When Emma Coronel Aispuro walked out of a halfway house in California back in 2023, the world wasn’t just looking at a former beauty queen regaining her freedom. They were looking at a mother. Specifically, the mother of two girls who have lived their entire lives in the crosshairs of history, infamy, and an almost suffocating level of public curiosity.
Emma Coronel Aispuro kids—the twin daughters she shares with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán—are now 14 years old. Their names are Emali Guadalupe and María Joaquina. Born in August 2011, they are American citizens, a fact that has arguably changed the trajectory of their lives more than any cartel connection ever could.
Most people expect these kids to live like "narco-princesses," surrounded by gold-plated everything and private armies. The reality? It’s a lot more complicated. And honestly, it’s a lot more quiet.
The Secret Birth in Lancaster
In the summer of 2011, a very pregnant Emma Coronel slipped across the border from Mexico into California. She didn’t go to a high-end Beverly Hills clinic. She went to Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, a dusty city on the edge of the Mojave Desert.
Why there? It was low-profile.
When the twins were born on August 15, the birth certificates were missing a pretty important detail: the father’s name. At the time, El Chapo was the most wanted man on the planet with a $5 million bounty on his head. Emma knew that putting "Joaquín Guzmán Loera" on a legal document in a U.S. hospital was basically a neon sign for the DEA.
She kept the space blank.
The girls grew up fast, mostly because they had to. By the time they were three, they were part of a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek. There are reports of them being present during a raid in Mazatlán in 2014, where their father was captured while they were in the room. Imagine being a toddler and having that be your normal. It’s heavy.
Life After the Trial of the Century
Everything changed during the 2019 trial in New York. You might remember the photos of Emma walking into the Brooklyn courthouse, always dressed to the nines, looking more like she was hitting a runway than a federal hearing.
But the twins were there too.
They were seven years old then. There’s a heartbreaking moment documented by journalists where the girls waved at their father from the gallery. It was one of the few times they’d seen him in years. Since El Chapo was sent to ADX Florence—the "Alcatraz of the Rockies"—he has been allowed almost zero contact with the outside world.
He can’t call them. He can’t see them.
Emma actually wrote a letter to the judge once, basically begging for the girls to be allowed to see their dad, saying it was "the only thing that gives them joy." It didn’t work. The U.S. government doesn’t take chances with someone like Guzmán, and the kids have essentially lost their father to a concrete box in Colorado forever.
Growing Up in the Social Media Age
Now that Emma is out of prison and rebuilding her life as a model and influencer, the girls are entering their mid-teens. They’re 14. That’s a weird age for anyone, let alone the children of a global icon of crime.
Emma is surprisingly protective.
- Privacy first: She often posts "photo dumps" on Instagram, but she’s careful. She’ll put an emoji over their faces or take the photo from behind.
- Normalcy: They’ve been spotted at Disneyland. They wear Minnie Mouse ears. They go to school.
- Dual Identity: They live in the U.S. but stay deeply connected to their Mexican roots.
She told Elle magazine that she wants them to have a "normal life." But can you ever be normal when your dad is the subject of ten different Netflix documentaries? Probably not.
📖 Related: Katie Thurston Misdiagnosis: Why Getting a Second Opinion Saved Her From the Wrong Treatment
The Citizenship Shield
Being born in Lancaster gave Emali and María Joaquina a massive advantage: U.S. passports. This is their safety net. While their half-brothers (the "Los Chapitos") are constantly dodging drones and military raids in Sinaloa, these two are living under the protection of the very government that put their father away.
It’s a bizarre irony.
They are the youngest of El Chapo’s rumored 19 children. While the older sons followed the "family business," the twins are being raised in a bubble of American suburban life. Emma seems determined to keep it that way. She knows what happens to people who stay in the "game." Her own father and brother are in prison. Her husband is never coming out.
What’s Next for the Twins?
As we move through 2026, the twins are approaching the age where they’ll start making their own choices. Emma has said in Q&As with followers that she’ll let them decide if they want to be public figures when they’re "mature enough."
For now, they are just teenagers.
They deal with the same stuff every 14-year-old deals with—school, friends, probably TikTok—but with the added weight of a surname that carries a massive stigma. Emma has even tried to legally shield them from using the Guzmán name in certain contexts, aiming to give them a "clean slate" for their future careers.
Actionable Insights for Following This Story:
If you are following the development of the Guzmán-Coronel family, keep these nuances in mind:
- Verify the Source: Much of what you see on TikTok about "El Chapo's daughters" is fake or uses old footage of other people. Stick to verified reports from outlets like Infobae or Emma's own verified social media.
- Understand the Legal Gap: There is a huge legal distinction between the twins and their older half-brothers. The twins are not under indictment and are protected as minors and U.S. citizens.
- Watch the Rebrand: Emma is clearly rebranding herself as a fashion figure. The way she presents her children is part of this "new chapter" to distance the family from the violence of the past.
The story of Emma Coronel Aispuro's kids isn't just a "narco" story. It's a story about the messy, complicated reality of trying to raise a family in the shadow of a legacy you didn't choose. They aren't their father. And it looks like Emma is doing everything in her power to make sure the world knows that.