Maria Victoria Henao was born in Palmira, Colombia, in 1961. She was born in the small village of Palmira Valle Del Cauca to her parents, Carlos Henao Vallejo and Leonor Zuleta. She grew up alongside her two siblings, a brother named Carlos Mario Henao Vallejo and a sister named Pastora Henao Bayen.
In 1974, 12-year-old Maria met Pablo Escobar through her brother Carlos (who worked with him), and the two fell in love. In her book, “Mrs. Escobar: My Life With Pablo,” Maria describes how Escobar wooed her: “He made me feel like a fairy princess, and I was convinced he was my Prince Charming.”
How Did Maria Victoria Henao Get Married to Pablo Escobar?
However, Maria was certain that she had fallen in love. Her autobiography states, “I met Pablo when I was barely 12, and he was 23. He was my only love in the entire world.”
However, Maria was certain that she had fallen in love. Her autobiography states, “I met Pablo when I was barely 12 years old, and he was 23. He was my only love in the entire world.”
Maria claimed that her future spouse put much effort into seducing her. He sang her love songs along with gifts like a yellow bicycle and serenaded her.
She added, “I was certain he was my Prince Charming and that he made me feel like a fairy princess.” However, their initial courtship was far from a fairytale. Later, Maria recalled how her considerably older boyfriend’s first kiss left her “paralyzed with fear.”
Maria subsequently admitted, “I was not ready. I lacked the necessary knowledge to comprehend the significance of that close, intense interaction.” At 14, she became pregnant when their relationship turned sexual.
Maria Victoria Henao and Pablo Escobar’s Marriage
Maria wasn’t old enough or wise enough to understand what was happening to her. Escobar knew the situation and swiftly drove his future wife to an abortion clinic on a side street. There, a woman misrepresented the surgery by asserting it would prevent future pregnancies.
She recalled, “I was in excruciating pain but couldn’t say anything to anyone. I would just ask God for a quick end to it.” Maria Victoia Henao consented to wed Pablo Escobar in 1976 despite the agony of the forced abortion.
Maria recalled their wedding night as “a night of indescribable love that remains etched on my skin as one of the happiest moments of my life.” “I wanted the intimacy we were experiencing to last forever and for time to stop.”
She was 15 years old. Her spouse was 26.
Inside Maria Victoria Henao and Pablo Escobar’s Love Life
Maria stayed with Pablo Escobar until his brutal death in 1993. But their story was complicated, especially since she wasn’t interested in being his partner in crime. Near the end, Maria had grown to hate just about everything in her husband’s world — drug trafficking, violence, and especially his multiple affairs with countless women.
Everyone who knows Pablo Escobar probably wants to know how Maria could sleep with such a person. Why didn’t she do anything, or why didn’t she leave him? But for Maria, she was just a victim like the rest of Escobar’s victims.
For her, the answer is because she loved him, and while many may find that response inadequate, she wrote, “The truth is that’s why I remained by his side till the end of his life. Even though I disagreed with his actions and decisions innumerable times.”
She noted, “Every day in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a life-or-death situation for all Colombians. All of us were held hostage by my husband’s war. I was very young, naive, and blind to reality, so I succumbed. I was often quite comfortable, but it was always comfort born out of the ignorance of having no right to look, think, decide, choose, or question.”
Why Did Maria Not Leave Pablo Escobar?
Maria said she grew up being molded by Pablo to be his wife and the mother of his children. He didn’t raise her to ask questions or challenge his choices. She said, “I was set to look the other way.
I endured affairs, insults, humiliations, lies, loneliness, raids, death threats, terrorist attacks. I also survived kidnapping attempts on my children and even long periods of confinement and exile. All for love.”
But Maria couldn’t leave him, not just because of love but also out of fear, powerlessness, and uncertainty—especially about what would become of her and her children without him.
Where Is Maria Victoria Henao Now?
In the years immediately following Pablo’s death, life got complicated for Maria and her children. Though she longed for a stable home, Pablo’s reputation followed the family everywhere.
Years after Escobar’s death, Maria still reels from the sufferings of those who suffered the horrors of the drug war. She feels immense sadness and shame for the enormous pain her husband caused and the unbearable consequences his actions have had for her and her children.
Nothing has been heard about Maria Victoria Henao in recent years. She stays away from the spotlight and lives a quiet life.
