Sandra Regina was distraught when her mother passed away 17 years ago since the legendary Brazilian soccer player had previously refused to admit he was her father.
Despite this, the 82-year-old insisted on meeting with her two sons and had her first in-person conversation with them on December 28, the day before he passed away.
The pair received a portion of his multimillion-pound estate, it has now been revealed, after he finally included Sandra as one of his seven children in his will.
The three-time World Cup champion’s children, Octavio Felinto Neto and Gabriel Arantes do Nascimento, declared that it put an end to the decades-long family strife and fulfilled their mother’s wish.
According to Gabriel, who spoke to his aunts, our grandfather wanted to visit us, The Mirror quotes Gabriel as saying.
We were overjoyed since this was a chance we had been waiting for. Our family is no different from any other in having disagreements and disputes, yet there are times when love and unity are more vital than anything else. We are very content.
Pele had an affair with his cleaner, Anisia Machado, and as a result, Sandra, who passed away from cancer in 2006, was born.
Even when a DNA test revealed he was the father, Ms. Machado tried for years to convince him to acknowledge it.
After a five-year legal battle, Sandra was permitted to use Pele’s last name, Nascimento, in 1996.
Pele left behind an estate that is estimated to be worth over £13 million when he passed away last month after a protracted battle with cancer.
The world legend had two children from extramarital affairs, Sandra included, along with twins from his second marriage and three kids from his first marriage.
In 1966, he wed his first wife, Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi, and together they produced three children: Kelly, Jennifer, and Edson.
On appeal, the son, who goes by the name Edinho, had his sentence for money laundering and drug trafficking reduced from 33 years to 12 years and 10 months in 2014.
After his first marriage failed in 1982, Pele spent several years dating Xuxa, a TV host who was only 17 at the time of their first encounter.
However, he wed gospel singer and psychologist Assiria Lemos Seixas in April 1994, and the couple welcomed twins Joshua and Celeste in 1996.
He recognised Flavia Kurtz, his other illegitimate child, whom he had in 1968 following an affair with journalist Lenita Kutz.
When questioned in an interview, he once responded, “I had a normal youth and had many adventures.”
After six years of courting Marcia Aoki, his third wife, who was 32 years younger than him, they got married in 2016.
His mother Celeste, who was 100 years old, was ‘unaware’ that her son had passed away until days later. He was also survived by his sister Maria.
In Vila Belmiro, the stadium of Brazilian football team Santos, where Pele played for the most of his career, his body was on display for a 24-hour wake.
Thousands of people waited in line to pay their respects to the man who, over the course of three decades, rose to prominence as the face of world football.
Pele’s son Edinho served as one of the pallbearers, and the casket arrived before the doors were opened to the general audience. Just before the wake started, Edinho was seen placing his hand on his father’s forehead and praying as funeral personnel covered him with a veil.
Marcia Aoki, the widow of Pele, was spotted putting a cross pendant on her husband’s body before embracing Edinho.
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