Gloria Estefan’s childhood was one that included difficult circumstances. Estefan was born in Havana, Cuba in the late 1950s, per AllMusic. In a 2017 “CBS This Morning” interview, she opened up about her upbringing. Following Fidel Castro taking power in Cuba, Estefan’s father was removed from his position as a police officer and put in jail for three months. Estefan and her family eventually relocated to the U.S. Her father then worked with the U.S. military and served in the Vietnam War. Upon his return home, Estefan’s father was ill from Agent Orange exposure.
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Of her father’s condition, Estefan said, “It was the center of our lives. My mama had to work because she realized that my dad was only gonna get more ill. And then I cared for my dad and my younger sister … Like, from the age of 12 to 18, 19, it was him.” In 2013, Estefan said that her father had developed multiple sclerosis, and music was an outlet as she took care of him. “It was a difficult thing to handle but it made me stronger, and music was my escape,” Estefan told The Guardian. “I would play music for my dad and lock myself up in my room when I wasn’t watching him and just emote through my singing.” Her father sadly died in 1980, as Estefan was in the earlier stages of her music career.
