Speaker 1: When Vicenta Fernandez was just a young boy, he wanted
Speaker 1: to grow up to be just like Vedin Fante.
Speaker 2: By the time he had made his dreams happen, he
Speaker 2: was the father of three boys. Eldest boy descenta junior
Speaker 2: middle child, Carrado, and little Alejandro.
Speaker 1: And all of them wanted to grow up to be
Speaker 1: just like their dad, the undisputed king of rancherra music
Speaker 1: and a mainstay of the silver screen.
Speaker 2: Easy to see why these apples didn't want to get
Speaker 2: too far from the tree.
Speaker 1: In true cowboy fashion, Vicenta Fernandez calls his son Los
Speaker 1: Potrios the three Cults, and when he was just five
Speaker 1: years old, the youngest colt, Alejandro, was already off to
Speaker 1: the races.
Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy six, Cent brought Alejandro to a special
Speaker 2: taping of Sian Bren Domingo in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 1: Little ali Is saying in front of an audience for
Speaker 1: the very first time, debted out in the crisp boy
Speaker 1: chatto suit with a classic sombrero and ukays it's a
Speaker 1: doors like Tell me this did not send me running
Speaker 1: to downtown La to secure a chatto suit for my
Speaker 1: tiny song, Oh my.
Speaker 2: God, yes, yes, he has to be a chato, but
Speaker 2: also like totally, you guys know, seriously, he looks so
Speaker 2: social adorbs.
Speaker 1: It was clear that the littlest Potrio had inherited his
Speaker 1: father's very big voice, but he was only five. His
Speaker 1: nerves took over as he froze mid song.
Speaker 2: Girl, I have PTSD from giving an oral presentation about
Speaker 2: dinosaurs in the third grade.
Speaker 3: Like, I do not blame him.
Speaker 1: Lucky for little Tent that was there to run on
Speaker 1: stage and help him with a verse, and after calming
Speaker 1: down some we sent his youngest finished out the song.
Speaker 2: I'd bet my presentation would have gone fine if I
Speaker 2: had a parent in there to jump.
Speaker 1: Like that one thousand percent. And you know what, Joseph,
Speaker 1: your scars are what make you you? Anyway, Tent was
Speaker 1: love for his sons went beyond supporting their musical careers.
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty, Bernandez bought over one thousand acres of
Speaker 1: land in Guadalajara and established Rancho Lostres Portrios, a sprawling
Speaker 1: ranch named for his kids.
Speaker 2: Y'all, graceland achiz on this place. It's got its own
Speaker 2: rodeo arena for international contests. A guitar shaped swimming pool,
Speaker 2: a bandshell.
Speaker 1: Wait, is this available to rent on Airbnb? We are
Speaker 1: going we should look, I'm looking right now?
Speaker 3: Hold please just kidding.
Speaker 1: Plus, in addition to all of that, there are stables
Speaker 1: for animals, because duh, it's a ranch and all in all,
Speaker 1: not a bad place to spend the better part of
Speaker 1: your childhood or to foster a dynasty.
Speaker 2: But it was about to get real crowded back at
Speaker 2: the ranch, pain.
Speaker 1: Because outside the ranch, Vicente Fernandez was.
Speaker 3: How can I put this?
Speaker 1: Staying busy, I'm your host, Lilianabosquez.
Speaker 3: And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon a.
Speaker 1: Weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how
Speaker 1: today's most famous latinv stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 3: And given the world some extra level.
Speaker 1: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only way we know how,
Speaker 2: with buenos vida, a.
Speaker 1: Buenas risas and a lot of opinions as we relive
Speaker 1: their greatest achievements on our journey to find out what
Speaker 1: makes them so iconic. In nineteen seventy six, we sent
Speaker 1: pe Fernandez was invited to perform at the twenty fourth
Speaker 1: annual Senorita Mexico beauty pageant. It was this year's pageant
Speaker 1: that Patrisa Rivera, a young woman from Guawila, shout at Guahila,
Speaker 1: that's where my family is first introduce ourself in the
Speaker 1: world of entertainment.
