Do we like Julio Iglesias?
Our score: 4 out of 10. A long career and real charity work, set against serious allegations he denies that are still before the Spanish courts.
Julio Iglesias was born in Madrid in 1943 and wanted to be a footballer, keeping goal for Real Madrid's reserve side while he studied law. A car crash at twenty ended that dream, and he picked up a guitar while recovering. He won the Benidorm Song Festival in 1968, broke through across Europe and Latin America in the early 70s, and played Madison Square Garden in 1976.
The story that has him back in the headlines broke in January 2026. Spanish outlet elDiario.es and Univision reported allegations from two women who say they worked in his homes in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021, one as a domestic worker and one as a physiotherapist. They allege sexual assaults and humiliation, and the complaint also alleges labour abuses. They were backed by the NGO Women's Link Worldwide, and Amnesty International also publicised the complaints.
Iglesias answered within days, saying he denies ever having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. He called the accusations absolutely false and said they caused him great sadness. Spanish prosecutors shelved the first complaint on 23 January because the alleged events happened abroad. His lawyers argued Spain had no jurisdiction, and an archived complaint is not a finding on whether anything happened.
It didn't stop there. The women filed a fresh complaint in September, and in mid-October prosecutors told Judge Antonio Piña that the Audiencia Nacional can examine it after all. The judge still has to decide whether to open an investigation, and no court has made any finding on the allegations. That is why we're calling this a close call rather than a verdict.
He has hit back hard in the courts. In March he filed a civil suit against elDiario.es, its director and four others, calling the reporting a journalistic set-up. In July he sued Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz in the Supreme Court for €50,000 over her comments, and she had earlier rejected a conciliation bid. Where you land on those depends on whether you see a man defending his name or a powerful one leaning on critics.
On the harm test, I found nothing. There were no rants about trans people, no culture-war crusades and no climate or vaccine conspiracy theories in the coverage I read. He's a crooner, not a commentator, so the record is thin rather than spotless. Honestly, that's the whole list.