María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza was born on 13 May 1941 (legally subscribed) in Murcia, Spain. She is mostly recognized for her flashy stage appearance, her aggressive fashion, and her trademark expression, “cuchi-cuchi”, an expression she developed in her early years spent in the USA, when she did not know English very well. She is a famous Spanish-American comedian, singer, flamenco guitarist and an actress, which have probably had the biggest impact on her total net worth.
So, just how rich is Charo? Well, as of early 2016, the Spanish-American’s net worth is over $8 million by sources, the larger part of her wealth having come from her television appearances and concerts all over the world. She lives in an 8,002 square feet home with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, built in 1931. She has earned her fortune because of her own distinctive style and humorous performance. She is known to be very modest and thrifty, having most of her money earned in her early years in the USA.
Charo Net Worth $8 Million
She spent her childhood in Murcia, starting to take guitar lessons when she was nine. There is a controversy concerning the exact date of her birth and the early years of her life, so not much is known. By her own story, she was enrolled in a convent until she was 15, after which she moved to the US and started toestablish herself there. She appeared in numerous shows, and was paid as much as the most famous stars of that time. In 1971, she became a US citizen, then during the 1970s, she starred in a variety of talk shows, TV series and spin-offs. She was named “Best Flamenco Guitarist” twice, steadily establishing her net worth.
She didn’t appear much in the 80s and 90s because she wanted to raise her son properly. In recent years, she has appeared in shows such as “Dancing with the Stars” and “Celebrity Wife Swap”, as well as the TV series “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23”.
Additionally, Charo has recorded six albums and 12 singles. She has starred in nine films and over 30 TV show, which have all contributed to her net worth.
She is a representative for PETA’s anti-bullfighting campaign. She has urged the authorities not to endorse bullfighting as a national cultural amusement. She said that the move to keep bullfighting would be a big step backwards.
Concerning her personal life, there is some controversy. She changed her age in federal court, so no one knows for sure how old she is. She has been married twice, but supposedly she married her first husband, band leader Xavier Cugat in 1966 in order to gain US citizenship, substantiated by her divorcing him the same year, 1977, and then marrying her second husband Kjell Rasten in 1978. He became her manager and they have a son, who is a drummer in a band called Treazen. She is known to be a very reserved person and hardly ever talks about her personal life in her media interviews. Even though she moved to the US at very young age, she says she is proud of her Spanish heritage.
Asian Film Award for Best Actress, Awit Award for Album of the Year, Awit Award for Music Video Producer of the Year
Movies
www.movies.com/actors/charo/p43053
TV Shows
I Love the '70s: Volume 2, The Surreal Life, Hollywood Squares, Chico and the Man, RuPaul's Drag Race
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Trademark
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Seductive deep voice
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Curvaceous, buxom figure
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Platinum blonde hair
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Often wears provocative outfits
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Shake of the hips accompanied by a squealed "cuchi-cuchi!"
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Quote
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Around the world, I am known as a great musician. But in America, I am known as the cuchi-cuchi girl. That's okay because cuchi-cuchi has taken me all the way to the bank.
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If you believe in what you do, you are immortal. The day that you don't believe it, the day you're taking other people's opinion, you better go to Tijuana.
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Fact
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Regarding the disputes about her date of birth, on The Merv Griffin Show Season 3 Episode 242 Airdate August 11, 1966, it was stated that Charo was 21 years old (putting her birth year as 1945).
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Has returned to Las Vegas, Nevada to star in her own song/dance show. [November 2001]
Charo long maintained that her stated date of birth was incorrect due to a "clerical error". Official documents in Spain and the United States maintained she was born in 1941, but Charo argued she was actually younger. In 1977, she went to court, and was able to successfully convince the judge to rule that she was born in 1951. This would have made her 15 at the time of her marriage, and the legitimacy of this date is widely questioned.
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Married Xavier Cugat at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Cugat brought the then 16 year old Charo and her mother and sister to America on a student visa after he discovered her, but she had to return to Spain and wait two years to come back because she was a minor.
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Became a United States citizen in 1977.
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Her son, Shel Rasten, was a philosophy major at the University of Southern California (USC).
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When she was 14, she won a scholarship to study classical guitar with Andrés Segovia.
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Her trademark "cuchi, cuchi" comes from her nickname for her dog, Cuchillo (Spanish for "knife"): "When Cuchillo was happy, he wiggled. I copied him and I used to say 'como Cuchi, como Cuchi'. Everybody thought that it was very cute when I wiggled and say cuchi-cuchi, and they give me cookies and candy. Now every time I say cuchi-cuchi, people give me money.".
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Was winner of Guitar Player magazine's Readers Poll as Best Flamenco Guitarist two years in a row.
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Fluent in Spanish (native language), English, French, Italian and Japanese.
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Received the Distinguished Career Award from Hispanic Exhibitor and Distributor.
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Attended the Catholic Convent of the Sacred Heart, where she began playing guitar at age 9.
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Her mother was a homemaker and stage mother.
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Her father was a lawyer who was exiled to Casablanca during the Franco dictatorship, returning only when Franco died.
$8 Million