Speaker 2: And it was at this pageant that Chene introduced himself
Speaker 2: to Patricia, probably in the full Chao suit. They wouldn't
Speaker 2: meet again until the next year, on the set of
Speaker 2: the film El Aracas.
Speaker 1: This movie was an action western starring Fernandez as a
Speaker 1: man seeking revenge for the murder of his father, featuring
Speaker 1: Rivera as a mysterious woman caught up in his quest,
Speaker 1: and this second meeting would lead to their now notorious affair.
Speaker 2: An affair that started the very same year that little
Speaker 2: Portrio Alejandro saying on Sian Brendomingo, I got to point
Speaker 2: that out.
Speaker 1: Yes, we stay very clean with the facts. Here we
Speaker 1: give you all of the deeds right now. It is
Speaker 1: said that Fernandez's friend Felippe Ariaga supported their relationship by
Speaker 1: lending them a luxury apartment in his own name, giving
Speaker 1: Fernandez a totally off the books casita. By the way,
Speaker 1: I need better friends like my friends are not giving
Speaker 1: me condos why are you not supporting me?
Speaker 3: Not in my affair.
Speaker 1: I let's be very clear, I am happily married, But
Speaker 1: why do my friends not show up for me like this?
Speaker 2: Do you know what I'm gonna say? Though I was
Speaker 2: going to say that I know you would show up
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 1: Like I'm tired of giving the besitas. Somebody give me
Speaker 1: a damnus true.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay.
Speaker 2: The Rivera Fernandez affair would go on for a full
Speaker 2: ten years, and throughout those ten years, Patricia was on Fernandez's.
Speaker 1: Schedule, which included world tours, recording promotions, not to mention
Speaker 1: film shoots.
Speaker 2: Despite having an acting career of her own, and sneaking
Speaker 2: in visits where she could ended up costing her opportunities.
Speaker 1: All the while, Fernandez's wife, Kukita knew nothing until nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty seven, in the lead up to Be sent It
Speaker 1: and Takit twenty fifth wedding Annie, the couple learned that
Speaker 1: the Scent had had a child out of wedlock, Rodrigo
Speaker 1: the fourth Potrio.
Speaker 2: El Potrio o scuro. Some telling Nanny's about to go
Speaker 2: down in honey.
Speaker 1: Luckily for Rodrigo and his half brothers, not so much,
Speaker 1: not yet anyway, I should say, because Couquita made a
Speaker 1: lemonade out of lemons and accepted Rodrigo.
Speaker 3: Into the family.
Speaker 1: Wait stop, and even welcome Patricia into the ranch like a.
Speaker 3: Fucking sister wife.
Speaker 2: Damn did don't call Hernqa for nothing like what made
Speaker 2: her such a saint?
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, this wasn't the first unexpected edition to be
Speaker 1: sent in Gouquita's family, because a couple of years earlier,
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty four, Gouquita's sister had arrived at the
Speaker 1: ranch on Gouquita's birthday.
Speaker 3: Not oh my god, what are you going to tell me?
Speaker 1: Caring hold on carrying a newborn baby girl and just
Speaker 1: left her there in her sister and brother in law's care.
Speaker 1: Gougita played with her niece until she was sleepy enough
Speaker 1: to put her down in the crib, and with that
Speaker 1: Gouquita decide to accept full responsibility for little Alexandra.
Speaker 2: Which, by the way, is the name of the song
Speaker 2: Alejandro sang on sian Brendo mingo.
