Gloria Estefan, Chazz Palminteri and Gretchen Mol up the glitz factor at recent local events

By Janet Donovan

Ralph Nader and Gloria Estefan

The Lebanon Connection

“When you mix Cuban water and Cuban sunshine with Lebanese water and Lebanese sunshine, families will thrive,” international superstar Gloria Estefan said while introducing her husband, Emilio, at the American Task Force for Lebanon Gala Awards Night. The hot Miami Sound Machine mainstays keep in touch with dual cultural roots (his father was Lebanese, his mother Cuban).

There to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to her “first and only boyfriend,” it was clear the singer shares both a successful professional and personal life with her spouse. Although married at 17, she thinks that’s nothing compared to his grandmother who was given away in an arranged marriage at the age of 12. “She told me that on her wedding night she stood by the window waiting for the stork to bring her a baby,” Gloria told the crowd. “Boy, was she in for a surprise.”