Two women who claim to have worked for Spanish legendary singer Julio Iglesias say the popular artist sexually assaulted them at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. The allegations, made in reports by Spanish news site elDiario.es and US outlet Univision, are being investigated by Spain's judiciary. The singer employed the two women at his properties in Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, and Lyford Cay, in the Bahamas. According to their testimonies, the sexual assaults took place in 2021. Iglesias, who is 82, has been a household name in Spain since the 1960s and has sold millions of records worldwide. According to the alleged victims, Iglesias exercised absolute control and committed abuses of power, with behaviour that they describe as sexual aggression and constant humiliation. The events allegedly took place during the period when they were employed by the singer as a domestic worker and a physiotherapist. The journalistic investigation, said to have been conducted over three years and was based on additional testimonies and documents, reveals that one of the former employees claims to have been forced to have sexual encounters with the Spanish artist in which he allegedly slapped her. "I didn't have the option of saying no," Rebeca, who worked as a cleaner in both houses when she was 22 years old, laments to the newspaper. "I didn't even think at the time that I might lose my job, I felt like I was being pushed to do it without saying no." Laura, the physiotherapist, also describes other types of touching and humiliation throughout the day. And whenever the sexual encounters took place, both women say a senior employee of Iglesias' was present. A woman who worked as a supervisor for Julio Iglesias, with whom one of the accusers claims to have had sexual relations with the singer, described the allegations as "bullshit" and said she only felt "gratitude, admiration and respect" for the artist, whom she described as "humble, generous, a great gentleman and very respectful of all women". Julio Iglesias is arguably the most celebrated artist in Spanish and Latin music history. According to his website, he is the best-selling Latino artist and one of the top 10 best-selling artists with more than 300 million records sold in 14 languages. — Agencies