Speaker 1: That is wild and child wild. So Vicente and Kurita
Speaker 1: raised Alejandra as though she were their own child. Alejandra
Speaker 1: came to believe that Gloria her mother was actually her
Speaker 1: thea and wouldn't learn the truth for years, and Gloria
Speaker 1: was just like, okay, cool. No, there was one minute
Speaker 1: where Gloria changed her mind and took Alejandra back, but
Speaker 1: it naturally caused her daughter so much distress that Gloria
Speaker 1: decided it would be best for her to live on
Speaker 1: the ranch.
Speaker 2: Bitch, I would cry too if I couldn't swim in
Speaker 2: that guitar or anymore, like it would be over.
Speaker 1: Can we also discuss that Segnoras of that era were
Speaker 1: made a fucking steal? Yeah, because their ability to put
Speaker 1: up with trash men and raise the family and still
Speaker 1: turn up every day like a loyal, loving wife, Like
Speaker 1: that is some shit. I will never understand that entire
Speaker 1: generation of Latina women, specifically Mexican women. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: they're like they're built of something else.
Speaker 3: I have no comment. Then you're absolutely right, Listen. I
Speaker 3: don't know what it is.
Speaker 1: I think it's a combination of my life is too
Speaker 1: good and I don't want it to change, okay, and
Speaker 1: what will I do without him?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: Like we have evolved, thank God, so much. Like I
Speaker 1: heard someone call that type of life a gilded cage.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what it was. And I think for
Speaker 1: so many women in that position of privilege that was
Speaker 1: acquired through their husbands, that is a gilded cage. Like
Speaker 1: that shit's gold. You got a guitar, ship, swimming pool,
Speaker 1: but it's lonely.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay, But I'm going to say this so like,
Speaker 2: but for her to accept this baby, like what if
Speaker 2: someone showed up at your house.
Speaker 1: Well, hold on the baby. I understand that's her sister's baby.
Speaker 1: Like if my brother came to me, it was like
Speaker 1: in distress and like I can't take care of this baby,
Speaker 1: and you're like, that's different. I think accepting a child
Speaker 1: that belongs to your sibling is different accepting the child
Speaker 1: of your husband's other woman girl and her at her No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you I'm not built for that life.
Speaker 4: I'm not built for that life.
Speaker 1: These senoras don't fuck with these senoras. There are another species. True,
Speaker 1: rightly or wrongly, under Kuquita's eye, the children were grow
Speaker 1: up happy and healthy, paving the way for a sparkling
Speaker 1: new dynasty. Despite all the dramlin is personal life. They've
Speaker 1: sent a fact noan of this train kept on chugging,
Speaker 1: and in the eighties it made some of its most
Speaker 1: important stops.
Speaker 3: Nineteen eighty three is can You Think.
Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty fours those and Ferdananda's biggest record of the
Speaker 2: decade nineteen eighty nine's for to malt More.
Speaker 1: Which was a tie into the nineteen eighty nine film
Speaker 1: of the same name. In it, we sent the plaza
Speaker 1: rancher who returns home from a long absence to find
Speaker 1: his beloved has married somebody else, thinking he wouldn't ever
Speaker 1: come back. Her husband attacks and he flees to the
Speaker 1: jungle who is writing these.
Speaker 2: Scripts, where Unachika, with some land to her name, takes
Speaker 2: him in. He gets engaged with her and makes some
Speaker 2: local macho's jealous. Then he has an affair with her sister,
Speaker 2: and the whole thing ultimately gets him killed.
Speaker 1: Here, what do you think some type casting happening in
Speaker 1: these groups?
Speaker 2: I think, like, I really can't even deal with whatever
Speaker 2: the fuck that was.
Speaker 3: That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 1: You know what, It's an interesting companion to the film
Speaker 1: that would follow two years later, Mika Rido Yeho, because
Speaker 1: here we sent the plays a singer who falls in
Speaker 1: love with a journalist. They eventually marry and have a son,
Speaker 1: and that son.
Speaker 2: Is played by Alejandro Fernandez, the Littlest Potrio, who keeped
Speaker 2: off this episode and was about.
