Rosie O’Donnell is sharing some memories of the years she lived near Gloria Estefan on Star Island. Rosie says Gloria would sometimes cruise past her house in a boat and moon her. I don’t know if that’s true, Gloria does have a great sense of humor. I remember years ago, she invited my old partner Footy to impersonate her in the encore. Footy wore a wig, one of dresses and descended on a disco ball (or something) and surprised the crowd at the Miami Arena. Hilarity ensued. (Footy was very humorous in heels I assure you.) So yes. Definitely a sense of humor.
But larger than that is her authenticity. She is not a diva. Once after an incredible, funny, thoughtful hour-long interview at her home on Star Island, our engineer Howard Quinton (sorry to throw you under the bus Howard) looked up and said, “Oops.” These are words you don’t want to hear from an engineer. We had nothing on tape. A button wasn’t pressed or something and we had zilch. I was crushed. Most stars would say, ‘well, you had your time; sorry’...but Gloria just smiled and said, “well, let’s do it again!”
Let’s do it again.
And we did.
Gloria Estefan is a treasure.