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Emma Coronel Aispuro, known primarily as the wife of infamous drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, is finally stepping out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
In the upcoming Oxygen documentary, Married to El Chapo: Emma Coronel Speaks, which airs on November 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, Coronel shares her personal experiences and offers a glimpse into her life alongside the notorious Sinaloa Cartel leader, unveiling previously unknown facets of their tumultuous relationship.
“Everyone has had the wrong image of me,” she told producers in an new trailer, released Nov. 20. “At this point in my life, I feel ready to talk.”
The film delves into how Coronel, a teenager at the time, crossed paths with Guzmán, the notorious head of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, and quickly became entrenched in his perilous world.
The documentary highlights, “Emma’s story unveils the difficult choices she made to safeguard her family and navigate a realm dominated by power, violence, and loyalty.” It poses poignant questions about her capacity to confront the harsh truths of her husband’s deeds and her own sense of responsibility.
Raised in a quaint Mexican village, Coronel, a former beauty queen, encountered Guzmán at the age of 17 and soon after, married him in a symbolic ceremony shortly following her 18th birthday.
“I never called him ‘El Chapo,’” she shared in the preview. “I called him ‘My Love.’”
At the time, Guzmán was 32 years her senior.
“It was a gross power dynamic from an age perspective, 18 and 50,” remarked crime reporter Emily Palmer. “That’s not a man you say no to.”
Guzmán’s criminal past soon made him “the most wanted man in the world,” according to the promo, as law enforcement officers tried to hunt the elusive kingpin down.
After his 2017 arrest and transfer to the United States to stand trial, Coronel was a near-constant fixture in the courtroom, supporting her husband.
“This is the trial of the century,” Palmer said. “While everybody else watched Chapo, I became convinced Emma Coronel was a more interesting story.”
As the heinous details of Guzmán’s crimes begin to play out in court, many began to wonder what role, if any, Coronel played in her husband’s activities.
“There was a cloud of suspicion around her,” noted Sonja Sharp, a crime reporter for The Los Angeles Times. “She herself is one small step removed from bloodshed.”
The documentary will pose the question: was she a calculated mastermind or simply a victim of circumstance?
Coronel is now set to answer that question herself.
“Ok,” she said in the trailer. “Ready?”