Who were Pele's girlfriends? The football legend once admitted that he cheated on his spouses
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL: Football legend, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, also known as Pele, 82, died after a long battle with cancer. Though he was incredibly faithful to his teams, his personal life had been scrutinized under different grounds of loyalty. He had married thrice in his life.
According to Mirror, Pele had confessed that he cheated on his spouses, in his Netflix film, 'Pele'. He stated, "In all honesty, it was. I’ve had a few affairs, some of which resulted in children. But I only learned about them later." He added, "My first wife, my first girlfriend, knew all about it. I never lied to anyone."
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Who were Pele's girlfriends?
Pele has been married to three different women in his lifetime. His first wife was Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi, whom he married in 1966, and had three children in this relationship. However, they got divorced in 1986. The football legend got married to Assiria Nascimento aka Assiria Seixas Lemos, a singer, in 1994. Though they had two children together, the duo got divorced in 2008. Marcia Cibele Aoki met Pele in the 1980s at a New York Party and was often spotted together before confirming their relationship in 2016. The pair got married in the same year but didn't have any children. However, apart from his wives he dated several other women who have been discussed below.
Flavia Cavalcanti Rebelo
Flavia Cavalcanti Rebelo who is a popular Brazillian model and Miss Brazil 1989, dated Pele for a short period in the same year she was crowned the title. However, there not much is known regarding their relationship as only minimal details were made available in the public domain.
Anizia Machado
Anizia Machado's affair with the footballer was quite popular as she was the maid at his home. The relationship was short lived and only lasted for a year between 1963-1964. According to Famous Fix, while Pele was married to Cholbi, it was alleged that he had fathered a child with his maid Machado, the child Sandra Arantes do Nascimento was never acknowledged by the soccer player, even after she passed away in 2006 of cancer at 42. Initially, Pele even refused to submit samples for DNA tests. According to ESPN, Nascimento later sued him in 1991 and was recognized by courts as his daughter based on DNA evidence in 1993. Pele appealed the court's decision, but it was upheld in 1996 and she was allowed to adopt Pele's surname. Meanwhile, Nascimento also wrote a book, 'The Daughter the King Didn't Want', explaining her life as a rejected daughter. In 2001, Machado also requested for financial compensation because she didn't have the same emotional, psychological and financial support. However, the court denied the same.
Lenita Kurtz
Lenita Kurtz was an administrator of Brazil football team in April 1969. The duo met while Pele was busy preparing for the 1970 World Cup. After a few dates, she turned pregnant with his child, Flavia. Flavia was informed of the identity of his father after a DNA test as she turned 18. He had also made advances to another model Luiza Brunet, however, since she was married, the model dismissed the former player’s advances, reported Trend News Detail.
Xuxa Meneghel
The two-time winner of the Latin Grammy Award, Xuxa Meneghel dated Pele for a long relationship of five years between 1981-1986. According to News Rebeat, she once said , “He was an important person for me, maybe my first love. He was someone I met at the age of 17. Everyone with me was like, ‘Wow, how is he in love with her?' It was during a rehearsal for a magazine cover. There were four models, me, Luiza, Marcia Brito and it was supposed to be a black woman, but he didn’t want to. At that time they put on Miss Brazil, who was from Brasilia , in the photo I went out in front of him.”
Further, she added, “He invited me to dinner, I told him I couldn’t, because I lived far away and I told him she was a minor. So he called home and my dad hung up thinking it was a joke.” She added, “He cheated on me, said it was an open relationship, but open only to him, among other things. When I turned 23, my life was changing a lot.” Meneghel also claimed, “I was cheated on all the time. When I looked at it, he had lipstick on his mouth that wasn’t mine. It was normal for him. He once told me ‘it’s women who want to be with Pele.’ I started thinking it was normal to be cheated on.” Later, she explained, "He deceived me too much, to the point that those women he cheated on me with were in the same place I was, and everyone knew it except me, of course. He wrote a book and detailed the women he was with at the same time we were together. Pele also said that I was ‘the colorful friendship,’ as if we had an open relationship, and I swear I never knew.”