\n\t\t<\/aside>\nWhen Pel\u00e9 ended his legendary, game-changing soccer career at the Meadowlands in 1977, he went out with a special rallying cry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having played half the game for his final team, the New York Cosmos, and half for Santos, the Brazilian club that saw him become a superstar, Pel\u00e9 said to the capacity crowd: \u201cLove is more important than what we can take in life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then he got them to chant with him: \u201cLove, love, love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On and off the field, Pel\u00e9 was all about sharing the love.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last year, the icon \u2014 who passed away Thursday at age 82 \u2014 said that he had loved so many women that he had no idea how many children he had fathered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several of the six he officially recognized gathered around their father this week at a Sao Paulo hospital and posted images to social media\u00a0showing the soccer great in a hospital bed\u00a0at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in S\u00e3o Paulo. Pel\u00e9 was suffering from end stage kidney and heart problems, according to a recent report\u00a0in the Brazilian press, and doctors had said he was no longer responding to treatments related to colon cancer that was discovered last year.\u00a0<\/p>\nRosemeri dos Reis Cholbi (here with daughter Kely) was married to Pel\u00e9 from 1966 to 1982, despite him having a child with another woman two years into the marriage.<\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAlso at Pel\u00e9\u2019s bedside was his third wife Marcia Aoki, who is 26 years younger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Known simply as \u201cthe king\u201d of soccer for his unparalleled prowess on the field, Pel\u00e9 weathered his share of scandals in his native Brazil, including dating much younger women and refusing to recognize his first child \u2014\u00a0suing her 13 times in Brazilian courts\u00a0in the 1990s while he was a government minister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sandra Regina Machado, who was born at the height of her father\u2019s fame in 1964, forced him to undergo a court-ordered DNA test that proved in 1996 that he was indeed her father. Machado was the daughter of Anisia Machado, a housekeeper who had an affair with Pel\u00e9 before his first marriage. She died of cancer in 2006 without receiving any support from her father, according to Brazilian press reports.\u00a0<\/p>\nPel\u00e9 wed his second wife, gospel singer Assiria Seixas Lemos, in 1994 and they share twins Celeste and Joshua. The couple split up in 2008.<\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFame brought Pel\u00e9 love, adoration \u2014 and heartache.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGirls wanted Pele as their boyfriend, boys wanted Pel\u00e9 as their brother, parents wanted Pel\u00e9 as their son, and everyone wanted Pel\u00e9 as their neighbor,\u201d Brazilian journalist Paulo Cesar Vasconcellos said in\u00a0\u201cPele,\u201d a 2021 Netflix documentary. \u201cHe was totally captivating. His natural charisma gave him star quality.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Edson Aranha do Nascimento was born on October 23, 1940, in Tres Coracoes \u2014 \u201cThree Hearts\u201d \u2014 a city in southeastern Brazil. Although spelled differently, his parents named him for inventor Thomas Edson to commemorate the introduction of electricity to Tres Coracoes the year he was born. He was given his nickname as a young boy once he started playing soccer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Portuguese, when you kick the ball with the foot we say \u2018Pe,\u2019 and maybe I made some mistakes, I don\u2019t know, but my teammates started to say \u2018Pe-l\u00e9,\u2019 more and more,\u201d he later\u00a0told Sky Sports. \u201cI didn\u2019t like it because my name was Edson, but it started and here I am. Anyway, my family and the ones [who] are close to me still call me Dico. That\u2019s what they call me at home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nBefore his divorce from dos Reis Cholbi, Pel\u00e9 \u2014 then 41 \u2014 began seeing future TV presenter Xuxa, 17. <\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFrom an early age, Pel\u00e9 was a talented player. In 1950 when Brazil lost the World Cup to Uruguay on their home turf and plunged the soccer-mad country into despair, he made a promise to his father \u2014 himself a soccer player known popularly as Dondinho: \u201cI\u2019m going to win a World Cup for you,\u201d Pel\u00e9 recounted in the Netflix documentary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He did just that when he was 17 years old, at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, bringing him international stardom. And then he did it again and again, leading the Brazilian national team to victories in 1962 and 1970.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his home country, he was almost a deity. But Pel\u00e9 had a hard time coping with his newfound fame. \u201cI couldn\u2019t go out,\u201d he said in the Netflix doc. \u201cIt was hard to adapt.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nMarcia Aoki met Pel\u00e9 when she was a teenager at a party in the 1980s. They reunited years later \u2014 the year he split from Lemos \u2014 and married in 2016.