A new docuseries about the murder of Mexican American singer Selena Quintanilla Pérez is stirring controversy among fans and her family.
The two-part series, “Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them,” which debuts on Oxygen on Saturday, features extensive interviews with the singer’s killer, Yolanda Saldívar from prison. Saldívar was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 and is serving a life sentence. (Oxygen is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
NBC News has previously reported that Saldívar unsuccessfully appealed her murder conviction in 1998 and will be eligible for parole next year.
In the series, Saldívar claims she did not intentionally kill Selena on that fateful day at a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas. Saldívar, who served as the president of the singer’s fan club and was the manager of two of her clothing boutiques, dismissed the long-held theory that she was embezzling money. Instead, Saldívar alleges that Selena was having an extramarital affair and tasked Saldívar with making purchases on her behalf to help cover up the tryst. Saldívar says she was simply paying herself back and that Selena was aware. But in the docuseries, Saldívar did not provide any evidence to substantiate her claims.
“After so many years, I think it’s time to set the story straight,” Saldívar said in a preview clip for the show. “I knew her secrets. And I think that people deserve to know the truth.”
Selena was a star on the rise and just 23 years old when she was gunned down. Considered a trailblazer for Latina crossover stars, she won several Tejano Music Awards, five No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks chart, and a Grammy Award for Best Mexican/American Album in 1994. Her life and death were also the subject of a 1997 movie starring Jennifer Lopez. She was posthumously honored in 2021 by the Recording Academy with the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
This is not the first time Saldívar has offered…
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