The singer Julio Iglesias is facing allegations of sexual assault made by two former employees who worked at his Caribbean properties, according to an investigation published this week.
The report, released on Tuesday by the Spanish online newspaper elDiario.es, includes testimony from two women, one of whom described the mansion where she was employed as ‘the house of horror’.
The alleged incidents date back to 2021, when Iglesias, now 82, was living at residences in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. Both complainants were live-in staff members: one worked as a domestic employee and the other as a physiotherapist, according to the investigation.
On Tuesday, Spain’s High Court confirmed that it is examining a sexual violence complaint filed against Iglesias.
The domestic worker, who is identified under a pseudonym, told investigators that she was regularly called to Iglesias’s bedroom at the end of the day and subjected to sexual acts without her consent. She also alleged repeated verbal and physical abuse.
Speaking to elDiario.es, she said: ‘I felt compelled to do things without the option of saying no. That house should be called the house of horror because it’s a nightmare, a horrible place.’
According to her account, Iglesias summoned her to his room several times a week at night, where she says she was raped, insulted and slapped. She further claimed that on some occasions housekeepers were present or took part, and that the abuse stopped only when the singer’s wife, Miranda Rijnsburger, or other guests were staying on the estate.
The woman said the alleged assaults left her feeling like ‘a doll’, unable to refuse, and that she later required psychological treatment for resulting symptoms.
The second accuser alleged that Iglesias kissed her on the mouth and touched her breasts without her consent, including during one incident on a beach and another by a swimming pool at one of the properties.
Both women described a working environment marked by surveillance, intimidation and humiliation. They told elDiario.es that senior staff members either enabled the alleged behaviour or pressured them to comply with Iglesias’s demands. The report states that the younger woman was 22 at the time of the alleged incidents.
According to the investigation, the women were recruited with promises of working for an internationally famous artist and having opportunities to travel, but the reality quickly became oppressive, with long hours and restrictions on their movements.
elDiario.es said it carried out multiple interviews with both women and reviewed corroborating material, including photographs, call records, WhatsApp messages, medical documentation and employment contracts. Journalists also spoke to other former employees who had worked in Iglesias’s households between the late 1990s and 2023.
The allegations prompted strong reactions in Spain. The equality minister, Ana Redondo, called on X for ‘a full investigation’, while Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s second deputy prime minister, described the accounts as ‘chilling testimonies’.
By contrast, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the right-wing People’s Party (PP) president of the Madrid regional government, voiced her support for the singer. ‘Madrid will never contribute to the discrediting of artists, and even less so to that of the most universal singer of all: Julio Iglesias,’ she said.
Several of Iglesias’s associates also came to his defence. Jaime Peñafiel, a veteran journalist who said he lived in the singer’s home for ‘many years’, dismissed the claims as ‘absolutely false’.
He described Iglesias as a ‘brother’ and said that ‘he has never had any need to abuse women because he has always had one at his disposal, romantically’. Peñafiel added that Iglesias worked ‘very well’ with his staff and that employees wore ‘normal, everyday uniforms’.
The two women are reported to have sought legal advice from an international human rights organisation and to have received psychological support.
Iglesias is one of Spain’s most internationally successful musical artists. He became famous in the 1970s after a promising career as a goalkeeper with Real Madrid’s youth side was cut short by a car accident. His recordings achieved worldwide success and earned him global recognition.
Over the years, he formed friendships with Spain’s disgraced former king Juan Carlos, former US president Ronald Reagan and the Clinton family. He recorded duets with Dolly Parton and Frank Sinatra, and was once named father of the year by a US family association.
In 1981, his version of Begin the Beguine became the first non-English-language single to sell more than one million copies worldwide, and he was a frequent performer at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Iglesias and Rijnsburger, now 60, have been together for more than three decades and married in 2010. They have five children and live a largely private life between properties in Spain and Miami.
A series about the singer’s life is currently in production for Netflix, and his music has recently gained a substantial following among younger audiences.
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Extrabajadoras de sus mansiones acusan al cantante de agresiones sexuales en 2021 https://t.co/4xLx4KqOre
— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) January 13, 2026
Laura y Rebeca hablan tras la denuncia contra Julio Iglesias y explican por qué han tomado la iniciativa
— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) January 14, 2026
🗣️”No merecíamos el maltrato físico, psíquico y sexual que sufrimos”
🗣️”Quiero que el impacto de mi voz les dé fuerza para que ellas también hablen” https://t.co/QqkDIaZnuV pic.twitter.com/0ciIg5XSb5
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