<\/figcaption>WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe athlete married his first wife, Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi in February 1966, and the couple had three children: daughters Kely and Jennifer, and son Edinho. But the marriage soon began unraveling, thanks in part to Pel\u00e9\u2019s constant travel with his Santos team and media and advertising demands \u2014 and in part to his roving eye.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two years after marrying Rosemeri, Pel\u00e9 had an affair with Lenita Kurtz, a Brazilian sports journalist who used to cover the games for Santos, where the soccer great played for 19 seasons. Their daughter, Flavia Christina, was born in 1968.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adding to his personal upheaval: the world\u2019s greatest soccer player was broke.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\u2018I wasn\u2019t sure about the relationship, but he insisted. He sent flowers to my mother, chatted with my dad.\u2019<\/p>\n
Xuxa, who began dating Pele when she was 17<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\nIn October 1974, he retired from the game after 18 years with Santos. Then his accountant broke the bad news.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the moment he entered the house as if it were yesterday. He was sweating profusely. He was pale, he looked like he was about to faint. I could tell something was wrong so I made a little joke: \u2018How many million have we still got?\u2019 \u201d Pel\u00e9 recalled in \u201cPel\u00e9: A Import\u00e2ncia do Futebol,\u201d his 2013 biography. \u201cI nearly had to call the doctor when he replied: \u2018Look, this is very difficult . . .\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pel\u00e9 was on the verge of bankruptcy and lost almost all of his 41 investment properties to bank seizures, following a cascade of poor advice and building debt.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe New York Cosmos helped Pel\u00e9 avoid financial ruin with a contract that would make him the highest paid athlete in the world.<\/figcaption>Popperfoto via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA succession of bad business deals and equally poor legal advice had left Pele with substantial debts in Brazil with one of his investments in Fiolax, a company that made rubber components for the car industry, which proved to be his biggest headache.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While his stake in the company stood at just 6%, he had personally guaranteed a loan the company had taken out and when Fiolax defaulted, the bank had come looking for him. Coupled with a fine related to corporate regulations, Pele was now looking at a bill of more than $1 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His financial salvation came in the form of the New York Cosmos, a short-lived professional soccer club, and a contact that would make him the highest paid athlete in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\nPel\u00e9 \u2014\u00a0born Edson Aranha do Nascimento \u2014 said childhood teammates gave him his nickname.<\/figcaption>Bettmann Archive<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCosmos General Manager Clive Toye had tried on several occasions to sign Pel\u00e9 for the team, holding meetings in Sao Paolo, Frankfurt and London. Now was Toye\u2019s chance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Englishman flew to Brussels, where Pel\u00e9 was due to play in a charity game and had just one hour before he was scheduled to fly out to Casablanca for an audience with the King of Morocco. Despite interest from some of Europe\u2019s biggest soccer clubs, like Juventus in Italy and Real Madrid in Spain, Toye\u2019s sales pitch was completely different: \u201cI said if you go there, all you can do is win another championship. If you come here, you can win a country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Warner Communications, the owners of the Cosmos, wanted to own Pel\u00e9 lock, stock and barrel and prepared a succession of contracts. There was a 10-year deal for his marketing rights and a 14-year PR deal to represent Warner. There was even an agreement for him to be a recording artist for Warner\u2019s Atlantic Records label. He was given two homes, an office suite at Rockefeller Plaza and guaranteed spots in NYC\u2019s best schools for his kids.\u00a0<\/p>\nPel\u00e9 enjoyed international fame, meeting with dignitaries around the globe.<\/figcaption>REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe total deal would be worth a reported $4.7 million over three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eight months after he retired, Pel\u00e9 was on the pitch in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rosemeri and the kids, who lived in a small Manhattan apartment before eventually settling in Queens, came with him. But with Pel\u00e9 traveling back and forth between Brazil and the US, participating in lucrative advertising campaigns, the couple separated in 1978.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe soccer star was a three-time World Cup winner.<\/figcaption>AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThey didn\u2019t divorce until 1982, a year after Pel\u00e9\u2019s affair with Xuxa Meneghel, a children\u2019s entertainer, became public. Leggy blonde Xuxa \u2014 who, like Pel\u00e9. is known by one name in Brazil \u2014 was 17 years old to the soccer star\u2019s 41.