Emma Coronel Aispuro has entered a new era and she is speaking about her years with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. In the new Oxygen special Married to El Chapo: Emma Coronel Speaks she sits under bright studio lights and looks directly into the camera. Her tone is calm but her words rewrite one of the most repeated details of the drug lord's life.
"I was eighteen. We had a ceremony but it was symbolic" she says in the special. She adds "We did not have a civil union."
For nearly two decades she has been globally identified as "El Chapo's wife." The tagline followed her through the Sinaloa mountains, the Brooklyn courthouse where Joaquín Guzmán Loera was sentenced to life in prison, and the federal prison where she served her own sentence on charges linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.
But with one sentence on national television she has now placed that title in doubt.
A Timeline That Never Quite Aligned
The story of their relationship has always been wrapped in legend. On July 2, 2007 the day Coronel turned eighteen, she reportedly married Guzmán in Canelas, Durango. Mexican outlets at the time described a quiet but heavily guarded celebration. There were gunmen in the hills. Local musicians played. Neighbors whispered that the teenager had become the queen of the most powerful drug lord in the hemisphere.
From that moment forward media and even court documents referred to her as his wife. During his trial the U.S. Department of Justice described her as "his spouse." Attorneys and judges used the same language while debating whether she could contact him while he was held under special security measures.
But behind the headlines there were conflicting stories.
In 2018 one of Guzmán's daughters shared a copy of her mother's marriage certificate and publicly claimed Emma was never legally married to her father. The only legal wife she said was her mother. At the time Coronel never responded.
In 2022, Mexican journalist Anabel Hernández repeated that claim in a bestselling investigation. She wrote that the alleged wedding in Durango was never registered in civil records and that Coronel's status was closer to "concubine" than legal spouse. Several Spanish language outlets echoed that interpretation.
Now Coronel's own statement appears to confirm that version. She insists the ceremony was real to her but not legally binding.
A Relationship Built on Silence and Loyalty
In the Oxygen interview, Coronel also discusses what life with Guzmán looked like behind the myth. She says she never saw violence and never talked about illegal activities with him.
"He always treated me with respect" she says. "I never imagined everything that was happening."
She describes raising twin daughters while her husband was alternately free, hunted or imprisoned. She recalls waiting rooms in U.S. federal prisons and the isolation of being tied to a man the world labeled a monster.
Her voice cracks only once when she mentions her daughters watching the media coverage.
"I regret the pain my daughters lived" she says. Coronel was also in federal custody for almost two years.
Since her release from U.S. custody Coronel has tried to rebuild her image. She has appeared at fashion events, worked with stylists and hinted at business projects. But the Oxygen special marks her first attempt to control her own narrative.
Instead of presenting herself simply as "the wife of El Chapo" she is now distancing herself from that identity. The new framing is a subtle but powerful shift. If she was never legally married the meaning of her role in the Sinaloa Cartel and in Guzmán's life becomes more open to interpretation.
A Question With Global Curiosity
The revelation leaves more questions than answers. If their union was symbolic was that a cultural choice common in rural Mexican communities. Was it intentional to avoid documentation. Did Guzmán remain legally married to another woman during the entire relationship.
Coronel does not provide clarification on the legal complexities. She only repeats that she was young that she loved him and that she never imagined the consequences.
For audiences fascinated by true crime politics and the mythology of cartel figures the mystery of her legal status adds a new chapter.
The woman once labeled unequivocally as "El Chapo's wife" may not have been his legal spouse at all.
And now she is finally saying that out loud.
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
