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, he participated in his first live show under the Hello Dolly school production.
  

  Enrique Iglesias in his school uniform

• Enrique later attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables for business studies but dropped out after one year. After this, he went to Toronto, Canada, where he began working on his first album.

• Iglesias kept his music career plans secret from his father for a long time. He did not want to rely on his father’s famous surname to advance his career.

• After his parents’ divorce in 1979, he and his brother started living with their mother.

• In 1986, Enrique’s paternal grandfather was kidnapped by the Basque separatist group ETA. Enrique and his brother Julio Jr. were later sent to Miami to live with their father for safety purposes. There, they were primarily raised by their nanny, Elvira Olivares, to whom Enrique later dedicated his first album.
  

  Enrique Iglesias (in his nanny’s lap) and family in 1975

  

  A childhood picture of Enrique Iglesias (left) and his brother with their nanny

• Enrique once borrowed $1,800 from his nanny to record a demo cassette tape consisting of a Spanish and two English songs. To promote these songs, he later contacted his father’s former publicist, Fernán Martínez, and presented himself as Enrique Martínez from Guatemala, North America. This led to him being signed by Fonovisa Records.

• On 21 November 1995, Enrique released his self-titled album featuring hits like ‘Si Tú Te Vas’ and ‘Experiencia Religiosa’ under Fonovisa Records. Within a week, the album sold over 500,000 copies and earned the gold certification in Portugal, which set a record for a non-English language release.

• His debut album featured the song ‘Por Amarte,’ which was modified from Por amarte daría mi vida (To love you, I’d give my life) to Por amarte Marisol, moriría (To love you, Marisol, I’d die) for telenovela Marisol.

• With five hit singles, including ‘Por Amarte,’ ‘No Llores Por Mí,’ and ‘Trapecista,’ his debut album went on to hold the record for the most number-one singles on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart. It also later made him win a Grammy Award.

• Enrique has released many albums like ‘Vivir’ (1997), ‘Cosas del Amor’ (1998), ‘Insomniac’ (2007), and ‘Sex and Love’ (2014).
  

  A poster of the album ‘Sex and Love’

• He considers himself a songwriter before a singer.

• In 1997, rumours circulated that Enrique dated Columbian actor Sofía Vergara briefly. However, neither of them confirmed nor denied the speculation.

• In 1998, he was rumoured to be dating American singer and songwriter Christina Aguilera. Speculation arose during their joint music tour, but neither of them confirmed the alleged relationship.

• Enrique and Whitney Houston, an American singer and actor, recorded the song ‘Could I Have This Kiss Forever’ without meeting. They sang their parts separately for the album, but they met for the release in 1999.
  

• At the start of his career, Enrique challenged Howard Stern, a famous media personality, after Stern shared a video of him lip-syncing poorly in a music video. Enrique went to Stern’s studio and performed ‘Rhythm Divine’ and ‘Be With You’ with just a guitar to prove his singing ability.

• A video for the song ‘Sad Eyes’ was once shot by David LaChapelle, a photographer and music video director, which was never released as Enrique’s record label found it to be too intense in 2000. Despite being planned as the fifth single from his English debut album, it was remixed for radio.

• Enrique later dated the Dominican actress and model Celines Toribio. He admitted this when he appeared on the Howard Stern Show in 2000.

• In 2000, after a performance at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, Enrique received an award shaped like a seagull. He surprised everyone by throwing it to the audience which accidentally injured a young woman’s head.
  

• He was rumoured to have dated actor and film producer Jennifer Love Hewitt in 2001 after they supposedly met at a rehearsal for the Grammy Awards.

• In 2001, there were reports of a brief fling between American actress Cynthia Kirchner and him.

• Enrique started dating Anna Kournikova, a Russian model, in 2001 after she appeared in the music video ‘Escape’ along with him. The duo broke up in 2013 but got back together in 2016.
  

  Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova in the music video of the song ‘Escape’

• Enrique has appeared on various television shows like VH1’s ‘I Love the New Millennium’ (2001), CTV’s ‘Canadian Idol’ (2007), NBC’s ‘The Voice’ (2013), and Fox’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ (2014). He, however, has declined opportunities to be a judge on music talent shows.
  

  Enrique Iglesias while performing on the show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’

• In 2002, he was rumoured to be dating Argentine model Yamila Diaz while already being in a relationship with Anna. Though he never confirmed it, their appearances together at various events kept sparking the rumours.

