Who are Preta Gil's parents? Family explored as Brazilian singer passes away after cancel battle at 50
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Preta Gil (Photo: Instagram/@pretagil)Preta Gil, the Brazilian singer, actress, and activist, passed away on Sunday (July 20, 2025) after a two-year-long cancer battle. Gil was diagnosed with bowel cancer in January 2023. Despite multiple surgeries, she was not treated. The cancer remitted before resurging in August 2024, this time affecting four parts of her body: lymph nodes, peritoneum, and ureter.
Last year, Preta announced that she would look into alternative treatments and shifted to the US. The singer passed away at the age of 50, in her US residence.
Preta Gil is the daughter of Gilberto Gil and Sandra Gadelha. Her father is a singer-songwriter and was the former Minister of Culture in Brazil from 2003 to 2008.
Gadelha is a Brazilian actress and worked in Corações a Mil and O Nome Dela é Gal. Preta has seven siblings. Her brother, Pedro Gil, passed away in a car accident in 1990.
Preta Gil shared updates on her cancer journey on her Instagram, where she had over 12 million followers.
Gil was also vocal about LGBTQA+ rights, women's rights, and body positivity.
Preta Gil's career explored
According to Quem's report dated July 20, 2025, Gil stayed away from the limelight, as she was worried about comparisons with her family. She founded a marketing agency and worked there.
However, she chose to work in the music industry when she kept having recurring dreams of her brother, who passed away in 1990.
In 2003, at the age of 28, Preta released her debut album, Prêt-à-Porter.
For the album cover, she did a nude photoshoot with photographer Vania Toledo.
According to the media outlet, she discussed the backlash she received at the time in a later interview. Preta stated that back then, people only discussed her body and her father's reaction to it, rather than focusing on her music.
She called the Brazilian society "conservative, sexist, misogynistic, racist," and "homophobic."
"I was unprepared for a society that at the time I said was prudish, but no, it was a conservative, sexist, misogynistic, racist, homophobic society. Today we have a name for all that. But back then, I was like, 'Oh my God, why are they criticizing my body? Why hasn't anyone listened to my album? They just want to know what my dad thought of me posing nude?'" Gil said.
Preta Gil released three more albums, Preta, Sou Como Sou, and Todas as Cores.
She also acted in soap operas Cheias de Charme and Pé na Cova, as well as the telenovela Caminhos do Coraçã, the television series Os Mutantes, and the musical Ó Pai Ó.
In 2010, she founded the carnival group, Bloco da Preta, which became very popular in Rio de Janeiro's street festivities.
Preta has been married twice. In 1994, she married Brazilian actor Otávio Müller and had a son, Francisco. They separated in 1995.
Preta married the internet personality Rodrigo Godoy in 2015. They divorced in 2023, as Gil accused her ex-husband of cheating on her with her stylist.
Preta Gil is survived by her parents, siblings, and son, Francisco, and her granddaughter, Sol de Maria.
TOPICS: Preta Gil, cancer, death