TRANSCRIPT:
Sergio and I were very close growing up. We’re not that far apart in years. So, we were great playmates growing all the way up into our teens. We always stayed very close together throughout the time in the Sea Org [Church of Scientology religious order]. We vacationed together during his vacation time, we shopped together. He styled me, you know. He always—just very close, close person to me.
Sergio and I lived together when I first moved to Los Angeles. And it was shortly after I had moved to Los Angeles that I had gotten a phone call from his then-wife, Lilly, and in a panic because she had just been phoned from inside the jail that my brother had been caught stealing. And so she called me and wanted to find out what she should do and what have you. So, eventually, of course, we went and bailed him out and did what we needed to do. But it was very disheartening to me because he’d always been a role model, you know, a moral role model for me growing up.
And when I got the truth, he had been stealing and it wasn’t just this one time—this was the first time he had gotten caught. He’d actually been stealing way before then. So it was—the more I got, it was the more impactful it became because there was no way that this was a mistake, you know. Now we knew it was not a one-time thing.
So, one thing that should be known about Sergio, is that he’s a really, really amazing liar. He’s really good at manipulating situations or changing circumstances—crying, whatever means possible to get you to believe his story. He’s very good at that. And for a long time, I fell into that, you know. And I’m not infallible, you know. But he’s quite artistic about the way that he can manipulate a situation to make it seem like he’s a victim in that situation or make it seem like others are wrong except for him. That he is the victim in this situation and everybody else is wrong.
So, after we bailed Sergio out of jail, we were very much the family wanting to regroup and say, “Okay. So, obviously you need help, you know. We’re here to help you. Like what’s happening in life, you know, in general?”
And the more—it was more like, the more we reached, the more he withdrew, you know. Not just from me, as I started noticing, but from the family as well—from my parents, from my sister, because that’s, you know, our immediate group. And it was just like that. The more reach, the more he withdrew. And eventually he was leaving and nobody really knew where he was and that kind of thing. We’re like, “Okay well, he’s just doing his own thing.”
So, I was pregnant about four years ago and, you know, this was a pretty big life moment for myself. And as I was very close to Sergio—you know, you get a date, the doctor tells you what the date is and, you know, you announce it, “My baby is going to be born...” you know, to my parents who were living in Florida at the time, to my sister and to my brother, Sergio. So, I really wanted them all there at the birth of my son. It’s such a milestone. It’s a very emotional kind of close-knit family. And as Latinos, we’re very much like that, you know. We want them all huddled together and surrounding us, you know, have that warmth. And so my brother for a long time had known the date of his birth. And when it was getting closer to the date, he ended up going, “I’m sorry. I can’t come, I am going to Ireland and I’m on vacation.” And, “But I’ll see him afterwards.” And it was very disappointing to me because obviously the date had been set for quite a while, and all of a sudden he has this vacation, and he’s not able to come. It hurt me deeply, you know. It was very impactful. I’m like, “A vacation? I’m having my son. You knew about it but you....” You know, it was like he really was, like, creating like something to distance himself from me, you know.
And I didn’t know what was going on at that time. It’s like, less phone calls, less visits, less everything, you know. I didn’t really understand why.
You know, and it took me a long time to realize that. And to see the betrayals that have happened in our family because of Sergio, you know. And you have to watch out for that. And it’s painful, of course, because he’s your brother, and it’s somebody that you grew up with. But to have such a betrayal of trust, for me, what he’s done with his life. And to have something like greed motivate you, or have a motivation for a spotlight is greed. You’re not doing it for the well of somebody else—certainly not our family, you know. So I would say to others, you know, just look at who you want around you because unfortunately that is where he is right now. And that’s what motivates him and that’s dangerous.
