Julio Iglesias LOSES paternity case after Spanish court rules he IS the father of man, 43, born to Portuguese dancer who met the singer in 1975
- Maria Edite believes her son Javier Sanchez is the son of singer Julio Iglesias
- She says he was born nine months after they spent a week together in 1975
- Sanchez’s lawyer said the paternity case could be decided as early as next week
Julio Iglesias has lost a three-decade-long paternity dispute as a Spanish court today ruled that he did father a son with a Portugese dancer.
Maria Edite has been trying to prove that her 43-year-old son Javier Sanchez-Santos is the child of the the 75-year-old Grammy award-winning singer who she had an affair with in 1975.
Iglesias has always refused to take a DNA test, but a judge has declared that Edite provided credible details of the relationship and pointed to the the physical resemblance between the two men.
Maria Edite (pictured left), the mother of Javier Sanchez-Santos (right), arrives at a court hearing in Valencia
Similarity? The court heard that there was a striking resemblance between Julio Iglesias (left) and his alleged lovechild Javier Sanchez (right)
A Valencia court today issued a statement ruling that the judge ‘declares that Julio Iglesias is his [Sanchez’s] biological father’.
At a hearing last week, Sanchez’s attorneys – who brought the initial lawsuit – said that the ‘great physical resemblance between father and son’ is a clue towards their client’s true parentage.
In addition, they said it has been proved by DNA that he is not the son of Edite’s then-husband, whose name was Sanchez.
Iglesias – also father of music superstar Enrique – has sold more than 300 million records in 14 languages, making him the best-selling Latin artist ever.
Another step closer: Maria Edite (left), Javier Sanchez (right) and his girlfriend Chiara (right) arrive at the court in Valencia
He turned to singing after a car accident in 1963 that ended his burgeoning career as a soccer player.
He has eight other children. Three were born out of his marriage to Isabel Preysler and five with his wife Miranda Rijnsburger.
Leaving the courtroom last week, a smiling Edite called on Iglesias to have the DNA test and acknowledge ‘a wonderful son I am very proud of’.
Sanchez’s lawyer said the court could reach a decision within ‘a few days’, saying he was confident of victory in the case.
If the court rejected the paternity claim, Sanchez could still pursue it to the European Court of Human Rights, the lawyer said.
It might end up there either way, as Iglesias might dispute a ruling against him, he said.
Sanchez won a court ruling in his favour as long ago as 1992, declaring that Iglesias was his biological father.
But that ruling was later overturned, and Iglesias’s lawyers argue that the case cannot be examined again.
Known for his romantic ballads and a prolific love life, Iglesias has sold over 300million albums in his decades-long career.
He has been married twice, to Spanish socialite Isabel Preysler with whom he had three children, and to Miranda Rijnsburger, his current wife with whom he has five others.
‘Don’t ask me how many brothers I have, I don’t even know myself,’ his son Julio Jr said in 2018 on television.