Gloria Estefan Says A Relative Sexually Abused Her When She Was 9 Years Old

Singer Gloria Estefan has opened up about being abused as a child by a distant relative. She said the man even threatened to kill her mother if she told anyone about his behavior.

"I was 9 years old when this happened and this was somebody that my mother trusted," Estefan revealed on Facebook Watch series "Red Table Talk: The Estefans" on Thursday. "He was family, but not close family."

The 64-year-old singer didn't reveal her abuser's identity but noted that he was "in a position of power" as she used to study in his music school.

"He immediately started telling her how talented I was and that I needed special attention, and then she felt lucky that he was focusing this kind of attention on me," the singer explained.

Estefan said the man used to praise her "little by little." But eventually, when she "revolted" against his inappropriate behavior, he started threatening her.

"I knew that this was a very dangerous situation, and when I revolted and I told him, 'This cannot happen, you cannot do this,' he goes, 'Your father is in Vietnam, your mother's alone and I will kill her if you tell her,'" she recalled, adding that the man was "crazy."

The Grammy-winning singer was sure that it was not her fault. But she didn't have the courage to tell her mother about it.

"I tried every which way to get out of going to that school. I invented that I was sick," she said and shared the audio clip of a conversation she had with her father, who was in Vietnam at the time, in which she could be heard making excuses for not attending the music school.

The pop star said her hair started falling due to stress and anxiety. She eventually told her mother about her experience. The mother immediately called the police.

"They told my mother not to press charges because they said that I was going to go through worse trauma having to get on a stand," she recalled. "That's the one thing I feel bad about, knowing that there must've been other victims."

When she released her hit music track, "Conga," the man reportedly criticized her music by writing a letter to a newspaper.

"At that moment, I was so angry that I was about to blow the lid off of everything," Estefan noted.

The singer will soon feature in a movie, "Father of the Bride," which is currently under post-production.