Edith Sanchez fights for her severance after 25 years working for Luis Miguel: He told me I was like his mother; thank God I never believed it'

A former personal assistant, Edith Sanchez, keeps a dated photograph showing Luis Miguel hugging her and says it is the only picture she has left from years working for him. She reports working day and night for more than 25 years without vacations or personal time. Sanchez, who has survived cancer twice and lives with osteoarthritis and diabetes, says she is owed severance pay and has been pursuing it since 2017. She describes traveling for medical checkups with days off granted by Luis Miguel and later receiving a cancer diagnosis again. She says she sent a personal message requesting payment of what she believes is owed. Luis Miguel’s team declined to comment and indicated legal action may be pursued.

"“He was singing to me because it was my birthday; they threw me a party with mariachis and everything,” the woman says shyly. Sanchez, 69, a two-time cancer survivor who is living with osteoarthritis and diabetes, is fighting to get Luis Miguel to give her the severance pay she says she is owed after working day and night for him for decades. “I never had vacations, I never had anything, I was always with him and for him,” she says."

"“All I’m asking for is a fair severance because I can’t go on like this.” Sanchez has been pursuing this fight since 2017, but speaks now, exclusively to EL PAIS, because she was the personal assistant to the most famous artist in Latin America and survives thanks to what family and friends lend her. EL PAIS repeatedly sought the artist’s version. His team, after asking three separate times for more time to respond, declined to comment."

"In 2017, Edith Sanchez flew from Los Angeles to Mexico City for her annual checkup at the National Cancer Institute. She had been a patient there for a decade; her left breast had already been removed, and she had managed to overcome her first cancer. Luis Miguel had given her the days off to travel and make sure the tumors had not returned. The tests came back fine, but she felt a sharp pain on her right side. After much insistence, they performed a biopsy."

"When she received the news that she had cancer again, she wrote to the artist: “I sent him a personal message saying I needed them to pay me what they owed me.” She"

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