Speaker 3: Twenty by the time the movie came out.
Speaker 1: Things get rocky for the singer and the journalist. His
Speaker 1: commitments become too much for her, and they divorce. The journalist,
Speaker 1: feeling wrong, teaches their son to despise his father, But
Speaker 1: as the years go on, Rodrigo, I mean, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: I know the singer and the journalist's son realizes that
Speaker 1: his mother was in the wrong all along and that
Speaker 1: he actually does love his father. I need to check
Speaker 1: in with you, Joseph. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Literally, If this isn't about Patricia and the Rodrigo, I
Speaker 2: don't know what.
Speaker 1: Is straight slanderous?
Speaker 3: Do you think that he wrote this? Do you think that, like,
Speaker 3: how is this possible? Oh? God?
Speaker 1: Because he was in a position of power and all
Speaker 1: of the executives at the studio were Mexican men, Like
Speaker 1: I mean, hello, why do we think we have all
Speaker 1: of these movies that never reflect a female narrative or
Speaker 1: a female protagonist.
Speaker 3: Because men make the movies.
Speaker 1: This is why it's important to have people in the
Speaker 1: room that represent other p ovs.
Speaker 3: I love that there you go, there you go.
Speaker 1: And honestly, whatever audiences saw in the story when they
Speaker 1: watched it in theaters, the song they heard as the
Speaker 1: story concluded with Alejandro singing to an aging Vicente Fernandez
Speaker 1: was an instant classic.
Speaker 2: Miki l Yako is a mega tear jerker for anyone
Speaker 2: with a close relationship to an aging father.
Speaker 1: And in Mexico these days, it's the song you throw
Speaker 1: on at the family gathering to remember somebody you've lost.
Speaker 1: Not like Coco style though, no like not like that,
Speaker 1: but you know, when you're thinking about your here yajito,
Speaker 1: that's what you put on. But apart from all of that,
Speaker 1: it was also the song that kicked off Alejandro Fernandez's career.
Speaker 2: In earnest, the same Botrillo who froze on stage at
Speaker 2: age five in a white chadle suit, was all grown
Speaker 2: up and ready to sell records.
Speaker 1: His self titled debut Sanem on a tour through Mexico
Speaker 1: and a few cities in the US. Off the strengths
Speaker 1: of tracks like Mississito, vidarl Brumas and Eguiva Gadamente.
Speaker 2: Al quickly became a mainstay of ranchero music over the
Speaker 2: course of the nineties, and even ventured into pop later
Speaker 2: in his career. The Fernandez dynasty was now in full effect.
Speaker 1: And that meant there was a target on Alrancho Tres Potrios.
Speaker 1: By the late nineties, the Fernandez dynasty was in full
Speaker 1: effect and with its patriarchy sent there, receiving a star
Speaker 1: on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the spot in
Speaker 1: Billboard Magazine's Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: But royalty can make you a target, and something unthinkable
Speaker 2: was about to happen.
Speaker 1: On May thirteenth, and nineteen ninety eight, we sent this
Speaker 1: eldest son. We sent the Junior was driving back to
Speaker 1: Rancho Dres Bortrios when out of nowhere, a group of
Speaker 1: trucks cut him off.
Speaker 2: Man rushed out of the truck carrying guns and demanded
Speaker 2: that we sent the junior get out.
Speaker 3: Of his car.
Speaker 2: He sent the junior ov obeyed and then was let
Speaker 2: at gunpoint into one of the trucks.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, we sent this senior was just a few hours
Speaker 1: away from taking the stage when he got a phone call.
Speaker 1: He picked up the phone and heard an unfamiliar voice
Speaker 1: tell him.
Speaker 3: We have your son.
Speaker 2: The kidnappers were cray and demanded a ransom of five
Speaker 2: million vessels, which with inflation would be like demanding eighteen
Speaker 2: point five million pessels today.
