Gloria Estefan’s mother has died.
“Tonight at 8:19 p.m. we lost my beloved mother,” Estefan, 59, shared on Instagram Tuesday. “She went peacefully surrounded by her daughters, grandchildren, son-in-laws, niece, three loving caregivers, extended family and her most trusted friends, very especially, the two beautiful ladies in each side in this picture, Carmen Carpion & Clara Bris.”
Fajardo was 88.
Carpion and Bris were her mother’s best friends, Estefan said. “They were an integral part of her posse not only throughtout her life but to her last breath,” she wrote. “I know it was exactly the way she would have wanted her departure from this earth to be…”
Estefan says her mother deliberately chose to pass away at 8:19 as a symbol she’s with her own late mother, who died on August 19 some 32 years ago.
“I will miss her every moment of every day and I thank her for being the incredible mother, woman and role model that she was to so many people,” she added. “Thank you for your prayers and messages, and the love and concern that filled our hearts and accompanied us throughout this most difficult time.”