Her Name Was Dolores

by Pete Salgado

  We’re talking about a woman who was bursting with creativity and energy, who had a slew of businesses launching or running simultaneously and was always one step ahead of the rest of us. This was also a woman who once said in an interview that she liked that she was marrying someone who could be there to support her should she ever have to stop working, not that she wanted to or would, but it was nice to know she could lean on someone for a change. Jenni saw him as a stereotypical jock, doubted his ability to express himself clearly, and sometimes thought he was as dumb as a bag of rocks, and Jen began to resent him big time. She suddenly realized that one of her main issues with Esteban was that she honestly felt no sense of admiration for him, and she confessed this to Gabo after observing him with his girlfriend. “I can tell your girlfriend is impressed by you, you’re her everything, someone she looks up to. And you know what? I don’t feel like that about Esteban. I see him and I’m honestly not that proud of him when we’re out and about.”

  Ultimately, Jen began to feel betrayed. The image he had portrayed when he was trying to sweep her off her feet had now crumbled into a reality that was quite opposite to the man whom she initially thought had all his shit together and was up to par with her ethics in work and life. I honestly believe that the toughest issue Jen had to face time and again throughout her life wasn’t welfare or poverty, but rather deception, in all its shapes and forms and all its ugly glory. Little did she know she was now on the cusp of the ultimate chain of deception and disappointment from four of her closest people. Her inner circle of trust was about to implode before her eyes and ultimately swallow her in pain and shatter our so-called unbreakable diva into a million little pieces.

  Gabriel “Gabo” Vázquez

  Gabriel Vázquez was a huge part of Jen’s life. He was not only her road manager, but also someone who outlasted each and every one of her marriages. She used to say this about both of us. We were the men she’d had steadily by her side for the longest amount of time, her brothers, her yin and yang, the two men she could turn to for strength and balance in her life. If she needed to feel protected, she’d head over to me, and if she needed someone to comfort her, it was Gabo she went to. He made her laugh and feel good, he was nurturing and kind. Jen and Gabo spent endless hours on the road together. He was the one who made sure she ate, she woke up on time, she had everything she needed; he’d been there for her through thick and thin, comforting her through all the tears and celebrating all her successes. This was someone she felt safe with, so losing him was a truly gut-wrenching moment in Jen’s life.

  When I came on board the team, Jen and Gabo had already been in the trenches together, touring in a van, working their asses off to make something of her career. However, as time passed, he became a constant target and a continuous suspect within Jen’s inner circle. People were always suggesting that he might be swiping money from her tour income, starting with Lupillo, who was the first to plant that seed of doubt in her mind. “Be careful with him. He is stealing from you,” he’d say to her. Not one to stay quiet, Jen would ask Gabo, and time after time, he’d defend himself and prove his innocence. He endured years of bullshit, but was always a steadfast figure by Jen’s side, the one who remained positive and upbeat when the cards were stacked against her, the person who believed in her when others were slamming doors in her face, the one who protected her dream and persevered with her to make it a reality.

  However, in 2011 things came to a screeching and unexpected end, costing Jen and Gabo not only their business relationship, but their many years of friendship. This time around, it started with the seed of doubt planted by Esteban. He had Jen’s ear now, and he kept whispering into it, causing her to suspect her old friend and loyal road manager. I honestly think Esteban was hoping to become the next Juan Lopez. He wanted that role as manager, and in order to get it, he needed Gabo out of the way. It was a clear grab for power, and Esteban seized his chance with a pair of invoices that just didn’t add up. It was now or never. He put the paperwork he’d come across inside a manila envelope and handed it to Jen as obvious proof of Gabo’s wrongdoings.

  When Jen opened it, as she read through the invoices over and over again, she finally called me and asked that I come to her office. As soon as I walked through the doorway, she handed me the envelope and simply asked me to take a look at the paperwork inside. I sat down and started reading through the documents, staring at the numbers on one page and the numbers on another, baffled as to why they didn’t add up. I recognized the information: it was an invoice for a show in Mexico. Actually there were two practically identical invoices, but one had more money coming in than the other.

  “What’s this?” I asked Jen, confused.

  “Looks like what people have been saying all these years is true,” she said, quickly jumping to the conclusion that the missing money that she hadn’t received had been swiped by Gabo.

  What were we supposed to think? When comparing Gabo’s version of the invoice with Jen’s final version, there were clearly 200,000 pesos missing from her final payment. Where did they go? Why had he never mentioned this sum to her? Why were there two versions of this invoice? It was easy to assume that it must’ve been Gabo taking a cut for himself, especially after years of hearing these suspicions from people around her.

  “What the hell?!” I blurted out. “What are you going to do?”

  They had a weekend tour coming up, so Jen had Gabo over for dinner and conducted business as usual with him that evening. She made brown rice and salmon, they went over the last details for their upcoming tour, and when he left, as he kissed her granddaughter Jaylah good-bye, Jen felt a pang in her heart, knowing that it would be the last time he would be there with them. She could barely look him in the eye, knowing all too well that her eyes just couldn’t lie.