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Vicenta was printing money, but like not
Speaker 1: that kunt of money. Like he's not Bill Gates Jeff
Speaker 1: Bezos rich, nor.
Speaker 2: Could he chase after the bad guys on horseback with
Speaker 2: a the one hand like in his movies.
Speaker 1: No you didn't, No you didn't, just I did.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 1: So that left him with no choice but to negotiate.
Speaker 1: But first this g went ahead and performed the show,
Speaker 1: like what the.
Speaker 3: Show must go on.
Speaker 1: We need better parenting. Let's just be honest. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: You can come for me all you want, like be
Speaker 1: a parent first and a performer second. Afterwards. Once he
Speaker 1: wrapped his show, negotiations took place over.
Speaker 3: Many days, then weeks, then months.
Speaker 1: The whole time, the family stayed tight lipped, saying nothing
Speaker 1: to the media out of concern for vicenta juniors of safety,
Speaker 1: like you didn't call the police.
Speaker 2: Tempa even kept doing concerts now wait listen, which the
Speaker 2: authorities wreckediately.
Speaker 3: To jail and immediately to jail.
Speaker 2: For your authorities recommended to keep things looking normal.
Speaker 3: So I totally get it, and I'll say it again. Listen,
Speaker 3: the show.
Speaker 1: Must go on, says are child free co hosts.
Speaker 3: True.
Speaker 1: But eventually the kidnappers decided that things just weren't moving
Speaker 1: fast enough. They decided to send a message, and that message.
Speaker 2: Was uh, chop chop, honey.
Speaker 1: No, but I know literally no, it's like like cut
Speaker 1: cut because they chopped off not one, but two of
Speaker 1: vicent It Junior's fingers, the pinky, not the fucking pinky,
Speaker 1: man pink, the pinky and the ring finger.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, it looks like they're going from the least
Speaker 2: useful to the most.
Speaker 3: So clock is ticking.
Speaker 1: The sent This Senior a total of one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty one days. During that time, the family negotiated, gathered money,
Speaker 1: and continued supporting vicent This Senior's live performances.
Speaker 3: I can't see it. I have good news. I have
Speaker 3: good news.
Speaker 2: Finally, they managed to scrounge a cool three point five
Speaker 2: million for the ransom. The cash was packed in a
Speaker 2: bag and thrown from an airplane into an open field
Speaker 2: in Nayai, the state neighboring Jalisco.
Speaker 3: The Fernandez homestate.
Speaker 1: You guys, you're listening to this going did they make
Speaker 1: this shit up? We did not make it up. I promised.
Speaker 1: This is not like an April Fool's Day episode. This
Speaker 1: is legit, sighted sourced, fact checked by our producers.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, days later, the family was getting ready for bed,
Speaker 1: just another normal night at his ranchel, when the phone rang.
Speaker 1: It was one of the kidnappers telling them to come
Speaker 1: to the front gate of the ranch.
Speaker 3: We sent.
Speaker 2: This senior ran out of the house to the gate
Speaker 2: and found his son standing there, totally disoriented, tired, and
Speaker 2: sporting a beard one hundred and twenty one days long.
Speaker 3: Tenth.
Speaker 1: They told interviewers. The first thing I said to him was,
Speaker 1: don't think for a moment that I didn't want to
Speaker 1: pay what they asked for. If they had asked for
Speaker 1: my life, I would have given it.
Speaker 2: Whatever lies Okay to even called a doctor in the
Speaker 2: family to see if he could transplant his own fingers
Speaker 2: onto his son's hand.
Speaker 1: I mean, Latino parents, man, we always make it about ourselves.
Speaker 2: They're wild Latino Latino him is wild. But then he
Speaker 2: kind of sat back into it and he was like,
Speaker 2: you know what, I didn't give you my life. Let
Speaker 2: me give you these two fingers.
