William Mebarak was 43 years old, had ten children, and had been married to Lucila Otero for years when life dealt his routine a bad hand.
In Barranquilla, he met Nidia Ripoll, a young woman just 20 years old, and according to what he himself said in an interview, he immediately thought: “My peace is over”.
He wasn’t exaggerating. Shortly afterward, he left his marriage, separated from Lucila, and began a new life with Nidia, whom he would eventually marry.
A single daughter was born from that second union: Shakira. While her older siblings, William’s children from his first marriage, grew up away from the spotlight, she ended up becoming the voice that would carry the Mebarak Ripoll surname throughout the world. Today, William is 91 years old and lives in Miami with Nidia, the woman who changed his plans forever in 1977.