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart was beating very strongly,\u201d Xuxa told a Brazilian podcast last year in which she admitted that Pel\u00e9 was her first love. \u201cI said: \u2018Why am I doing this with a guy who is a lot older than I am?\u2019 I wasn\u2019t sure about the relationship, but he insisted. He sent flowers to my mother, chatted with my dad. I was with him from 17 to 23. It was six years. Pel\u00e9 really had a double personality. He speaks of himself in the third person, but I was truly in love with him. He was very close to my family and he was a lot of fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The relationship helped the young entertainer reach dizzying heights of stardom in Brazil.\u00a0<\/p>\nBrazilian journalist Paulo Cesar Vasconcellos said in \u201cPel\u00e9,\u201d a 2021 Netflix documentary: \u201cHe was totally captivating. His natural charisma gave him star quality.\u201d<\/figcaption>FIFA via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFollowing his affair with Xuxa and his divorce from Rosemeri, Pel\u00e9 had a relationship with Selma Fonseca, a writer for Billboard whom he met in 1989 when she was 23 and he was nearly 50.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe [met] in NYC . . . After a long courtship we dated for nine months,\u201d said Fonseca in an interview on\u00a0Medium\u00a0last year. \u201cHe wanted to get married but, because of various circumstances, we didn\u2019t. But he was loving, fun, a gentleman, always very grateful for his success and generous. He was happy to sign autographs, take photos and hug his fans, it was awesome to see how he took the time for everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A few years after that relationship, Pel\u00e9 married gospel singer Assiria Seixas Lemos in 1994. The couple\u2019s twins, Celeste and Joshua, were born two years later.\u00a0<\/p>\nPast love Selma Fonseca, described Pel\u00e9 as \u201cloving, fun, a gentleman, always very grateful for his success and generous.\u201d<\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn 1995, Pel\u00e9 was named Extraordinary Minister for Sports in Brazil and faced increasing pressure from his first child, Machado, to submit to a DNA test. She eventually adopted his surname, wrote a book \u2014 \u201cThe Daughter the King Didn\u2019t Want\u201d in 1998 \u2014 and used her notoriety to run for city council in the city of Santos, where Pel\u00e9\u2019s old team was located. As a politician, Machado lobbied for free DNA tests to be provided to children searching for biological parents, a practice that continues to this day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2001, Machado filed suit demanding compensation from the soccer great, claiming in court papers that she did not enjoy the same emotional and financial support as his other children. The court rejected her claim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pel\u00e9, who did not show up for Machado\u2019s funeral in 2006, later told a Brazilian reporter that he had decided not to pursue a relationship with Machado because people close to her had approached him \u201cin a not very friendly manner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nPel\u00e9 with his extended family in 2013. He did not publicly recognize all of his children.<\/figcaption>REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe later relented when approached by Machado\u2019s ex-husband,\u00a0Ozeas Fellinto,\u00a0who took the Machado\u2019s two children to meet Pel\u00e9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to say that Sandra never received anything from Edson Arantes, not even a glass of water,\u201d Fellinto said in a press statement. \u201cWhile Sandra was alive, her mother, who worked as a housekeeper, raised her. Pele never helped.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fellinto later said that Pel\u00e9 was paying for the children\u2019s education after being taken to court.\u00a0<\/p>\nSeveral of the soccer star\u2019s six recognized children, including daughter Kely Nasicmento, were with Pel\u00e9 at his deathbed before he passed away Thursday.<\/figcaption>@iamkelynascimento\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFollwing a divorce from Lemos in 2008, Pel\u00e9 married his third and final wife, Marcia Cibele Aoki in 2016. The couple had met at a New York party in the 1980s, when Aoki was still a teenager, and then again in 2008. A Brazilian of Japanese origin who owns a medical supplies company, Aoki has no children with the soccer legend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The athlete described her in an interview as\u00a0\u201cthe last great passion of my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But as he\u00a0watched Brazil lose to Croatia\u00a0in the World Cup from his hospital room earlier this month, it was clear what was still Pel\u00e9\u2019s greatest passion. He told his 13.3 million Instagram followers: \u201cTo all Brazilians, I wish you the union and the love that binds us in sport binds us throughout our lives. The dream is of all of us. Love, love and love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Gavin Newsham\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n