Is Chris Perez Married to Melissa Jimenez? Do They Have Kids?

Image Credit: News 4 (WOAI) San Antonio/ YouTube

Chris Perez is a guitarist, songwriter, and author who is best known for being a part of the famous Tejano band, Selena y Los Dinos, as well as the widower of the group’s iconic lead singer, Selena. Possibly ending as one of the most tragic tales in the world of Latin pop music, Chris’ life with Selena is explored in Netflix’s ‘Selena: The Series‘ plus Oxygen’s ‘Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.’ His deep love for Selena was ironically emphasized even more after her death when Chris came into the spotlight as her grieving widower.

Over the years, fans of Selena have come to embrace Chris for his undying love for the “Queen of Tejano music” and have followed him as he built his life and music career back up after the tragedy that shattered him, both personally and professionally. Though it took years, Chris was able to find love in his life again. Would you like to know more about who Chris finally opened his heart to? We’ve got you the story.

Chris Perez’s Ex-Wives

Chris Perez was 22 when he and Selena eloped and got married. After joining the band Selena y Los Dinos around 1990, he and the lead singer soon found themselves falling utterly head over heels in love. Against the strict wishes of her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., the couple continued to have a romantic involvement, which resulted in the lead guitarist being fired from the band when their relationship was discovered. However, after getting married in April 1992, Chris was eventually accepted into the family and back into the band.

Selena’s untimely death just a few days shy of their 3-year anniversary thus shattered Chris unimaginably, rendering him unable to eat for 2 days. He then turned to a life of alcohol and drugs and went into seclusion, moving back to his hometown of San Antonio to live with his father. Many years later, in 2012, he released a book titled ‘To Selena, With Love’ in order to portray the side of the singer that he knew.

Chris met his second wife, Vanessa Villanueva, through his friend John Garza, who had moved in with Chris shortly after Selena’s death to support him by making music together. In was during this period that the guitarist began to heal from the inside out. In 1998, whilst also working on his new band — the Chris Perez Band, he and Vanessa became a couple. They eventually got married in 2001 and went on to have two children — Noah and Cassie. The couple sadly got divorced in 2008, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason.

Chris Perez’s Dating Life

After his divorce from Vanessa, Chris was not seen in a relationship until January 2018, when singer-songwriter Melissa Jimenez apparently shared a picture wearing an engagement ring that he had given her. The young singer seemed to be an energetic presence in Chris’ life, with the two subsequently seen going skydiving, if some reports are to be believed. Chris was also rumored to be visiting her in New York during this time, though he has since revealed that he has his own place in the Big Apple where he records music.

Image Credit: Melissa Jimenez/Instagram

Since 2019, however, the two have not featured much in the media as a couple. Though they could be keeping their relationship under wraps, even the engagement ring has been conspicuously missing from Jimenez’s finger for at least 2 years now, leading us to believe that they are no longer a couple. The two have had no kids together, and Chris currently co-parents his 2 children from his marriage with Vanessa.

In an interview in 2021, Chris stated that he felt that Selena was still around and that he could have conversations with her. Further clarifying, he said that the Selena he saw was not the 22-year old that she was when they got married, but the person that she would be if she were alive today. His love for his first wife and her memory endures strongly in Chris till today — a fact that is not lost on the millions of Selena fans around the world that continue to empathize with him.

Read More: Did Selena Cheat on Her Husband? Did She Have an Affair?

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