Spanish music star Julio Iglesias is now under scrutiny as two former employees have accused him of sexual assault and creating a work environment marked by intimidation, coercion, and abuse.
The allegations relate to incidents that are said to have occurred in 2021 at his overseas residences and are being investigated by Spain’s national court.
Reports by Spanish news site elDiario.es and US broadcaster Univision detail the claims, which involve Iglesias allegedly assaulting staff at his homes in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and Lyford Cay, Bahamas.
The women also claim the singer fostered a culture where abuse was routine and threats were used to control employees.
The singer, who has been a global music figure since the 1960s and is now 82, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. A manager at one of Iglesias’s Caribbean estates dismissed the allegations as “nonsense,” while efforts by the BBC to contact his representatives have so far gone unanswered.
One of the women, referred to as Rebeca, said Iglesias would routinely summon her to his room and touch her without consent.
“He used me almost every night,” she said. “I felt like an object, like a slave.”
Rebeca, who was 22 at the time and is Dominican, also claimed Iglesias forced her into threesomes with another female staff member, slapped her, and grabbed her genitals.
The second woman, identified as Laura and a Venezuelan physical therapist, said Iglesias touched her breasts and kissed her on the mouth without permission. She added that he constantly threatened to fire her, dictated her food intake, and asked when her period was due.
“He always said I was fat and had to lose weight,” Laura said, describing the workplace as one where abuse had become normalized. She added, “there were girls who couldn't say no. And he did what he wanted with them.”
elDiario.es and Univision said their three-year investigation is supported by documents including photographs, text messages, phone records, and medical reports. They also cited former employees who described a highly stressful and intimidating working atmosphere.
On 5 January, Rebeca and Laura submitted a formal legal complaint against Iglesias at the national court, which handles crimes alleged to have occurred outside Spain. The case includes accusations of sexual assault and human trafficking.
Close associates of Iglesias have rejected the allegations. Jaime Peñafiel, a longtime friend, called the claims “absolute lies,” while journalist Miguel Ángel Pastor said he had never heard “any suggestion that he might have committed this kind of act.”
Political reactions have varied. Spain’s equality minister, Ana Redondo, called for a full investigation. “When there is no consent there is assault,” she said on social media.
Ione Belarra, leader of the Podemos party, urged the end of “the silence” surrounding sexual assault claims by wealthy or famous figures.
The allegations coincide with a recent complaint against the late former prime minister Adolfo Suárez, accusing him of sexual abuse when the complainant was a teenager. Suárez died in 2014, and magistrate Jesús Villegas has described the case as politically motivated and unlikely to succeed.
Madrid region president Isabel Díaz Ayuso defended Iglesias, saying, “The Madrid region will never contribute to the vilifying of artists and even less so to that of the most universal of all singers: Julio Iglesias.”
Iglesias’s biographer Ignacio Peyró and publisher Libros del Asteroide said they would revise last year’s biography to include the allegations. They also expressed “support and solidarity for the victims.”
