Enrique Iglesias has garnered millions of fans since he first launched his music career in 1995. The 48-year-old Spanish-born son of iconic singer Julio Iglesias has also become an international heartthrob along the way. The “I Like It” singer has had his eyes set on one love interest for the past two decades, tennis superstar Anna Kournikova, 42. Keep reading to find out all about their longtime relationship.
Where is Anna from?
Anna was born on June 7, 1981 in Moscow, Russia. She comes from a family of athletes as her father was a star wrestler before he got his PhD at the University of Physical Culture and Sport in Moscow, while her mother ran track.
She was a teenage tennis phenom
At the age of 14, she won the European Championships and the Italian Open Junior tournament, before making her Grand Slam debut a year later. Anna reached No. 8 in the world in 2000. Although she never took home a championship in singles play, she eventually teamed up with Martina Hingus and together they won she won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002.
In 2003, Anna retired from professional tennis due to back injuries.
How did Anna and Enrique meet?
In 2001, Anna was the guest star for Enrique’s music video “Escape,” where the pair played characters who have a steamy make out session. “I’ve never met her before, but I’m a big fan,” Enrique said on MTV’s Making the Video at the time. “I’m sure a lot of guys want to meet her. I’m one of them. She’s beautiful, talented, great tennis player, you know, and I’m sure she’s going to be great in the video.”
The gorgeous stars dating immediately after the music video and have been together ever since, although they have never officially married. In 2011, Anna told Women’s Health that marriage wasn’t important because she was in a “happy relationship.”
She avoids the spotlight
After Anna and Enrique got together, they made a concerted effort to stay out of the public eye. The pair are rarely seen out together, and despite their enormous worldwide fame, manage to live a fruitful life away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
“It’s really strange, it feels like it happened to me but it didn’t happen to me because it was such a long time ago,” she once told The Sun of becoming famous. “I played in every single continent by the time I was 16. It was an interesting way to grow up. When I stopped, most people had just come out of college and I was stopping the only thing I knew.”
Enrique supports the pair keeping to themselves, as he once told Australia’s Today Tonight in November 2011, per US Weekly, “It’s not that tough [to stay under the radar].” He added, “You’ve got to have a sense of humor. [There have been rumors] I’ve been married about 28 times, have kids all over the world. I think I’ve got twins in Australia, in Perth. Truly, you just laugh at it.”
Anna and Enrique kept their pregnancies secret
Speaking of keeping their private lives private, the pair secretly welcomed all three of their children. In December 2017, the couple gave birth to twins Nicholas and Lucy. A baby sister for the twins named Mary arrived two years later.