Selena's dad says the late pop star was delivered by GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul
Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images; Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
- A baby Selena Quintanilla was delivered by former congressman and GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul, the singer's dad revealed.
- The Tejano music superstar's dad, Abraham Quintanilla, detailed the coincidence during an interview with Latin Groove News, the Houston Chronicle reported.
- Paul's rep told the Chronicle that he doesn't remember the delivery but said the story seemed "plausible."
Selena Quintanilla was brought into the world thanks to former Texas congressman and GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul, who delivered the late pop singer as a baby, her father revealed.
The Tejano music superstar's dad, Abraham Quintanilla, detailed the coincidence during an interview earlier this month with Latin Groove News, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Abraham Quintanilla explained that before his legendary daughter was born in 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas, his wife — who did not know she was pregnant at the time — went to see a doctor.
"My wife was feeling ill. The doctor said at the conclusion [of the examination], 'You have a tumor. We have to operate and remove it,'" Quintanilla said during the interview, according to the Houston Chronicle.
A skeptical Quintanilla then sought the second opinion of a doctor — who he claimed was Paul, who worked as obstetrician-gynecologist in Texas in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Quintanilla said that Paul told him, "That tumor that the other doctor wanted to remove has two arms and two legs. She's pregnant."
Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16, 1971, at Freeport Community Hospital.
Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, told the Houston Chronicle that the 86-year-old politician does not remember delivering the singer, but said the story seems possible.
"There were just so many babies delivered in that period that [Paul] does not recall that specific case," McAdams said.
Abraham Quintanilla — who also recounted the birth story in his book, "A Father's Dream," according to the Houston Chronicle — gave Paul all the credit.
"Imagine if we had let the first doctor who wrongly diagnosed her, operate," Quintanilla said during the interview, according to the news outlet. "There would be no Selena."
The beloved singer was apparently one out of about a reported 4,000 babies that Paul had delivered between the 60s and 70s.