Enrique Iglesias says his longtime partner, Anna Kournikova, is “totally cool” with his habit of kissing fans in public.
In a new interview with SiriusXM’s Hits 1 Miami With Mack & Jen, the 49-year-old “Bailamos” singer addressed a question about whether Kournikova, 42, gets “jealous” when he packs on the PDA with people at his concerts.
“Not at all,” Iglesias replied. “No, no, no, no.”
Iglesias explained that when he gets cozy with concertgoers while Kournikova is watching, often the fan will look at her for permission. ” The Russian retired tennis pro — who’s been with Iglesias for 22 years — typically responds,“Yeah, I’m totally cool.”
The musician’s amorous behavior went viral in late 2022, when a video of him locking lips with a fan at a Las Vegas meet-and-greet circulated online.
“I do that all the time, I love embracing and kissing and just hugging my fans,” he told SiriusXM. “I like getting close up.”
He added, “I love to get so much love from my fans and I know that if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am.”
Iglesias and Kournikova sparked a romance when he cast her as his love interest in the 2001 music video for his hit song “Escape.”
“[The video changed my life] in ways that I didn’t even think about,” the musician recalled last year of their Y2K meet-cute. “When we met — although she came from the sports world — in a way, we kind of got each other.”
Kournikova “knew what my world was like,” he said at the time. “I kind of knew what her world was like. So that understanding helped a lot. We just started connecting little by little and got stronger and stronger and stronger.”
The Miami-based couple are now parents to 6-year-old twins Lucy and Nicholas, and 4-year-old daughter Mary. While they aren’t legally married, Kournikova takes Iglesias’ last name in her Instagram bio.
The pair have long prioritized parenthood over making their partnership official.
“I absolutely want to have children, whether I have my own or adopt,” Kournikova told Women’s Health in 2011, adding, “[Marriage] isn’t important to me. I’m in a happy relationship — that’s all that matters. … I believe in commitment. I believe in being open and trusting each other and respecting each other completely.”
Kournikova, who won two Grand Slam titles in 1999 and 2002, left professional tennis in 2003 after having back and spinal injuries. This past March, Iglesias released his last album, Final Vol. 2, a blend of pop and Reggaeton, among other musical genres. He’ll still continue to write and perform singles — just not full-length albums.
“It’s important for me to say that I’m not retiring, it’s just my final album,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2021. “That doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop touring, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna go somewhere and crawl into a cave and disappear.”
