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Legendary Latina actress Raquel Welch has died at the age of 82. The iconic actress has passed away after suffering from an unknown illness, as reported by TMZ. The Tejada family confirmed the news to the outlet, revealing she died on the morning of February 15, 2023.
Welch, born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago on September 5, 1940, was the daughter of a Bolivian aeronautical engineer and a performer and entertainer who migrated to Southern California when she was two.
As a teenager, she became a beauty pageant. She competed and won the titles for Miss Contour, Miss Photogenic, Miss La Jolla, and Miss San Diego.
After finishing her career in theater arts at San Diego State College, she married James Welch and welcomed children Damon Welch and Latanne Welch. They divorced, and she then married three other men.
Raquel began pursuing a career in entertainment and became a local TV weather reporter in San Diego. She then became an international superstar when posing for Playboy in 1979.
After her breakthrough, Raquel appeared in The Last of Sheila, The Three Musketeers, and the comedy series Seinfeld. She is also known for her recurring role as Aunt Vesta in the classic Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, starred by Melissa Joan Hart.
Her most recent appearances in series and movies include a feature in a sitcom titled Date My Dad from 2017 and in the film How to Be a Latin Lover from the same year.