‘Love Boat Star Says Only One Person Knows Co-Star’s Actual Age — and It’s Not Who You Think
- - ‘Love Boat Star Says Only One Person Knows Co-Star’s Actual Age — and It’s Not Who You Think
Victoria MillerDecember 1, 2025 at 4:46 AM
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Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Charo has seemingly been in show business forever, but her age has always been a mystery. When the Spanish-born classical flamenco guitarist appeared on 10 episodes of The Love Boat, playing recurring character April Lopez from 1977 to 1987, not even the cast and crew of the ABCromantic comedy series knew her actual birthdate.
During a November 2025 interview on the misSPELLING podcast, Love Boat regular Jill Whelan (Vicki Stubing on the series), confirmed that no cast members on the show knew Charo’s real age, but that a production assistant did. “My friend who worked on Love Boat for [producer] Dennis Hammer… she actually had to have her passport information," Whelan shared. "So Elaine knows her age."
Of her co-star's age secret, Whelan surmised that when Charo was married to Xavier Cugat in the 1960s, “she had to be older because she was underage.” “So that's why it gets so foggy,” she noted.
"And she says in her act, she goes, 'I know all of you. You want to know how old I am. You always say, 'How old is this b----?'" Whelan added. “That’s one of the things she says in her show. And I did remember, but I can't ... she's gotta be in her late 70s, I'm gonna say."
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Charo married Cugat in 1966 when the bandleader was 66. According to a Los Angeles Times article, when Charo was first married she claimed she was born in 1947, then later said her birth year was 1949. In 1977, she went before a U.S. District Court to argue that naturalization papers listing her birth year as 1941 were off by a full decade. Charo’s legal claim that she was born in 1951 means she was 15 when she married Cugat. They divorced in 1978.
Charo Explained Why She Inflated Her Age on Legal Papers
In 2022, Charo told The New York Times that she added a decade to her age on her naturalization papers and marriage license so she could live in America and legally work in casinos.
She told Adelante magazine, “Because I came so young to the United States to work, my age was changed. That was how I was able to work at the Flamingo and Caesar’s Palace hotels. People look at me as if to say ‘but, this is impossible, I saw her like 25 years ago, like 40 years ago! How can this be possible?’ And it’s simply very funny, all that confusion and controversy about my age."
She added that she could show fans her birth certificate as proof of her real age, but saw no reason to. “What’s in it for me? I like the controversy,” she admitted.
Whether her birth year was once inflated or not, there’s no denying that Charo appears to be ageless. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, the flamenco star credited good genetics for her youthful looks. “We all get old, but DNA is very important," Charo said in 2022. "I got good DNA from both of my sides of family."
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This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 1, 2025, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
