Gloria Trevi is embracing her story…
The 47-year-old Mexican pop-rock singer-songwriter, known as “the Mexican Madonna,” will walk the red carpet at the premiere of Gloria, a new biopic that follows her rise to fame and the circumstances that led to a stint in a Brazilian maximum security prison on charges of kidnapping and sex abuse of young women.
The film, which makes its U.S. debut at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference (SXSW) in Austin this week, is set to have its theatrical release in June.
“We are glad that we have been able to close this chapter with Gloria Trevi,” said Gloria producers Matthias Ehrenberg and Ricardo Kleinbaum. “It has been our intention that she become part of this great movie since the beginning. We are absolutely sure that audiences will enjoy the movie, which has great performances and an incredible reconstruction of the singles that made her famous.”
Trevi had originally supported the Mexican production but then backed out of involvement with the film, which her representatives began referring to as an unauthorized biopic.
“I did not want to be part of it,” Trevi told Billboard in October for a feature story on the outspoken, multi-million-album-selling singer. “Especially when they were asking people like my ex-manager about my life.”
She said she objected to the filmmakers’ interest in the more salacious elements of her much-publicized past, particularly focusing on her relationship with her then-manager/boyfriend, Sergio Andrade, with whom she was accused of leading a sex cult for minors. Trevi was acquitted by a Mexican court after almost five years in jail for lack of evidence.
“The story of my life is not just about this scandal,” she said. “It’s also about a girl who had dreams.”
Trevi eventually patched things up with the film’s producers, Pelo Suelto Mexico. She has recouped the rights to her life story from the producers, who owned them, according to her manager, Guillermo Rosas.
“We are pleased to have resolved our differences with the producers of the film,” Rosas said in a statement. “Things got off to a rocky start, due to a conflict with a third party, which will remain in the hands of our legal team, but there are no more conflicts with the producers at Pelo Suelto.”
Gloria, written by award-winning Mexican journalist-playwright Sabina Berman, does not shy away from the scandal that made Trevi even more famous than her music.
“People make comments, and even if they apologize later, they’ve done harm,” she previously told Billboard. “It’s like confetti — you’ll never be able to pick up all the confetti.”
“With differences now settled with the producers and myself, I can give my support to this Mexican production,” Trevi said through her publicist. “Ultimately [it] has a positive message: One’s life can unravel, but you can start over and fill it with beautiful things and glory!!”
