Eleonora Mustafovska responds to controversy and defends Esma Redzepova’s children

After dramatic images of the dilapidated house of Esma Redzepova and a storm of public reaction, Esma’s only daughter, Eleonora Mustafovska, has finally spoken out. In an emotional message she backed her brother Simeon Atanasov and rejected allegations directed at Esma’s children.

Eleonora wrote plainly about her bond with the late singer and the limits of what the adopted children could have done: "As her daughter — not by blood, but by love, life and everything Esma gave me — I feel the need to say clearly: everything written in that text is true. Esma loved us, raised us and cared for us as her own. That is why it hurts today when we, her children, are accused for something to which we had neither access nor the right to decide. Questions about the property should be addressed to those who had access, not to her children. I will stand by the truth, as she taught us."

The statement came after Eleonora joined the public response to a post by her brother Simeon, who explained that the adopted children had no keys and no legal possibility to enter the property following their mother’s death.

From ESRA student to Eurovision backing vocal and a solo path

Eleonora Mustafovska was the last child Esma adopted in 2012. In addition to the 47 sons Esma raised with Stevo Teodosievski, she later decided to take a daughter into her family.

Eleonora studied solo singing at ESRA University in Skopje and quickly joined Esma’s supporting band. In 2013 she performed as a backing vocalist alongside Esma and Vlatko Lozanoski at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. After Esma’s death Eleonora continued working in music under the stage name Malisha and has also become a mother.

On social networks Eleonora attracts attention with her looks, style and charisma; many observers note that her eyes and smile still show the warmth she inherited from Esma. She has said of her mentor and adoptive mother: "Her passing saddens me to the point of pain. I still believe she watches over me from heaven and that she is glad I continued in her footsteps."

Photo: press material from the event