Raphael’s personal life: his addiction to alcohol, an aristocratic woman and his relationship with José Bono

The one from Linares rose to fame in the 60sthanks to his success at the old Benidorm Festival and his work as a representative of Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966 and 1967. Although the Andalusian did not win either edition, he did begin to establish himself as one of the great voices of our country, which allowed him to relaunch his career and become one of the great musicians of his generation.

Now, even though you just turned 81 years and his recent health problems, the man from Jaén has not yet given up on going on stage and continuing to enjoy his greatest passion. With the Raphaels he presents this Monday at ‘El Hormiguero’ by Pablo Motos his new musical projects and will also talk about his long-awaited performances in our country, where he continues to fill halls and stadiums wherever he goes.

But, although his work on stage is well known, his private life has always remained in the background. We tell you everything you need to know about the most personal side of Raphael and all the details of his family life.

Alcohol addiction and health problems

During these 60 years of musical career, Raphael’s life has not been as simple as it might seem. Despite having achieved many successes thanks to his songs, the one from Linares has also had to deal with the consequences of fame, among which is complicated alcohol addiction which he developed during a good part of his career on stage.

He opened up about this situation years later, ensuring that he got into this situation “for idiots”: «All I wanted was sleep. It started on airplanes, I spent half my life on them, and when I sat down, I asked for these little bottles of alcohol what they put, I drank them in one gulp and slept. Of course, I fell asleep. I went to America and came back without knowing. And then I started doing it with the wonderful minibars in the suites», said the interpreter that, upon seeing that the sleeping pills did not work, “I emptied the minibar until it dropped”.

Although he admits that he never liked drinking alcohol or other vices such as smoking, he ended up entering that circle without knowing it when he was already 40 years old: «It is a disease so treacherous that it never shows its face», said the musician in an interview with Bertín Osborne where he opened up about his alcoholism. Such was the degree of addiction that he even began to extend his stay in Barcelona so that his wife, Natalia Figueroa, would not discover his problem.

All of this ended up leading to several health problems for Raphael, who never thought “about the damn bottle to sleep in” when he began to notice the symptoms. To the hepatitis B with which he was diagnosed in the 80s, was also added a complicated liver cirrhosiswhich forced him to undergo a liver transplant in 2003.

Although he was reluctant to undergo surgery, he ended up undergoing it at the insistence of Professor Enrique Moreno, a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine. «He came very badly. Had one of the most serious complications within liver cirrhosis,” the surgeon himself said years later. Thus, on April 1 of that year, this liver transplant was performed due to problems derived from his alcohol consumption.

The love story of Raphael and Natalia Figueroa: a secret wedding and 50 years together

During these years of fame and addiction, Raphael’s great support has been his wife, Natalia Figueroawith whom some time ago he celebrated his golden wedding. The couple has been able to forge, in the face of adversity, one of the most consolidated marriages on the musical scene, such as the secret habit they developed for years, despite the fact that they admit that their It wasn’t love at first sight.

The singer and his wife came from very different family backgrounds when they met. She, of aristocratic origins and a regular at society cocktail parties, she was the daughter of the Marquis of Santo Floro, granddaughter of the Count of Romanones and great-granddaughter of Alonso Martínezand worked as a journalist on Spanish Television presenting ‘On the roads of Spain’. He, for his part, came from a humblest familyalthough he had already begun to emerge as a singer thanks to the Benidorm Festival.

They both met for the first time in 1968 and got to know each other little by little, first as friends and finally as a couple. Just four years after this first meeting, they ended up getting married in a secret wedding held at the San Zacarias church in Venice. This is what the couple decided, as they wanted there to be no cameras or paparazzi at their wedding and decided to wait until the last minute to announce to their guests the place where they would get married.

A decision that neither of them regrets, since both have been the true pillar of each other’s lives at all times: «The best thing that has happened to me in my life is getting married.. “My wife has been that enormous peace of mind for me, that I return home happy,” Raphael himself said in an interview. Together, Natalia and Raphael had three children, Jacobo, Alejandra and Manuel Martos, and they can also boast of their eight wonderful grandchildren.

Despite everything he has experienced, sad episodes have also been present in his life. And in 1979, Raphael’s wife was kidnapped in her own home while the assailants stole her jewelry and other valuables. That May night, two armed men entered at the couple’s family home, with their three children and service personnel present, to steal the most valuable belongings from the singer’s mansion. At that moment, Raphael was on tour in Latin America and the night ended after 10 hours and with Natalia Figueroa being released and the thieves leaving with two cars loaded with valuables.

Raphael’s relationship with the politician José Bono

During their 50 years of relationship, Raphael and Natalia have formed a large family with their three children, Jacobo, Alejandra and Manuel Martos. The latter has followed in his father’s footsteps in the world of music, although in a very different job from his, working as executive producer of Universal Music Spain. It is the latter that has also united him with another important figure in the history of our country: the former Minister of Defense Jose Bono.

The Bono family and the Martos have been great friends for generations. They all spent summers together and were, of course, close friends. It is not surprising then that, years later, the two families ended up getting together thanks to the marriage of the son of Raphael and the daughter of Joseph, Amelia Bonowho got married in 2008 in front of almost 700 guests. «We were friends before and now, we are family. We are ‘lucky’ in-laws“, as he says,” said the man from Linares years later.

Although the couple confirmed their breakup At the end of February 2024, after 15 years of marriage and 4 children together, the families remain very close and love each other as always. This was confirmed by Amelia herself, who said the singer’s son “is wonderful, He’s a great dad, he’s a good friend“and confirmed that, even though love had ended, there remained “other things that perhaps sometimes are much better and more important than all that.”