How Old is Charo and How Many Children Does She Have?

Quick Facts

It is not often that you come across celebrities who despite the dynamic nature of the entertainment industry still find their ways to remain relevant even though their heydays are long gone. For American Spanish actress, flamenco guitarist and comedian María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza who is more popularly known as Charo, she still finds herself relevant in the entertainment circle today.

Despite beginning her career in 1963, Charo effortlessly draws attention wherever her name is mentioned today. As a result of this, some people and even her fans, who she has remained ageless to, have often wondered how old Charo is. In the paragraphs below, we will answer this question and more though there are discrepancies on what her actual date of birth is. In addition, also find out about her children; who they are and how many they are.

How Old is Charo?

Charo’s birth name as earlier mentioned is María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza. She was given this name after she was born on the 15th of January 1951 as per her official birth records. However, original documents from Spain attesting to her birth has it that she was born on the 13th day of March 1941. If the later is what we are to go by, it also reported her birthplace to be ancient Molina de Segura, Region of Murcia in Spain.

Considering the discrepancies in her age, the question of how old Charo is still lingers without a conclusive answer. The Spanish American woman could be 10 years older or younger than what either of her two different years of birth suggests. Whatever be the case, Charo is not so old to have lost relevance in the entertainment industry to a minor or large extent.

Be that as it may, the controversies surrounding her birth detail has many twists and turns. As earlier stated, Charo’s Spanish birth details have her year of birth as 1941. However, after she immigrated to the USA, she changed it to 1947, later 1949 and finally in a 1977 court hearing she gave the final year of birth to be 1951. She stated therein that the date of birth contained in her passport and naturalization papers were both wrong as the actual year of her birth was 1951.

How did She get Famous Over the Years

Over the years, Charo has actively pursued her career on television as an actress and has been largely successful at it. Her first appearance on screen was in the 1963 Spanish drama film New Friendship where she played the character of Charo Baeza. In that same year, the then 12 or 22-year-old Charo also starred in Dress Rehearsal for Death before she had her first US television appearance on The Danny Kaye Show on 6th Oct 1965. This was then followed by her appearances in other shows like The Ed Sullivan Show from 1965 to 1967, The Merv Griffin Show (1966) and others.

Her other screen appearance over the years are The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Hollywood Squares (as a semi-regular panelist; 1972–78, 1986–89, 1998–2004), Chico and the Man (as a cast member from 1977–78), The Facts of Life (guest appearance in 1985), Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (as a guest star; 1988), So NoTORIous (episode 5, season 1 in 2006), RuPaul’s Drag Race (as a guest performer; March 9, 2009, and special appearance April 4, 2016), Dancing With the Stars (contestant on season 24, 2017) and others.

Aside from acting, Charo also has some music albums and singles to her credit. Her albums include ‘Cuchi-Cuchi’ (1977), ‘Bailando con Charo’ (Dancing with Charo, 1981, with the Salsoul Orchestra), ‘Gusto’ (Pleasure, 1997) and some others. Her singles include “La Mojada (Wet Back)” in 1976, “La Mojada (Wet Back)” in 1981, “Sexy Sexy” in 2011, “Dance a Little Bit Closer” in 2013 with The Salsoul Orchestra vs The Cube Guys remix and others.

How Many Children Does She Have?

Charo has been married two times from which she has only one child. She first got married to Xavier Cugat. At the time of her first marriage, the controversies about how old Charo is were hardly ever absent. According to her, her parents allowed her to falsify her age so she could marry Xavier who was already 66 in the year 1966. This would then mean she got married at the age of 15 going by her 1951 birth year. However, many sources who wrote about her wedding then mentioned she was 20 or 21 while Xavier was 60. Be that as it may, the duo did get married but stayed married only for a short time.

By October 1977, Charo filled for divorce from Cugat Xavier which was granted amid public skepticism. It was also in this year that she became a naturalized citizen of America thus making it all the more obvious that she merely married Xavier to gain American citizenship. It is not on record that she had a child with Xavier.

In 1978, Charo remarried. She got married to Kjell Rasten with whom she had a son they named Shel Rasten in the year 1982. Sadly, 78 years old Kjell Rasten died on February 18, 2019, as a result of suicide.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.