  The weekend came along and they went to Mexico as planned. Once the shows were over, she called Gabo over to the pool where she was sunbathing and handed him the manila envelope. As he went through it, his face dropped, and she simply asked, “Why?”

  That was the key question, the one question, which if answered, could’ve cleared his name once again of all suspicion, but this time he chose to remain quiet. And it wasn’t guilt that silenced him; it was fear for his life and Jenni’s. His silence was the only thing that would guarantee their protection, but it also cost him their friendship and his job.

  After Gabo and Jen’s years of tireless work in Mexico, Jen had finally become La Gran Señora, but that title also came with risks. Mexico is known as cartel country. No matter how hard the government works to keep cartels at bay, they still have the last say in many areas of Mexico, and when doing business there, it’s nearly impossible not to run into them eventually. Gabo was from Mexico, he’d done business there for years, so he knew how to navigate this ship well. It was a very delicate matter, but somehow he made it work without putting anyone in danger. Only after Jen’s passing did I hear Gabo’s version of this debacle, and it all finally made sense to me. He’s been silent long enough. The time has come for him to take the page and explain how it all went down in his own words:

  In Mexico the law of the land is mainly enforced by the cartels. Their power and influence are so great that their wishes are usually everyone else’s command, and that includes being able to safely play music in many of the big venues throughout the country. Once Jenni became La Gran Señora and started playing larger sites, it was our turn to abide by the cartels’ rules. In our case, it was all about the kickbacks, a fee the cartels charged the promoters in exchange for keeping the artists safe in their territory. If the promoters were trying to organize any type of event, the cartels would reach out and tell them they required a cut to ensure everyone’s safety. So the promoters, in turn, would reach out to the artists’ teams to share this extraordinary “fee,” and we had no choice but to accept it and include it as another tour expense. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to have our artist play those venues, or he or she would perform at th
eir own risk. A risk I wasn’t willing to take for Jenni. A rumor about all this started circling among the bigger artists and eventually it reached Jenni. “Oye, Gabo, they don’t ask us for anything, right?” she asked me, addressing the rumor. And I said no. But that wasn’t true. We’d already been paying these kickbacks for a while when she came to me with this question, but I had decided not to say anything to her to avoid much bigger problems.

  Everyone knew that no one messed with Jenni. When she heard this rumor, aside from asking me about it, she went off and also said, “You better make sure you never give those criminals a cent of my money. That money belongs to my kids, not to those damn thugs.”

  “I know, Jenni. I know,” I replied, knowing full well that this was exactly what we were doing in order for her to continue playing and growing her fan base. First off, I didn’t want to tell her because I didn’t want to scare her with all of this. I was taking care of it, and she didn’t have to worry about those things. Second, it was also part of the cartels’ request. As much as they respected her, they also knew she had a tendency to use social media to rant about whatever or whoever had pissed her off. And they had no interest in having their cartel names splashed all over the media and associated with charging artists kickbacks, even though that was exactly what was happening in real life.

  So, on one hand, Jen didn’t want me paying them a cent to play at those venues, and on the other, they’d been explicitly clear that if word got out publicly that they were involved, our lives would be on the line. It was as simple as that. And I knew that if Jenni found out, that was it. There was no way she wouldn’t tweet about it and talk about it publicly because that was who she was. She wouldn’t take anyone’s crap, no matter how dangerous or powerful they were, so keeping this from her was not only allowing her to play in our beloved Mexico, but also protecting her and me from life-threatening consequences.

  And for a while, it worked. We paid up and no one bothered us. Sure, we always had an escort and drove around in an SUV once Jenni was famous and playing around Mexico, but our security team was basically there to help us with her adoring fans; they didn’t carry weapons or anything of the sort. It was the kickback that guaranteed our safety. If we didn’t pay to play, we could’ve easily been mugged or worse. It was our only way to guarantee our safe passage in those territories. I learned early on that the best way to handle these payments was through the promoters. I was told by other colleagues that it was best if the cartels never saw me or spoke to me directly. That’s how all the other managers for big-name artists were handling this, so I followed suit.

  However, even though I knew I was protecting her, not being upfront about it all with Jenni came back to haunt me in the end. That day, when she confronted me with those two invoices and questioned me about the missing money—which was the exact amount of the kickback for that show—I knew it was all over.

  “Why did you take that money?” she asked, with disbelief in her eyes.

  “That’s not what happened. It’s not like that,” I replied.

  “Well, I don’t want you working with me anymore,” she declared.

  “Okay,” I said. “One day you’ll know why I did this, one day you’ll know the truth.”

  And I left. I decided to remain quiet and sacrifice my job and my friendship for our safety. I knew that if I told her the truth, she would’ve gone straight to social media to cuss them all out, and that would only put her life and my own in jeopardy. That’s why I decided to take the hit and say nothing. She later came back at me with all she had, making incredibly harsh statements in the media about how I had stolen money from her and filing a lawsuit against me, but at least we were both alive to tell the story.

