LEGENDARY bull-fighter Manuel Benítez 'El Cordobés' has publicly recognised his illegitimate son Manuel Díaz for the first time, after the younger man – also a matador – was forced to file a paternity suit in court.
After several years of controversy and legal battles, Díaz presented DNA samples and other evidence in court, and a judge ruled El Cordobés was indeed his father.
This was a year ago, but the elder bull-fighter has continued to shy away from his proven paternity – until now.
At the presentation of his new autobiographical radio series El Cordobés V Califa, Benítez said: “The two of us are bull-fighters. He has the strong blood of his father, of a strong Califa, in him.”
Benítez was joined at the opening by María Ángeles, a daughter for whom he admitted paternity in the year 2000, and by his current partner, and referred to both his son and daughter as 'his children'.
This comes just two months after another, undisclosed bull-fighter faces a paternity suit from a 60-year-old woman who surreptitiously collected DNA evidence proving, beyond all reasonable doubt, that she was his daughter.
María says her mother and the matador were 'very much in love' in the late 1950s, but that the mother was forced to marry another man due to family pressure.
They carried on their affair in secret, however, with María's full knowledge from earliest childhood, and she even met the matador several times, getting to know his later wife and daughter.
Despite having agreed to meet her when she was 18 and had a close-friend relationship with her since, the unnamed bull-fighter has never formally recognised paternity.
But private detectives acquired DNA samples in the form of María's father's used tissues collected from a bar in Sevilla, which showed the highest possible genetic match.
