Isabel Preysler

Maria Isabel Arrastia Preysler (born on February 18, 1951 in Manila, Philippines), better known as Isabel Preysler, is a Filipina journalist, model and former TV host. She expressed in an interview with Hola! Magazine that her roots lie in the Philippines, the place of her birth and where she was raised with her siblings. She is the mother of international pop superstars Enrique Iglesias, Julio Iglesias Jr., Chabeli Iglesias, Tamara Falcó and Ana Boyer.

Biography

Early years

Preysler was born in San Lorenzo, Manila, the third of six children to a wealthy family. Her father, Carlos Preysler was the executive director of Philippine Airlines. Her mother Beatriz Arrastía, was the owner of a local real estate company in Manila. She attended the Assumption Convent, a private Catholic school.

Her nickname as a child was "Chabeli", which would later be the nickname of her first child. According to the book "Reina de Corazones" by Paloma Barrientos, she dated Gregorio Araneta, Charlie Lopez, and Bobby Santos, among others, as a teenager. She named her second son Enrique Iglesias, in honor of her deceased brother.

Marriage with Julio Iglesias

During her youth, Preysler participated in a charity beauty pageant for the Sheraton Hotel in Manila and was crowned queen. At the age of 18, she was sent to live in Madrid with her uncle and aunt to study at Mary Ward College, an Irish Catholic university in Spain, where she studied Accounting. In 1970, Preysler was introduced to a football player named Julio Iglesias, who just signed a recording contract to become a singer. Julio invited her to watch a Juan Pardo concert.

The couple was married seven months later on January 29, 1971. They were married for seven years, during which time they had three children, Chabeli, Julio Jr. and Enrique.

Second & third marriages

Following their divorce in 1978, Preysler launched her own career as a journalist for Spanish magazine ¡Hola! and her first interviewee was Julio himself. She married the Marques de Grignon, Carlos Falcó, on 23 March 1980, a short-lived marriage resulted in the birth of a second daughter, Tamara. She later married former Spanish finance minister, Miguel Boyer, with whom she has another daughter, Ana.

Later life & career

Readers at Hola magazine have voted Preysler as the most elegant and best-dressed woman in Spain for 1991, 2002, and 2004.

In 1984, she hosted the Spanish lifestyle TV programme, "Hoy."

In 1987, her two sisters moved to Spain with their families to be closer to Isabel.

Her father, Carlos Preysler, has passed away. Her mother, Beatriz Preysler, still lives in Manila.

In May 2001, she was Prince Charles' guest of honour for the opening of his Spanish Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in England. She was his guest of honor again in 2005 at a garden party during a trip to Spain by the Royal Crown.

In 2004, Preysler became Spain's welcoming host for David and Victoria Beckham when she hosted a welcoming party at her house for the celebrity couple. She became close friends with Victoria and was often photographed shopping with her during their stay in Madrid.

She continues to be the national spokesmodel for Ferrero Rocher, Suárez jewellery, Manolo Blahnik shoes, Chrysler cars, and Porcelanosa tiles, for which American actor George Clooney recently joined her in Fall 2006 to represent the brand in a new advertising campaign.

In 2006, Preysler was also honored along with Hillary Clinton, Shakira, and Yoko Ono among others with the Women Together Award, which honors women for their philanthropical contributions to the United Nations in New York, making her the first Filipina woman in history to ever win the honor.

In 2007, she and her daughters were invited by Prince Charles of England to be guests of honor at the Clarence house at their estate in Britain and was voted out of a total of more than 40,000 Hola magazine readers as the most elegant woman in Spain.