Gloria Estefan opens up about her daughter coming out

By Leah Asmelash, CNN

Parenting can be hard, even for musical legends.

Singer Gloria Estefan, in a new episode of the HBO Max and CNN series, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?”, opened up to Wallace about being reluctant to let her daughter, Emily, come out to her grandmother before she died. (CNN and HBO Max share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)

In 2020, Estefan and Emily spoke about the conflict on “Red Table Talk: The Estefans.” At the time, Estefan explained her reasoning, noting that she wasn’t ashamed, but had cautioned Emily about her approach out of concern for her mother’s health. She has since apologized to Emily.

“I told her just do it slowly,” she told Wallace. “Don’t just sit her down and say, boom. Give her a minute to process.”

Estefan shared additional details about her decision to address what happened publicly.

“In the Latin community, a lot of these subjects aren’t touched, they’re taboo. People see, but they don’t want to talk about it, they don’t want to see it,” Estefan said. “And the whole point of us doing those 20 episodes was, I have all these people that have loved me through the years and supported me. And I want them to realize that we’re all just families trying to get through the difficult moments in life.”

Estefan has since received “countless” letters from fans saying the show helped them come out to their parents, too, she said.

“Life is complicated. Life is tough,” Estefan said. “And we wanted to share those things with people, so they would realize these are conversations we need to have. And it really was wonderful. The response.”

Estefan went on to applaud her daughter, who is also a singer, praising her strong will. The industry is harder now for young musicians, she said, but Emily is determined — she’s even featured on Estefan’s new album, “Estefan Family Christmas.”

“All I’ve told her always is do what you’re passionate about. You have to do what makes you happy,” Estefan said. “And that is what she’s doing.”

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“Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” streams Fridays on HBO Max and airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CNN.