Speaker 1: Though, I mean, listen, we are joking and laughing because
Speaker 1: it's such a wild story that it almost sounds like
Speaker 1: it's a made for TV movie, like a Sunday Night
Speaker 1: tele novela story or something. But have you ever heard
Speaker 1: of this happening to another celebrity? Like I can only
Speaker 1: think of no, no kidnappings. I mean I can think
Speaker 1: of like massive threats on their life, like obviously the
Speaker 1: Kim Kardashian burglary in Paris.
Speaker 2: I think the first thing I heard of was was
Speaker 2: more like Paris Hilton and the Bling Ringer. I think
Speaker 2: that was before Kim's remember that. Yeah, so that was
Speaker 2: kind of the biggest thing that I guess I had
Speaker 2: heard of, and then obviously the Kim thing was huge.
Speaker 2: But remember that I'm from Alpastro, Texas, and like, what
Speaker 2: is so? Like I had did hear about? Like kidnappings
Speaker 2: weren't crazy? For yeah?
Speaker 3: Uncommon?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they happen all the time throughout Latin America,
Speaker 1: like if you I mean for our non Latino listeners
Speaker 1: who have not had a chance to like travel through
Speaker 1: And I don't mean like can kun. I mean, although
Speaker 1: things happen there too. I'm saying, if you've never had
Speaker 1: a chance to actually like travel through whether it's Mexico,
Speaker 1: Central America, or Latin America, oftentimes you'll see like fleets
Speaker 1: of SUVs pulling up to a restaurant and you think
Speaker 1: it's the president and it's not. It's just a well
Speaker 1: off family coming to dinner. Because the threat of kidnapping
Speaker 1: is so high that whenever they leave the gates of
Speaker 1: their safety, whether that's a ranch or their home or
Speaker 1: they're building, they are flanked by private security, armed private
Speaker 1: security because the threat of these kidnappings is so commonplace.
Speaker 3: So this is not such a wild story to me.
Speaker 1: The wildest part of the story is that this lasted
Speaker 1: for over four months, and that during that entire time
Speaker 1: he sent there was like, yo, I got to get
Speaker 1: on stage.
Speaker 2: Wait, well, hold on, That's where I wanted to stop
Speaker 2: you because I kind of want to play the ils
Speaker 2: out of a kid.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: You know it was the authorities who told him he
Speaker 2: was in concert. He was on a concert, right, Like,
Speaker 2: It's not like he was just randomly fucking trying to
Speaker 2: solicit concerts randomly just to you know, make money.
Speaker 3: He like actually had.
Speaker 2: He was doing concerts and if he were to stop,
Speaker 2: it would be weird.
Speaker 1: Right. Maybe he was trying to make more money for
Speaker 1: the ransom because you couldn't afford it on his.
Speaker 3: Own, you know, like we actually don't know and we're
Speaker 3: joking about it and being like, oh, the show must
Speaker 3: go on, but.
Speaker 2: Like imagine to actually be there, like yeah, like he
Speaker 2: has to make that money no matter what if he stops,
Speaker 2: he's not generating money. That's why he's playing these concerts,
Speaker 2: you know, such a crazy like it is just a
Speaker 2: crazy spot to be in.
Speaker 3: Fine, where's gooo? Keep that on? All this?
Speaker 1: I need to hear from her, right, I need to
Speaker 1: hear from her and listen. Vicenta Junior would eventually manage
Speaker 1: to live with and overcome the trauma. I mean, also,
Speaker 1: I need to hear from Vicente Junior.
Speaker 3: I was about to say.
Speaker 2: We haven't even asked about the person who's fucking kid
Speaker 2: that bro, he's fine.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 2: He would even venture into music a few years later,
Speaker 2: dropping three albums El Major de Loos, Potrios, Vicente Fernandez,
Speaker 2: Ijo con Mariacci and Juamentos.
Speaker 1: But alas the eldest Potrio didn't quite inherit his father's
Speaker 1: star power the way Alejandro had, and after three albums,
Speaker 1: he retired from music because y'all, being a Nepple baby
Speaker 1: is hard.
