Gloria Estefan Turned Down Offer To Be a CIA Spy

via Wikimedia Commons

Had the tides of fate shifted slightly Gloria Estefan, Miami's official #1 celebrity resident, may have lived a life full of espionage and shadowy secrecy instead of world wide tours and "Conga."

In an interview on Telemundo's Al rojo vivo with MarÍa Celeste Arrarás, the singer reported that while working in customs at MIA she was approached by the CIA about becoming a spy:"They realized that I was someone who could pass as a regular person without raising any eyebrows. So the CIA approached me and wanted me to train in their Atlanta headquarters."

Eventually her mother dissuaded her "Estefan, Gloria Estefan" ambitions, and in the mid 80s a little band called Miami Sound Machine hit the big time.

[People: Gloria Estefan Could Have Been a Spy]