Natalia Jiménez, former vocalist of La Quinta Estación, announced tearfully that a judge in the United States ruled in her favor in the long legal battle against her Cuban ex-husband, Daniel Trueba, granting her custody rights of their nine-year-old daughter Alessandra.
The Spanish singer shared the news in an emotional video posted on Instagram on Tuesday, where she explained the implications of the judicial victory and expressed gratitude to those who supported her throughout six years of litigation.
"Today is a very important day for me, a very happy day for our family, because we have managed to get the judge to allow us to relocate with Alessandra so we can live together, without so many difficulties, without so many obstacles, and be able to plan the life that Alessandra deserves to live, a life with fewer conflicts," she declared, visibly emotional.
The legal process, which extended from the couple's separation in 2020, included disputes over the right to travel with the child to Mexico, the choice of her school, and the recovery of maintenance expenses.
Trueba is a Cuban businessman who worked as a floor manager and producer at Univision in Miami, and who became Jiménez's personal and business manager before they both began their romance in 2009. The couple married in December 2015 and welcomed Alessandra in 2016. Their separation became public in December 2020.
The litigation was financially devastating for the singer. According to reports from various media in 2021, Jiménez had as little as five dollars in her bank account and accumulated debts nearing 700,000 dollars. The artist herself acknowledged this in her video: "Six years ago I was in bankruptcy and they mocked me, telling me that I would never be able to get ahead. And here I am."
In her statement, the artist thanked her followers, her parents, and her lawyer, Susan Klock, for supporting her "to the last resort." She also expressed gratitude to friends in Mexico, Los Angeles, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Miami, as well as to the Virgin of Guadalupe.
A fundamental pillar during the process was her current husband, the Mexican manager Arnold Hemkes, whom she married on November 29, 2024, in an intimate ceremony held in Guadalajara, Mexico. Little Alessandra served as a flower girl at the wedding.
The court ruling paves the way for mother and daughter to move to Mexico, a country to which Jiménez has deep ties from her time with La Quinta Estación.
The most moving moment of the video came when the singer addressed other mothers going through similar situations: "I just want to tell all the women who are going through a difficult time like I have, not to lose hope, that sometimes people expect us to get tired, but as mothers, we have to do the impossible for our children."
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