3 Tenors opera legend Domingo ‘pressured female singers into sex’
Married star accused by nine women
PLAcido domingo has been accused of using his immense power and influence to take advantage of female performers since the 1980s.
The world’s most famous opera singer is facing a wave of harassment and assault allegations, which include pressuring women into sex.
The Spanish tenor is accused of putting his hand down one woman’s skirt and forcibly kissing three others.
nine women – eight singers and a dancer – have said that the 78-year-old married singer harassed and assaulted them over a 30-year period. Half a dozen other women claim that his suggestive behaviour made them uncomfortable, and three dozen others told Associated Press they had witnessed sexually inappropriate behaviour.
domingo began his career in 1961, but is best known as one of the Three Tenors, alongside Jose carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, who rose to fame in the 1990s.
Two singers admitted they were so worried about their careers that they agreed to have sex with the star. They added his behaviour had been an ‘open secret’ in the opera world for decades, and that women were warned to avoid him and ‘definitely don’t be alone with him’.
one woman who had sex with the singer and conductor in Los Angeles claimed he left $10 on a chest of drawers saying: ‘i don’t want you to feel like a prostitute, but i also don’t want you to have to pay to park.’
retired singer Patricia Wulf, 61, who performed alongside domingo in the 1990s said the seven-time grammy award winner would accost her when she came off stage each night and
‘He slid his hand down my skirt’
when she turned down his advances would wonder, ‘did i just ruin my career?’.
one accuser, who worked as a singer in Los Angeles in the 2000s, met domingo to discuss her career. ‘He sat down at the grand piano and we really did sing this aria. He gave me coaching and was very complimentary,’ she said.
‘When it was over, he stood up and slid his hand down my skirt, and that was when i had to get out of there.’ Another, who met domingo when she was 23, said he bombarded her with phone calls: ‘i was completely flattered. And floored. And excited.’ she said. ‘Then it got creepier. He just filled up the machine, calling me until 3.30 in the morning. i finally gave in and slept with him... it was like, “oK, i guess this is what i have to do”.’
Another said he was like a ‘god’ and that she felt like ‘prey... being hunted by him’.
domingo, who has been married to wife Marta, 82, for 57 years, said the claims were ‘deeply troubling’ but ‘inaccurate’. The star, who has more than 4,000 performances to his name, claimed his interactions with women were ‘always welcomed and consensual’.