It’s been 25 years since Selena Quintanilla-Perez‘s tragic death, but her widower is still butting heads with her family.
This latest drama comes as Chris Perez (pictured above, left inset) claims the Quintanillas are trying to remove any trace of him from the Selena Museum set up in her memory in Corpus Christi, Texas. On Tuesday, the guitarist took to Instagram with a telling caption he posted alongside an old photo of him embracing the songstress!
Related: Kacey Musgraves Covers Selena At Houston Rodeo & Provides All The Feels!
While the upload remains, he has since deleted his daring words, which originally read:
“I heard they were trying to make me nonexistent to Selena’s legacy ….go for it!”
Perez’s manager, Carlito Miranda, spoke out to Corpus Christi’s Caller-Times the very next day to reveal a little more insight behind the musician’s IG. Explaining how a fan reached out to him on the social media platform to share there were allegedly no photos of him and Selena inside the museum, Chris was set off.
Miranda shared:
“You can’t erase a love story. This is a love story and I don’t think it has anything to do with who did what with who. He (Perez) just wants to make clear that their love story is a part of Selena’s legacy and cannot be erased.”
The Como La Flor singer’s dad, Abraham Quintanilla (pictured above, right inset), denied these accusations to the outlet, stating:
“We have not taken any photos down of Chris in our museum. Why would we do that? He is a part of Selena’s legacy.”
The Caller-Times paid a visit inside where pictures of him in group photos for their band Selena y Los Dinos were displayed. That same day, the late artist’s sister Suzette Quintanilla also blasted Chris on Instagram, capturing a video of her walking down the hallway into the museum where photos of the rocker were on display, which “contradicts the lies that we’re [sic] told to Chris.”
In the clip, she strongly refuted rumors he was removed, or even Photoshopped out, from any pics.
“Look, there’s Chris, there’s Chris. I mean it’s just ridiculous for anyone to make comment or even for Chris to go out there and throw that out there into the universe and believe whatever he’s been told because clearly we cannot photoshop you out and we wouldn’t want to. It’s just ridiculous. So everybody just needs to calm down. There’s bigger things going on in this world.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEpsKocHOZo/
Yikes!
Perez seemingly clapped back in the comments section of the (above) post after a fan told him not to “believe” anything “unless you heard it from their actual mouths.” The 51-year-old’s response has been deleted, but it read:
“You don’t think they have posted negative comments directed at me on social media? You don’t think they deleted such comments? You don’t think I have screenshots of what they have said about me? You wouldn’t begin to know or understand what I have been through (and what I am going through) because of this fam….and I can’t blame you. Know why? Because I have (for the most part) always taken the high road.”
Early Friday morning, he returned to his own social media account to apologize for speaking out so publicly instead of going straight to the Grammy winner’s family with his concerns. Calling it “out of character” for him, Chris wrote:
“Good morning everyone. A few things I feel I need to get off my chest…and these words are coming straight from my heart. I never intended for my social media platforms to be used to divide people…and I’m afraid I’ve done just that with a few (more recent) posts and comments and it’s not sitting too well with me…I’m just not that guy. It’s been affecting me mentally, physically, and most important…emotionally. For me, some things just need to be handled in a more private manner. I allowed myself to get out of character and for that, I apologize.”
He continued his lengthy caption to describe why he had to go on a delete spree over the matter:
“Even though I know (unfortunately) once something gets put on the internet, it lives there forever, I will be taking a few things down because I dont want them living on my sites anymore…whether I’m right or wrong, I’d much rather be a uniting force as opposed to a dividing one…and like my mother taught me while I was growing up, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.’ There are SO many things I have happening that I am grateful for and that make me happy…my music, the hot sauce, other business ventures, and of course, my family and friends. I would rather focus on those things and try to bring more positivity to my social media platforms while staying as connected as possible with you guys. So, if there is anything I ask you to take with you after reading this post…that would be to LEAD WITH LOVE???????????? I know the world could use more of it these days. Peace.”
Clearly the thought of becoming “nonexistent” in his late wife’s life hit a sensitive spot, as we imagine it would for anyone, but especially because they never got to spend the rest of their lives together. For those who may not remember, Selena was murdered in 1995 by her former fan club president at the age of 23. She and Chris only met in 1990 when he joined the band, and were married in 1992.
Selena: The Series, which will chronicle her rise to stardom, is coming to Netflix in October, but supposedly doesn’t include the star’s then-husband.
Any thoughts, Perezcious readers??
[Image via Chris Connor/WENN & Chris Perez/Instagram & YouTube]