Speaker 3: It's hard out here for a nepo. Look.
Speaker 2: It was back to El Rancho for Vicenta Junior, where
Speaker 2: he returned to the thing he loved most, riding horses,
Speaker 2: something he wasn't sure he'd ever do again given his injury.
Speaker 1: The family would move on from this unthinkable ordeal, but
Speaker 1: another shock to the system was on its way the
Speaker 1: late nineties and early aunts. Savi sent the Fernandez and
Speaker 1: his number one son number once in a while.
Speaker 3: My god, why are we ranking children?
Speaker 1: And his number one son Alejandro during victory laps, Santi, honey,
Speaker 1: you're number one and I have no other children, but
Speaker 1: he is the favorite.
Speaker 2: Okay, but listen, number one meaning most successful, because his
Speaker 2: firstborn and he sent the Junior was back at the
Speaker 2: ranch riding horses.
Speaker 1: Right, that's right, that's right, that's right. Alejandro, meanwhile, had
Speaker 1: been topping the charts for almost a decade and.
Speaker 2: Chent they marked a new millennium with the two part
Speaker 2: Greatest Hits album that scored him double platinum certification and
Speaker 2: a Billboard Latin Music Award.
Speaker 1: The following year, we sent that Alejandro went on tour
Speaker 1: together on the Lassos in Sebliss Tour, a special nine
Speaker 1: night circuit all up and down the US West Coast
Speaker 1: and Mexico.
Speaker 2: Tenta would then score a Latin Grammy for Best on
Speaker 2: Shadow Album and a Person of the Year Award for
Speaker 2: the Latin Recording Academy.
Speaker 1: The award honored him not just for his artistic achievements,
Speaker 1: but for his philanthropy, having made donations to the National
Speaker 1: Hispanic Scholarship Fund and having long performed for free at
Speaker 1: rural Mexican town fairs.
Speaker 2: I can't think of a better way to spend your sixties.
Speaker 2: I feel like our parents all dreamt of being praised
Speaker 2: and sent off to retirement like this.
Speaker 1: So true, but life isn't always like that, And unfortunately
Speaker 1: for tenthe his world was about to be turned upside
Speaker 1: down right as he was reaching sixty five Girl.
Speaker 3: The novela continues.
Speaker 1: So years after the kidnapping of Assentha Junior, the family
Speaker 1: patriarch decides to purchase kidnap and ransom insurance for his
Speaker 1: entire family.
Speaker 2: Sounds like Tenta took a big hit from that three
Speaker 2: point five million dollar rant payment and not so fun fact,
Speaker 2: in twenty ten, criminal gangs made an estimated five hundred
Speaker 2: million a year for ransom payments.
Speaker 4: We're in the wrong business, bitch, I was about to say,
Speaker 4: hydid wife, Hydra husband, Honey, I'm coming for everybody like
Speaker 4: I'm about to get paid. So the insurance definitely felt
Speaker 4: in line with a proper reasonable measure. But now, as
Speaker 4: a part of the agreement with the insurance company, each
Speaker 4: member of the family had to undergo a DNA test.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, are we about to get all fucking
Speaker 2: Jerry Springer mypovitch up on this, bitch.
Speaker 1: M because it turns out one of the four Portrios
Speaker 1: was not the sent the senior's biological son. He is
Speaker 1: not the father.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, wait wait, wait, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2: But what if it was Dona Coqita? What if she
Speaker 2: had a secret life of her own? No, she's the
Speaker 2: hero all of this, Okay, but who does that leave
Speaker 2: So Rodrigo remember him?
Speaker 1: He was Decenta's illegitimate son with Patrisa Rivera.
Speaker 3: Yes, Well, it turns.
Speaker 1: Out Patricia had lied about him being the scent son.
