Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/world/11/29/fidel-castro2.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Then Cuban President Fidel Castro smokes a cigar during a meeting of the National Assembly in Havana, in this December 2, 1976 file photo. Reuters</div></figcaption></figure></div>HAVANA - With his rugged rebel look and seductive charisma, Fidel Castro was known not only as a giant of 20th century history, but also as quite the ladies&#x27; man.Rumors of Castro&#x27;s sexual prowess abounded in Cuba even before his days as a black-bearded guerrilla leader hiding out in the mountains.And those tales lasted straight through his nearly five decades in power, even until his death on Friday at age 90.Some said he had thousands of women. The New York Post put the figure at a stunning 35,000 in a 2008 article, a figure that came from an unnamed former official.Journalist Ann Louise Bardach wrote in a 2009 book that Castro told her he had fathered &quot;almost a tribe&quot; of children.But it is difficult to separate truth from legend.Castro himself rarely talked about his personal life, despite his famous volubility.&quot;Private life, in my opinion, should not be an instrument for publicity or politics,&quot; he said in 1992.He reportedly had a taste for blondes, seducing a string of American, German and Italian women in the 1950s and 1960s.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/world/11/29/fidel-castro1.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Cuban President Fidel Castro (R) winks at a woman at the graduation of hundreds of Cuban art students at Havana&#x27;s Sports City in this October 28, 2005 file photo. Reuters</div></figcaption></figure></div>In 1959, just after seizing power, Castro had an affair with a young German woman, Marita Lorenz, who says the CIA hired her to assassinate him.She lost her nerve, flushed her poison pills down the toilet, and ended up spending their rendez-vous at the Habana Hilton making love with him instead, she said in a 1993 interview in Vanity Fair.Castro had a mysterious power over her from the day she met him as a wide-eyed 19-year-old, she said.&quot;When Fidel talks to you, he talks to you very close. He looks right in your eye,&quot; Lorenz said, recounting how he immediately swept her off her feet.&quot;Nothing hit me as hard as this ever -- like a ton of bricks. He didn&#x27;t let me completely undress. He was the sweetest, tenderest. I guess nobody ever forgets their first lover.&quot;<div>POWERFUL WOMEN</div>Historians say Castro had at least seven children by three women.Rumors of secret affairs and more children abound.Castro had little patience for the American-style political family.&quot;Politically speaking as a revolutionary, I refuse to mix my family with politics. In truth the idea of first ladies seems to be ridiculous,&quot; he told US filmmaker Oliver Stone in a 2003 documentary.In the film, he revealed he was never in fact married to Dalia Soto del Valle, the green-eyed blonde, 15 years his junior, he shared his life with from the 1980s on.He met the former school teacher in 1961 during a massive literacy campaign launched by his new government, and had five sons with her: Alejandro, Alex, Antonio, Alexis and Angel.According to Castro, his only marriage was in 1948, to Mirta Diaz-Balart, a philosophy student from a wealthy family.They had a son together, Fidelito, who is today a 67-year-old nuclear physicist.The marriage unravelled when Castro was imprisoned after staging a failed attack on the Moncada army barracks in 1953 -- the start of his revolutionary career.Languishing in prison, he learned she had accepted a job at the interior ministry, where her brother was a high-ranking official. Outraged, he divorced her in 1954.He had meanwhile begun an affair in 1952 with Natalia &quot;Naty&quot; Revuelta, a pretty blonde who was also married.Together they had a daughter, Alina, in 1956.She fled Cuba in 1993 and now lives in Miami.Castro also reportedly had another son, Jorge Angel, from a 1955 affair with Maria Laborde, an activist in his movement.One of the most influential women in his life was Celia Sanchez, a fellow rebel who was his confidante and personal secretary -- and possibly more -- until her death of cancer in 1980.Except Alina, all Castro&#x27;s known children still live in Cuba, where they are largely kept out of the media spotlight.bur-ag/jhb/rlp/sst© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse

HAVANA - Some said Fidel Castro had thousands of women The New York Post put the figure at a stunning 35,000 in a 2008 article, a figure that came from an unnamed former official.

HAVANA - Some said Fidel Castro had thousands of women The New York Post put the figure at a stunning 35,000 in a 2008 article, a figure that came from an unnamed former official.

Fidel Castro and his (many) women

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Traffic

Manila

Horoscope

Overseas

Fidel Castro and his (many) women

Agence France-Presse

Published Nov 29, 2016 10:07 AM PHT

|

Updated Nov 29, 2016 12:13 PM PHT

Read More:

women

Cuba

fidel castro

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.