• In 2003, Enrique underwent surgery to remove a nevus (mole) on his face as there were chances that it could become cancerous.
  

  Enrique Iglesias’ transformation after the mole removal surgery

• In 2004, there was a buzz about Enrique and a socialite named Emma Kearney’s brief relationship. While Kearney claimed they had a one-night stand, Enrique denied it. This reportedly happened in a bathroom in England while he was in a relationship with Anna Kournikova.

• In 2010, he teamed up with the Linkin Park band’s charity, Music for Relief. They co-produced a charity album named ‘Download to Donate for Haiti’ to help the earthquake victims. Their project was promoted on shows like Larry King Live.

• Enrique recorded the song ‘Heartbeat – India Mix’ with singer Sunidhi Chauhan a couple of years after releasing the original track ‘Heartbeat’ in 2010 for which he collaborated with Nicole Scherzinger.

• In 2011, he collaborated with Atlantico Rum, a Miami-based company.
  

  Enrique Iglesias while holding a bottle of Atlantico Rum

• In 2013, he urged his followers to aid the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines by contributing to the American National Red Cross, a non-profit organisation.

• He has won more than 200 awards from various ceremonies including 23 Billboard Music Awards, 36 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 7 American Music Awards, 5 Latin Grammy Awards, 10 World Music Awards, 6 MTV Awards, 19 Premios Lo Nuestro Awards, and 15 Premios Juventud Awards.

• Enrique has taken part in numerous tours including the Insomniac World Tour (2007), Greatest Hits Tour (2009), and Euphoria Tour (2010–12). He has also shared the stage with artists like Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, and Ricky Martin.

• He has supported many charitable organisations including Habitat for Humanity, City of Hope, Save the Children, the Salvation Army, and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer.
  

  Enrique Iglesias with children from Save the Children program in Guatemala

• Enrique still gets nervous before live shows even with all his experience. He once admitted that he sometimes drinks rum to calm his nerves before a performance.

• His song ‘Solo En Tí ‘ was originally a hit by synth-pop duo Erasure. He recorded a Spanish version for his album ‘Vivir,’ which became a chart-topper in the US.

• His Album “Sex and Love” was Spotify’s 7th most-listened album worldwide in 2014. His song ‘Bailando’ topped the charts most listened songs in Mexico and Spain.

• In 2015, he cut his fingers during a show in Tijuana, Mexico, while grabbing a drone. He later put the t-shirt he wore with blood stains from the incident on sale on his official website for $27.50. The money generated for sale was contributed to the Save the Children foundation’s emergency fund.
  
  

  Enrique Iglesias while wearing a t-shirt with his blood stains during a show in Mexico

• Enrique almost did not record ‘Bailando’ as he was not sure about it. He, however, ended up loving it after giving it a try.  It became his favourite track on the album Sex and Love and went on to be certified four times platinum in the US.
  

• Enrique’s irresistible charm led to an unexpected turn of events during his tour in Sri Lanka in 2015. Many female fans threw their garments at him as they got excited. This incident upset President Maithripala Sirisena, who addressed the matter and said,
  

  I don’t advocate that these uncivilized women who removed their brassieres should be beaten with poisonous stingray tails, but those who organized such an event should be.”

• Enrique’s fans adore him not just for his singing and looks, but also for his kind behaviour towards them. When he meets them, they often hug and kiss him, and sometimes get so excited that they leave nail scratches. He even kisses them back.

 

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• Despite his father’s status as one of the most successful Spanish singers, Enrique has never collaborated with him on a song. They have yet to sing a song together.

• In 2015, Enrique and Anna bought a property for $1.8 million in Florida. They, however, later decided to sell it as they thought it was too big.

• In 2021, Enrique released the album ‘Final (Volume 1).’ Later the same year, he announced the release of the album ‘Final (Volume 2)’ (2024) and declared his retirement from music. He stated that ‘Final (Volume 2)’ would be his last album. He said,
  

  I’ve been working on this album for quite a bunch of years. And for me, it was always like I said, my final album… this is it. I don’t think — no. I know I won’t be doing any more albums.”

• Enrique consumes alcohol occasionally.

 

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• He often smokes.

• He is an avid animal lover and has two pet dogs, Jack and Max.
  

  Enrique Iglesias with his pet dogs