  When Gabo finally filled me in on his side of the story, bringing evidence to back his claims, everything began to make more sense. The payout difference Jen saw in those invoices was the exact amount that had been paid as a kickback. And Gabo was all business—he knew that paying that kickback would allow them to continue working in these venues, so they were better off accepting the rules of the game and playing along than pissing these people off. On the flipside, knowing Jen, if he had told her they had to pay the cartels in order to be able to play, she would’ve had a hissy fit on social media, talking shit about all of them, because that’s who she was. And if you look back, that’s exactly what she did, but the one to take the hit was Gabo, not the cartels. He took the fall and said nothing.

  Yeah, on paper, it absolutely looked like he was skimming money from the top, but now I know that wasn’t the case, and now I finally get it. I understand his point of view because I knew Jen’s attitude and her quick-fire reactions, and I also know that you do not mess with these people. And when all hell broke loose between Jen and Gabo, he still remained quiet, making no statements to the media, and simply keeping to himself in order to protect his life and hers too. It was the price to pay for her success in Mexico. It was something all artists had to deal with whether they knew it or not.

  If you ask Gabo now, he says that in hindsight, he would have totally done things differently. Jen was like a sister to him, so he not only lost his job and reputation, he also lost one of his closest friends. In that year apart, she also missed him terribly, often reminiscing and saying, “If Gabo was here, this wouldn’t be happening,” when things went wrong on the road or at concerts. By not having him by her side, she was able to appreciate him even more. She noticed all that he had contributed to her career and, more than anything, she realized how much she missed her friend, her brother, her business confidant … loss number one.

  Elena Jimenez

  Next up was her best friend, another unforeseen disappointment and betrayal that pained Jen to the core. Jen had met Elena Jimenez two years earlier, around 2010. She was a jewelry maker and big Jenni fan, who was married to a nice, sophisticated, older woman and seemed to have a solid family life. Elena, always at Jen’s beck and call, quickly earned Jen’s trust and was able to access her inner circle, soon becoming one of Jen’s best friends. Jen would often go to their home for dinners and allow them to babysit Johnny when she had things to do.

  However, shortly after Jen’s marriage to Esteban, Elena informed us that she was getting a divorce. True to Jen’s essence, she was there for Elena during this tough time, having gone through divorces herself and knowing fully well how hard those life changes can be, and she also kept in touch with Sulema, whom she also considered a friend. It was during this time when some red flags popped up but went unnoticed. Sulema opened up and told Jen some stories about Elena, warning her that she wasn’t all that everyone thought she was. But Jen didn’t pay much mind to this, brushing it off as divorce banter. Meanwhile, Elena began to brag about all the women in business whom she had conquered, but we’d just laugh it off as fun chismes.

  Elena eventually also became part of our team, traveling with us and attending awards, where she also catered to many other clients who wore her jewelry.

  As a newly minted member of our work family, it only seemed right to include her in the big upcoming family vacation. We were in the middle of taping season two of I Love Jenni, which included a family trip to Hawaii, and Jen thought it would be great if Elena came along too—not only was she Jen’s new best friend, but it was at her birthday party that Esteban and Jen had reconciled after their first big breakup, and now they were happily married—or so we thought—so it was a done deal. Off they went to Hawaii with the production crew in tow on their fun-filled family vacation.

  After they returned, it was life as usual until Elena brought around a new girlfriend, Alejandra. I never got the clearest vibe from Alejandra, but shrugged it off; however, Chiquis didn’t like her one bit. We all thought it was Chiquis being protective of her beloved inner circle, but we’d soon be proved quite wrong. The veil began to drop at Jacqie’s wedding in September 2012. Elena and Alejandra were visibly upset that day. Chiquis and Elena had been whispering to each other a lot, and Alejandra looked d
ownright pissed, but we all shrugged it off as we tried to remain focused on Jacqie’s big life event.

  A few days later, while Jenni was out at the movies with Esteban and her younger kids, she got an urgent call from Alejandra. This was odd, as Jen had never established any sort of bond with Alejandra. Puzzled, she answered and heard Alejandra say, “There’s something I need to talk to you about.” Jen was about to brush her off, but Alejandra begged and begged until Jen agreed to meet her that night. She told Esteban an unexpected meeting had come up and asked him to take the kids home, and she went off to find out what all the big fuss was about with Alejandra.

  “I don’t know if you know,” Alejandra began, once they were face to face, “but Elena is having an affair with your daughter.”

  I can only imagine Jen thinking, Holy shit!

  Alejandra produced a cell phone, claiming it was Elena’s, and pulled up some photos. She slid the phone across the table to Jenni, and sure enough, there were several photos of Chiquis in a bathing suit and some other sexy shots of her daughter. Jen immediately recognized the setting: Hawaii. As Jen’s heart sunk, Alejandra confessed that seeing Elena and Chiquis whispering and chatting at Jacqie’s wedding gave her a funny feeling. It made her jealous. She had a hunch that something was going on between them and wanted to get to the bottom of it. So, a few nights later, as Elena was fast asleep, Alejandra grabbed her phone and flipped through the photos, stumbling upon Chiquis’s swimsuit shots. Then she checked her messages and found an exchange between the two that, although not too risqué, sent her into a fit of jealousy that culminated with the phone call to Jenni.