Caetano Veloso

Caetano Veloso

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (born 7 August 1942) is one of the most celebrated musicians of the Brazilian popular music. A best-selling and Grammy-winning composer, singer, and guitarist, Caetano has appeared in the Brazilian media since the late 1960s when he joined the artistic movement Tropicalismo.

Veloso's first wife was Andrea Gadelha, whom he married in 1967 and had two children with. In 1986, after having divorced Gadelha in 1983, Veloso married Rio native Paula Lavigne, with whom he had two more sons, Zeca Lavigne Veloso, born in 1992, and Tom Lavigne Veloso, born in 1997. Paula, who went on to become Veloso's business manager for much of his career, confirmed to Playboy magazine in 1998 that she was 13 years old when she lost her virginity to the musician, who was 40 years old at the time. Caetano has since been accused of "pedophilia" by those who do not know the actual meaning of the term. Their marriage lasted twenty years, and the two still worked together after their separation in 2004. In 2016, the couple reunited.

Although many correctly pointed that the event would be considered statutory rape under the current Brazilian law (under which the age of consent is 14), the legal framework was very different at the time. Not only were such events analysed more on a case-by-case perspective, but the law also required the victim or its legal guardians to press charges for the authorities to act, which did not happen.

Since Veloso is also a left-wing political activist, many right-wing politicians and other personalities in Brazil brought the case back in the internet era in order to taint his image and criticize him on political grounds. Both Veloso and Lavigne sued over 20 people for slander and libel against them.