In Netflix's Selena: The Series, everything for the titular singer (played by Christian Serratos) changes when guitarist Christopher Pérez (Jesse Posey) enters the picture. He joins her band, Selena y Los
Dinos, in 1989 and sparks quickly fly between the pair while on tour. Selena and Chris must keep their relationship secret, however, due to her father Abraham's (Ricardo Chavira) rule that band members cannot date one another.
The real-life Pérez, now 51, faced similar circumstances before he and Selena eloped in 1992. It's an experience he writes about in the 2012 book,To Selena, with Love, which he wrote in the years after Selena's tragic 1995 death. "People need to remember what she stood for, the values she had," Pérez told The Hollywood Reporterat the time of publication. "If she gave any message to the younger generation, it would be: Stay in school, and anything is possible as long as you work for it. If people remembered her in that way, I'd be happy and I'm sure she would be happy, too."
One legacy-preserving project Pérez isn't involved with is the new Netflix series, which is produced by members of the Quintanilla family. Ahead, a look at Pérez's life now—including what he's said about his memories of Selena and his take on Selena: The Series.
There was real drama surrounding Chris and Selena's early romance.
As depicted in the show's emotional finale, Selena's father Abraham did not support her romance with Chris. "It was as perfect as it could be," Pérez later told The Houston Chronicleof his early days with Selena. "That doesn’t mean it was perfect-perfect. We were just a normal young couple, in love trying to figure it out. I felt so bad and guilty for the fact that we had to hide things from her father because literally everybody else knew…so it was like, ‘Oh, [expletive],’ every time he walked in."
Despite Pérez being briefly fired from the band and tensions rising between himself and the Quintanilla family, he told CNN that he understood Abraham's point of view. "I think the main reason for that was it kind of hurt his pride and his ego to find out that he was the last to know and when things got tense and things were said by him," Pérez explained. "It hurt me that he was saying it but I didn’t let it get to me because I knew deep down he knew the kind of person I was."
The couple had rough patches and also talked about having children before her death.
The family ultimately came around to Selena and Chris's relationship after they eloped in 1992. According to Pérez, they shared three years of ups and downs before her March 1995 death. “I think what it boiled down to is that we were young,” he told CNN of the tension. “We were married and together 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We had to learn how to handle that and that was both of us. It's not like she brought up the idea and I was fighting it because honestly I was right there with her.”
Pérez went on to say, “We ended up patching things up and making a promise that we would never let that happen again. We started talking about a family.”
On March 31, 1995, Selena was shot by Yolanda Saldívar, her business partner and fan club founder. Saldívar is serving a life sentence in Texas with a possibility for parole in 2025.
Pérez was not involved with the Netflix series—but he does have an opinion about it.
The real-life Abraham Quintanilla and Suzette Quintanilla, Selena's father/manager and sister/drummer, are executive producers of Selena: The Series. But it doesn't appear that Pérez was consulted much about the project. In April, he shared a photo of Jesse Posey, the actor who plays him on the show, on Instagram. He wrote, "Here is a pic I just saw of the actor playing me in the Netflix series. For the record, never met him, haven't seen the script, and I have NO idea what is going on.....but, I'd love to find out. ??"
Pérez recently told the Austin American-Statesmanthat he was unsure about whether he would even watch the show. “It's a touchy thing for me, and I'm sure her family feels the same way,” he explained. “There's going to be some difficult moments, and not having seen the script, I don't want to be caught off guard. I know for a fact that the story I know is inspiring, having been told by Selena herself.”
In the same interview, Pérez said he didn't have much to offer to Selena: The Series. "I’m not trying to not be a part of anything," he said. "At the end of the day, we all have our perspective on certain things and how things happened. I've put out everything I wanted to put out already. There’s not much more I want to say, and that’s the God-honest truth."
On December 3, Pérez issued an official comment on the series and the Quintanilla family's musical sensibilities in a lengthy Instagram post.
Pérez remarried in 2001 and welcomed two children.
In 2001, Pérez married Venessa Villanueva and welcomed two children, Noah and Cassie, in the years that followed. Villanueva and Pérez would split in 2008, but their children still make appearances on his Instagram—often playing musical instruments.
Chris has gone on to make music with A.B. Quintanilla and J.Lo.
In the years after Selena y Los Dinos, Pérez has kept busy. He channeled his passion for hot sauce (which is referenced in the 1997 Selena biopic) into his own Pérez Pepper Sauce brand. Musically, Pérez has been a part of several bands, including the Chris Pérez Band. He won the 2000 Best Latin Rock/Alternative album Grammy Award for his 1999 album, Resurrection, and reunited with his brother-in-law A.B. Quintanilla to work on cumbia music via the groups Kumbia Kings and Kumbia All-Starz.
In 2015, Pérez reunited with A.B., Suzette, and Jennifer Lopez (who played Selena in the 1997 movie) for a Billboard Latin Music Awards tribute in Selena's honor.
His relationship with the Quintanilla family is complicated.
Although Pérez has spent time with the Quintanilla family publicly since Selena's passing, there's been tension over the years. In 2016, the family filed a lawsuit preventing production on a TV adaptation of Pérez's To Selena, with Love book. According to legal documents, via Billboard, Pérez had "expressly agreed that he would not exploit any of the Entertainment Properties in any manner or medium, including, without limitation, by way of a book, television series, movie, or any other motion picture medium." Per the paperwork, Selena's father "owns all proprietary rights in the name, voice, signature, photograph, and likeness of Selena."
In his interview with The Houston Chronicle, Pérez said the legal proceedings made it difficult for him to attend Selena's 2017 Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. "Technically, I was invited via email. But I didn't feel very welcome, and her family didn't make it easy," he told the outlet. Still, Pérez did end up attending and maintained, "I don't want people talking about her family. I might feel a certain way about it, but what would Selena want? I'm not the one wanting to fight."
He continues to honor Selena's memory.
In the 25 years since Selena died, Pérez has consistently honored her memory by attending events, sharing memories on Instagram, and writing his 2012 book. "I spent several years keeping the memories of my late wife bottled up inside," he said in a statement about the now-shelved TV adaptation, per Billboard. "To Selena With Love allowed me to finally embrace my experience and understand the void it could fill in the hearts of so many others. I am now ready to take the important step of being fully transparent and bringing my everlasting relationship to life on the screen."
At the time of publication for his book, Pérez spoke to CNN about the enduring legacy of his late wife:
When she passed away, the outpouring of love and support that we got from the fans shocked us. We weren’t prepared for that. So I thought I knew about it, but then when this book came out, the response that we’ve gotten from that, I’m actually shocked again. I didn’t realize that I was putting something out there that all those fans had been waiting for. The response has been crazy.
Watch Selena: The Series on Netflix