Speaker 1: When the test results came. Rodrigo was eighteen years old,
Speaker 1: and all of those years he had lived on a
Speaker 1: rancho as just another member of the family.
Speaker 3: They never ever made him feel like a black sheep.
Speaker 1: But now the entire family cut him out. They kicked
Speaker 1: him out of the rancho and ceased communication.
Speaker 3: I have no comment. I need to think about that.
Speaker 1: Okay, But again we have to point out none of
Speaker 1: this was the child's fault, and of course he tried
Speaker 1: to reason with the family and find reconciliation, but to
Speaker 1: no avail.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2: I kind of have a bad taste in my mouth
Speaker 2: from this, and it is not the popcorn that I
Speaker 2: had earlier.
Speaker 1: Bad taste, Like I am throwing this entire family in
Speaker 1: the garbage, Like I'm done with you, all of you,
Speaker 1: all of you. I was already done with Jenta a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 2: I kind of just Likeita raised but where are you baby?
Speaker 1: Like I'm done with her too, don't like she was
Speaker 1: my hero. She was my hero and now she is
Speaker 1: the villain? Like what an art?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Right, I mean can you imagine?
Speaker 1: I mean I think about all of my friends that
Speaker 1: are adopted, and like how deep the bond is that
Speaker 1: they have with their families. Like can you imagine if,
Speaker 1: like all of a sudden, their parents that raise them
Speaker 1: forever just decided one day to like be like you
Speaker 1: know what, no, not enough, not enough, We decided you're
Speaker 1: not ours anymore.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't have I don't have words. I could
Speaker 3: say this.
Speaker 2: I know poor that you go, I get it, but
Speaker 2: like just know this too, like they be sent there
Speaker 2: must have felt obviously he felt betrayed. Imagine I think
Speaker 2: something is yours for so long and.
Speaker 1: You go get Patricia, like, go figure it out with her, Like,
Speaker 1: go get her. Don't take it out on your poor son,
Speaker 1: who knows nothing different. I mean, we're talking about a
Speaker 1: lifetime of therapy. And what's crazy is Fernandez did offer
Speaker 1: to pay for Rodrigo's education, but like, hello, bu like
Speaker 1: are you going to pay for my therapy too? And
Speaker 1: by the way, rumors also suggest that ed Chadle paid
Speaker 1: his former son millions to just vanish. He just wanted
Speaker 1: nothing to do with him.
Speaker 2: It's got the cope taste I was having. But believe
Speaker 2: what you want, I guess.
Speaker 1: And we're not done. There's still a little bit more
Speaker 1: to Rodrigo's story, though. All Throughout his teen years, he
Speaker 1: had been studying and practicing music.
Speaker 3: Same as that Alekandro. He wanted to be just like
Speaker 3: his dad.
Speaker 1: After the ordeal that the family put him through, Rodrigo
Speaker 1: landed himself a meeting with EMI where he performed the
Speaker 1: rancherra music that he had learned at Rancho Tres Potrios.
Speaker 2: Our Portrioscuro. Got signed Bitch, and his debut record.
Speaker 3: Was a hit.
Speaker 1: It Begatomas Bayo made waves and got Rodrigo the title
Speaker 1: of Musical Revelation of the Year at the two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven oh Ye Awards. Rodrigo put in work and
Speaker 1: earned a solid reputation in the regional Mexican music scene,
Speaker 1: but eventually he'd hang up his hat and since then
Speaker 1: he stayed out of the spotlight and as far as
Speaker 1: the public knows, out of contact with the Fernandez dynasty.
Speaker 3: Damn sad.
Speaker 1: Y'all sad and dark, and we're not even done. There's
Speaker 1: still another episode on the next Becoming an Icon vicent
Speaker 1: that Fernandez leaves behind a checkered legacy. Becoming an Icon
Speaker 1: is presented by Sonoo and Iheart'smichael Duda podcast network. Listen
Speaker 1: to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcast