Gloria Trevi: the criminal shadow that pursues the pop diva

At the end of 2023 Gloria Trevi released a new song,

Inocente

.

Although the lyrics do not refer to her past, the Mexican artist took advantage of the title to appropriate the narrative around her legal problems.

“I am innocent,” she stated in promotional ads on her social networks.

Among her admirers, the song was a success and reached millions of views on digital platforms, but it was only a matter of weeks before Trevi was sued again in the United States for her alleged complicity in Sergio Andrade's sexual abuse network.

While she waits for the resolution of this trial, she has started with a series of concerts at the National Auditorium in Mexico City.

Before

Inocente

, the singer released

Medusa

and another handful of songs—in addition to a biographical series—in which she presents herself as the protagonist of “a poorly told story.”

In all these cases the cycle repeats itself: despite all her attempts to vindicate herself, the controversy always returns.

Between censorship and applause: his rise to fame

Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz (Monterrey, 55 years old) began her training at the Televisa Artistic Education Center thanks to the scholarship she won as a prize in a contest to find Lucero's double.

With the support of her mother, she moved to Mexico City and at age 16 she auditioned for Andrade, who was one of the youngest and most respected music producers in the business.

He invited her to join the teenage group Boquitas Pintadas, which also included María Raquenel Portillo,

Mary Boquitas

, who was married to Andrade at the time.

The name of the group is inspired by the 1969 novel by Manuel Puig in which topics such as infidelity and sexuality are addressed.

Andrade served as a mentor and taught the girls to play various instruments, but the band broke up shortly after releasing their first album due to differences between its members and the record label.

Gloria Trevi with her son Ángel Gabriel in Monterrey, in 2004. Jorge López (Cuartoscuro)

Determined to succeed in the entertainment industry, Gloria Trevi stayed to live in the capital.

To survive she had to get some informal jobs until she met again with Sergio Andrade, whom she convinced to support her career as a soloist, according to what the performer said in her 2002 autobiography. Her first album De

ella What do I do here?

was released in 1989, but it was her debut on the Mexican show

Siempre en Domingo

that catapulted Gloria Trevi to fame.

Dressed in a miniskirt and the torn stockings that became an essential part of her image, the singer performed

Dr. Psychiatrist

for the first time while she danced and crawled across the floor of the forum.

After this presentation on national television, it was impossible for the woman from Monterrey to be forgotten.

This album was followed by

Your guardian angel

,

I feel so alone

and

More disturbed than ever

, a title in which the double meaning does not go unnoticed.

In her lyrics, Trevi talked about sexual liberation, teenage pregnancies, the use of condoms and machismo, which resonated with Mexican youth.

The writer Carlos Monsiváis stated that the singer was “the spokesperson of a generation” and included in

Los Rituales del Caos

an illustration made by

El Fisgón

that was inspired by the famous Gloria Trevi calendars from the 90s. What came next made the chronicler censored the text he wrote about her and eliminated the artist from the cover of subsequent editions of his book.

The Trevi-Andrade clan

The first to denounce what was happening behind the scenes was Aline Hernández, who met Sergio Andrade at the age of 13 when, like many other girls, she was looking for an opportunity to succeed in the music industry.

In her 1998 book,

La Gloria por El Infierno

, the young woman recounted the abuse she experienced in her marriage to her producer, who married her when she was still a minor.

According to various testimonies, Andrade had established a

modus operandi

to approach young people between 13 and 18 years of age.

The Mexican actress Lorena Herrera said a couple of years ago that she was one of the many who auditioned for him.

Her initial contact was with Gloria Trevi, who approached her to tell her that the renowned producer wanted to launch her into stardom.

They met her at a hotel and, after asking her to act out some of her scenes, Trevi explained to her that she had to take off her clothes in front of Andrade.

When Herrera refused, the singer began to cry and begged her to do it because otherwise she would lose her job.

She so she did it.

Some time later they called her to sign a contract with them, but the proposal came at a time when Lorena Herrera already had a team of representatives, who warned her that the man was “sick and voyeuristic.”

He was one of the few she was lucky.

At the time, Aline Hernández's statements caused a great scandal, but they simply remained as tabloid gossip and it was not until Karina Yapor's story became known that the authorities became involved in the case.

Yapor also joined the Trevi-Andrade Clan with the promise of an artistic career.

With her parents' permission, she moved to Spain, but they lost contact with her until they received a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to tell them that their grandson (whose existence they were unaware of) had been abandoned in a public hospital in terrible health conditions.

At 14 years old, the girl had become pregnant by Andrade, so in 1999 Yapor's parents reported Sergio Andrade, Gloria Trevi and Mary Boquitas to the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office for kidnapping, aggravated rape and corruption of minors.

In addition to his legal problems, Trevi was going through a difficult time after the loss of his daughter, Ana Dalai, who was just over a month old.

In her autobiography, the singer assured that the pregnancy had been the result of a deep love that was not consummated until she was traveling with Andrade around the world to try to keep a low profile in the face of controversy.

The little girl died for inexplicable reasons in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, so the producer would have given the order to dispose of the body to avoid being located by the authorities if they asked for help, according to Mary Boquitas' version.

After their capture in 2000, Gloria Trevi, Sergio Andrade and María Raquel Portillo spent three years in a prison in Brazil, where the star gave birth to her second child, Ángel Gabriel.

For a long time the identity of the child's father was a mystery, and even with the DNA tests carried out in the prison, Trevi preferred to remain silent.

Finally, the series

Ellas Soy Yo

, which premiered in 2023 and has the authorization of the singer, confirmed that the father is Sergio Andrade.

Sergio Andrade with Gloria Trevi and María Raquel Portillo, at a press conference in Brasilia, in December 2000.EVARISTO SA (AFP)

The group was extradited to Mexico, but they were eventually acquitted of the charges against them.

Trevi was freed in 2004 and Andrade in 2007.

His return to the stage

Once she regained her freedom, Gloria Trevi focused on rebuilding her life.

The singer fell in love with her and started a family with Armando Gómez, who was part of her legal team and was a key player in getting her released.

Her musical comeback — like her debut — could also be described as a phenomenon, as she once again knew how to speak to the public with songs that reflect her struggles and encourage them to empower themselves, even when opinion public is against him.

Topics like

Todos me Miran

and

Resistencia

have achieved the status of anthem for the LGTB community, to which a large part of its current

fandom

belongs .

Gloria Trevi at her wedding with Armando Gómez, in December 2009. Gabino Acevedo Acevedo (Cuartoscuro)

His speech about everything that happened with Sergio Andrade has also changed.

In the initial versions of her, the interpreter tried to defend him, she even suggested that the victims were used by Televisión Azteca to lie as revenge for a failed deal with the television station.

She later claimed that she had indeed been abused by Andrade, but that the scandal was used as a smokescreen to distract Mexicans from the wave of femicides in Ciudad Juárez.

It was not until late 2023 that her story resonated with what the other young girls told decades ago.

In a countersuit she filed in the United States, Trevi confessed that she had not spoken out before because she was trying to protect her children, but that for years “she was controlled, enslaved, and physically and mentally tortured by “Andrade.”

In statements provided to Variety, what Aline Hernández, Karina Yapor and the other victims shared about the brutal punishments to which they were subjected by their aggressor were also confirmed.

This new judicial battle actually responds to a lawsuit against him by two women who requested anonymity, who claim that Trevi is also responsible for the violence they suffered.

Gloria Trevi continues to deny her involvement in recruiting the young women.

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