By Jeremiah Love –
After 10 years of cheating on his wife, “Rico Suave” star Gerardo Mejia was sharing his testimony of coming clean with his wife in churches. Every time, Kathy Eicher heard her husband speak, “it was hurting me a little bit more and more.”
“Why wasn’t I good enough?” she asked, deeply wounded by the infidelity despite her decision to keep the marriage together. The betrayal trauma, growing every time he shared his testimony, led her to cheat on him.
“I can’t tell you how betrayed I felt,” Gerardo remembers. He walked on her.
“My whole world crumbled because Gerardo didn’t have the same reaction that I had,” Kathy says. “He was gone. He was done.”
Today, Gerardo and Kathy, the 1989 Miss West Virginia, have restored their marriage, which is now at 30 years. Jesus has helped the couple with their three kids be a testimony.
Ecuadorian-born Gerardo hit the #7 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1990. “Rico Suave” was a sensual Latin rap. Even though he fell in love and married Kathy in July of 1994, he kept sleeping with the girls who constantly surrounded him in his music career, in the concerts and the entourages.
“I was cheating on her from day one,” Gerardo says.
At the same time, he was taking his Bible with him everywhere. He had gotten saved at age 17.
“Everywhere I went, I wake up in the morning and just see the Bible next to my bed and say, Man I gotta get it right.”
After 10 years, he fully repented and gave his wife full disclosure. It was a bomb blast for her, but she decided to keep the marriage together.
He began to share his testimony in churches. People were impacted every time. People even congratulated him for coming clean.
But for Kathy, the testimonies hurt. The people congratulated him, and that hurt her.
As Gerardo got invitations to share his testimony at more churches, he started being absent from the home.
Kathy felt lonely.
Eventually, she too fell into adultery.
Gerardo found out one day. He found her phone and read her messages.
Kathy went home to Kentucky. Gerardo went home to Ecuador.
“I was at the all-time lowest point of my life,” Kathy says. “I remember sitting on rooftops and
thinking I’d just be better off if I just jumped off.”
But God was moving. Gerardo went to a Men’s Retreat and God moved on his heart to forgive his wife. He went to see her.
“Kathy I’m really sorry,” he told her. “I understand. I’m the culprit. I’m to blame for a lot of it.”
They restored their marriage. Gerardo and Kathy have three kids: Nadia, Bianca and Jaden.
