This is sad news in the world of football. Pelé, whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died on Thursday December 29 at the age of 82. The football legend has succumbed to colon cancer, as his daughter, Kely Nascimento announced on Instagram. “We love you to infinity, rest in peace” she wrote in the caption of a photo where all the children of Pelé hold her hand.
During his life, Pelé dated many women and had at least seven children. Her first marriage was on February 21, 1966 to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi. From this union were born three children: Kely in 1967, Edinho in 1970 and Jennifer in 1978. Four years after the birth of the latter, the couple had divorced and Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi had decided to settle in the United States.
Pelé admitted to being unfaithful to his first wife
If he was best known for his exceptional performances on a football field, Pelé was also a great seducer, sometimes unfaithful. During an interview, he had even admitted not having really respected Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi, while meaning that she was aware of his infidelities. “My first wife, first girlfriend, knew it. I never lied,” he explained. For her part, the mother of her three children had denied this version by declaring: “He said it was an open relationship, but it was only open for him”.
Married three times and father of five children from his first two marriages, Pelé was also the father of at least two children, from different relationships. If he had initially refused to recognize Sandra Macedo, born in 1964 and died in 2006, as his daughter, justice had decided in favor of the mother of the child. A few years later, this time he recognized Flavia, another child born in 1968.
Pelé © CYRIL MOREAU
