Bertín Osborne

Following the birth of Gabriela Guillén's son in late 2023, she initiated paternity proceedings. Osborne eventually publicly acknowledged being the father before the hearing, but the proceedings continued. In January 2025, the judge declared him the child's biological and legal father and ordered him to pay the legal costs.

State of the evidence

Birth, claim, acknowledgement and judgment documented

Legal status — source text

Alcalá de Guadaíra Court, January 2025: legal paternity established; Osborne ordered to pay costs

Attribution

Directly implicated

In a 1985 television interview, Osborne stated that 'women like us to be sexist' and acknowledged having hit a woman at least once, saying he regretted it. When the footage resurfaced in 2019, he claimed that he had been referring to smacking his daughter Claudia when she was five or six. However, Claudia was born in 1989, four years after the interview, making that explanation chronologically impossible as stated.

State of the evidence

Archive recording and subsequent explanation documented; identity of the person struck not established

Legal status — source text

No known criminal proceedings linked to this statement

Attribution

Directly implicated

A few days before the 2019 general election, Osborne stated that Vox, the PP and Ciudadanos were all acceptable to him provided they defended Spain's unity, traditions and the way of life inherited from previous generations. He also criticised Pedro Sánchez for his alliances with pro-independence parties.

State of the evidence

Public statement documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

While promoting their joint show, Osborne and Arévalo criticised what they saw as Spain's loss of its sense of humour and defended the possibility of joking about gay people, disabled people and other groups without intending offence. The statement 'en España ya no se pueden contar chistes de mariquitas' (in Spain you can no longer tell jokes about gay men) caused considerable controversy.

State of the evidence

Public statements documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility for defending this form of humour; several of the crudest expressions came from Arévalo

The Panama Papers showed that Osborne had established Artistic Trading in an offshore jurisdiction in 1997 and reactivated it in 2015. He explained that he needed the company to pledge land as collateral and obtain financing to settle approximately 1.6 million euros still owed to the tax authorities.

State of the evidence

Company and reactivation documented; unlawfulness of the structure not established

Legal status — source text

No new tax conviction linked to the company's existence identified

Attribution

Directly implicated

An episode of En la tuya o en la mía featuring Iker Casillas was criticised for showing Sara Carbonero mainly in the kitchen and asking about her cooking skills and possible return to work after pregnancy. Several media outlets considered these to be sexist stereotypes.

State of the evidence

Public broadcast and editorial criticism documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility as presenter

Prosecutors accused Osborne of transferring several properties while the tax authorities were seeking to recover a substantial debt, in order to prevent their seizure. Retrospective sources concerning the Panama Papers recall that he was ultimately convicted in January 2003 of fraudulent concealment of assets (alzamiento de bienes) and subsequently settled, in stages, a tax debt exceeding five million euros.

State of the evidence

Prosecutor's complaint and subsequent conviction documented

Legal status — source text

Convicted in January 2003 of fraudulent concealment of assets (alzamiento de bienes); multimillion-euro tax debt subsequently regularised

Attribution

Directly implicated

An extension to Bertín Osborne's property in Jerez led to an eleven-year planning dispute with the municipality. In 1996, the Supreme Court ultimately upheld an order requiring part of the construction to be demolished.

State of the evidence

Planning dispute and Supreme Court judgment documented

Legal status — source text

Supreme Court, February 1996: partial demolition upheld

Attribution

Direct responsibility as property owner