14 DAY TRIAL // Speculation about an ongoing, longstanding feud between Enrique Iglesias and his father, “Spanish god” Julio Iglesias continues to circulate in the media. Enrique, as far as he is concerned, is not the one to shoot it down or confirm it in any way – he’s got what he came here for, namely, he has managed to become an international superstar, which is what he’s always wanted, as he tells Petronella Wyatt from the Daily Mail in a brand new interview.
Enrique has struggled against much adversity in his music career, including his father’s disapproval, the labels’ rejection for being the son of his father, and the critics, who rarely gave him another chance when he did something wrong. As per his own words, he has managed to overcome all these obstacles by focusing on his one and only goal, that of being a successful singer. Many years and 60 million albums later, he can now stand proud and claim he has achieved his goal.
“For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a famous singer. I used to walk out of interviews when people talked about me as my father’s son, but they don’t do that any more. I am my own person. This is something I have always aspired to be.” Enrique says. Breaking free from his father’s image professionally was the hardest thing he had to do, and it took years until people started taking him seriously as an artist, he reveals. It also implied a massive row with Julio and running from home to Toronto to record music for a Mexican label, Enrique says, but it was all well worth it in the end.
Not that his father approved of his music career afterwards either, Enrique says, still with just a hint of resentment. In fact, Julio was never really ok with his son treading in his footsteps and, according to Enrique, there was a point when he actually did everything in his power to prevent him from coming out with an album, which might make speculation of a feud more accurate than we knew before. “I think my father might have put me off somehow. It's just this intuition I had, that he would have interfered too much. […] I wanted to go where I knew no one. I went to Toronto, so I could concentrate on my music. It was a big fight to become my own person. Being someone else’s son makes you unoriginal.” the singer explains.
Eventually, Julio came to terms with the fact that Enrique was dead serious about making a name for himself in music – not that he had any other option, especially since, by then, Iglesias Jr. was already rising rapidly as the hottest male pop singer of the moment. Some resentment is still there, the Mail says, and it can be seen in Enrique’s hesitance of answering directly any question on his relationship with Julio. Nevertheless, he’s not worried or fixated on that: what Enrique wants right now is to make this moment last, ride the wave of his good fortune and, if possible, have a career at least half as successful and lengthy as Tom Jones'.
For the full interview with Enrique Iglesias, please see here.