Pat Benatar shares her two children with husband Neil Giraldo
Pat Benatar may have famously sung about how “Love Is a Battlefield” — but her real-life romance is more like a fairy tale.
Benatar first met guitarist Neil Giraldo in 1979 when he came to her rehearsal room shortly after she signed her first record deal. For Benatar, it was love at first sight.
“I thought, girl, you just saw the father of your children,” Benatar wrote in her 2010 autobiography. A place between the heart and the rock.
And she was right: Benatar and Giraldo became business and private partners, with him as her lead guitarist, and the two married in 1982. Three years later, the rock couple became parents for the first time when their daughter, Haley Giraldo, was born. in February 1985. Their second child, daughter Hana Giraldo, was born nine years later in March 1994.
“I’ve never felt happier in my life,” Benatar said Chicago Tribune when she was pregnant with Haley.
Although Benatar was thrilled to become a mother, her record company executives were not pleased. Benatar recalled to PEOPLE how they pressured her to hide her pregnancy because they did not fit her sexy image.
“They wanted me to be an only fox, and having a kid was about as unlikable as you can be,” Benatar said. – In their eyes, it was like a death sentence.
But the Grammy winner didn’t hesitate to focus on motherhood. “I knew it was the right thing,” Benatar told PEOPLE in 2010.
The rock legend elaborated on SPIN magazine: “You have to be ready for children, because you have to give up everything, every selfish part of yourself. And in return… unconditional love… It’s such pure love.”
Today, Benatar — who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022 — still balances motherhood (and grandmotherhood) with her career.
Here’s everything you need to know about Pat Benatar’s two daughters.
Haley Giraldo Williams, 38
Haley Giralado on Instagram
Benatar gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Haley Egeana Giraldo, on February 16, 1985, in Los Angeles. At the time, the rock singer called Haley’s birth “the biggest event of her life.”
As a teenager, Haley seemed to follow in the footsteps of her musician parents when she formed the girl group Glo. The pop group even went on tour with Benatar in the summer of 2001, serving as her opening act. But touring with her 16-year-old daughter proved “challenging” for Benatar, who told PEOPLE they have “opposing interests.”
“Her voice is a lot lower than mine,” Benatar told PEOPLE of Haley’s singing. “Mine is like a big train wreck and hers is much more subtle.”
After her music career, Haley has had other moments in the spotlight — including serving as Miss Golden Globes in 2002 and appearing on E! reality show Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive. Kourtney Kardashian was also a guest on the show, which followed celebrity children working on a ranch in Colorado.
In the years that followed, Haley became a wife and mother. She married model and Barry’s Bootcamp instructor Matt Williams on July 15, 2017 in California. “I never thought it was possible to fall more and more in love with someone every day… and then I met you,” Haley wrote to her husband on Instagram on their first wedding anniversary. “You’re mine forever and I couldn’t be more excited about that.”
The couple welcomed two daughters of their own shortly after their 2017 wedding: Stevie James Williams was born on August 25, 2018, followed by Lola Ford Williams on February 5, 2020. Their third child, son Cash Walker Williams, arrived on October 25, 2022. .
Haley Giralado on Instagram
For Haley, becoming a mother only deepened her relationship with her own mother. “I didn’t think we could be closer than we already are, but now it’s on another level,” she wrote on Instagram in April 2018.
And that’s not the only time Haley has expressed her love for Benatar on social media. She wrote a sweet note to Benatar on her birthday in January 2020. “Today is my favorite person’s birthday and I couldn’t be more thankful to call this superhero woman my mom,” Haley wrote in the caption. “Thank you for being who you are. Those of you who know my mom, know how special she truly is… an angel on this earth. No matter how much I say I love you, I always love you more than that.”
She also shared a tribute to Benatar for Mother’s Day 2021: “I am so forever grateful for my amazing mother who loved us so much and always put us first.”
Hana Juliana Giraldo, 29
Hana Giralado Instagram
Nine years after the birth of Haley, Benatar gave birth to her second daughter – named Hana Juliana Giraldo – on March 12, 1994. Although born in LA, Hana was named after the famous eastern shores of Maui and would eventually live there as a child with her family, she said Loop magazine in 2020.
While living in Maui, Hana was bullied by her fifth grade peers. “I went through a traumatizing experience of abuse and I had all these targets on this tiny island,” she recalled Loop magazine.
She continued: “I didn’t want to make things difficult for my family so I just didn’t say anything and just stuck it out… I internalized a lot of it.”
The experience led her to become an advocate for victims of bullying, serving as an ambassador for Boo2Bullying, a youth empowerment organization that focuses its efforts on anti-bullying and suicide prevention. Hana also shared videos on her social media accounts to connect with other abuse victims in an effort to make them feel less alone.
“I know what it feels like to feel uncomfortable. I know what it feels like to feel like you don’t fit in,” she said in a video on her YouTube channel. “I know how it feels to want to give up…don’t give up. The worst thing you can do is give up.”
Lester Cohen/Getty
Today, Hana is a social media influencer with millions of followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. She’s paid tribute to her rock star mother on both Instagram and TikTok (dressing up to look like Benatar and singing her hit “Heartbreaker”) — but Hana is best known for her viral comedy sketches she’s been doing since she was a kid.
“I’ve basically been making videos my whole life. When I was on tour with my mom, I had nothing to do but make these comedy videos,” she shared with Loop.
In addition to her social media career, Hana has also worked in fashion (she even designed tour merchandise for her mother) and had a brief stint on reality television, appearing on the 2022 E! series Relatively famous: Ranch Rules. She’s also working on her own music, according to her Instagram — just like her rocker parents. “She’s one of my biggest role models in the world,” Hana told Hollywood Life about her mother in 2022.
“The tough skin I have now is because I’m her daughter.”
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Source: HIS Education