Julio Iglesias publishes alleged private messages from former employees to defend his innocence
The singer says Instagram is "the only means" that allows him to legitimately exercise his right to defense
BarcelonaJulio Iglesias has taken another step in his battle to defend himself of the accusations of harassment and sexual assault by two former employees. The singer has published alleged private messages from the accusers sent via WhatsApp, which, in his opinion, prove his innocence. Through Instagram, Iglesias posted messages from two women—without concealing their identities—who worked in his home between 2021 and 2022. "The evidence is clear: the WhatsApp communications sent by the accusers during the time they worked in my house and the communications after they left, prove it."
The posts are his response to the National Court Prosecutor's Office's rejection, for the time being, of Iglesias's lawyer's request to be admitted as a party to the investigation against him. This request seeks direct access to the content of the complaint against the singer, filed through the international human rights organization Women's Link, which represents the accusers. After receiving the complaint last week, the Prosecutor's Office opened preliminary proceedings. Iglesias is accused of three crimes: human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor and servitude; harassment and aggravated sexual assault resulting in injury; and a crime against workers' rights. Iglesias says that Instagram is the "only means" that allows him to legitimately exercise his right to defense and "report the absolute falsity of the reported events." In the shared messages, one of the women asks him how he slept and reminds him to put on his posture support belt. In another, she wishes him goodnight and thanks him for his patience. Iglesias has also made public a private voice note from a former employee in which she tells him she has arrived home and reminds him that they will see each other the next day. The reported events involve a former housekeeper of the singer and a physiotherapist. Both women submitted employment documents, photographs, recordings, WhatsApp messages, and call logs to the court to prove the veracity of their accusations, which include sexual assault, harassment, and systematic workplace humiliation. Following the accusations, Iglesias has repeatedly denied the allegations. has requested that the legal case be dismissed..
Discrediting the victims
"It's clear that when these men, with all their status, defend themselves, they know and take advantage of the many gender stereotypes and a very poor understanding of power, consent, and a coercive environment. They try to use any message taken out of context to invalidate the victim's status and the structural impossibility of giving consent," explains lawyer Laia Serra regarding Iglesias's decision to defend himself by publishing private messages on social media. With this strategy, the singer seeks to "discredit the victim and simulate a peaceful situation and consent," says the criminal lawyer specializing in gender-based violence.
From her point of view, the effectiveness of the defense "will depend on and be correlated with society's lack of understanding of the mechanisms of the cycle of violence." Serra says that, with these messages, the singer hopes to provoke "banal thoughts and ideas such as that if the complainants didn't want to, there would be a written 'no,' or that they could always ask for help or leave," a series of statements that ignore "the coercive power of status." The singer's social circle and the environments where the girls had to work, isolated from the public." According to Serra, the use of private messages in defenses is common in court, but the lawyer emphasizes that "they are always checked before they are manipulated, and the entire conversation is required to have prior context."