Julio Iglesias would like to extend his apologies to Hong Kong. The Spanish crooner cancelled his concert at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre last month at short notice and with little explanation.
'Tell the people of Hong Kong I am very sorry. I love Hong Kong [but] there was a big problem in the house,' explains the surprisingly young voice over the telephone from Miami, Florida.
'I could not resolve it so I could not leave but now it is solved because I stayed. I can't say what the problem was because it is very personal, very emotional. You have to solve these problems; if not you pay professionally.' It all sounds rather vague but the words 'personal', 'emotional' and 'house' together raise suggestions of an entertainingly scandalous story - especially given Iglesias' infamously promiscuous image. After all, this is the man who claims to have bedded 3,000 women and admits to popping Viagra to liven up his sex life.
The 55-year-old - who lived in Hong Kong's Repulse Bay from 1971 to 1973 - seems to enjoy his notoriety, even encouraging the image with outrageous remarks about sex and nudity. 'I exercise one hour every day naked,' he told one reporter. 'I'm going to take my pants off in the middle of the show,' he said to another.
Yet, Iglesias is quick to rebut raunchy labels such as 'playboy' or 'Latin lover' whenever they pop up in conversation but you get the idea everything he says should be taken with a pinch of salt: the Spaniard has a salacious sense of humour.
'First of all, I am not a boy. And I'm not out to play. I love people . . . I am not promiscuous,' he says earnestly, of his reputation, despite the fact that his own son, Enrique, has used the p-word to describe him. Perhaps Iglesias' explanation comes because he is at home and companion Miranda Rijnsburger, who is 22 years his junior, is 'standing very close'.