Gloria Estefan Reveals Her Marriage Rule with Husband Emilio

Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan have an unbreakable bond.

After 46 years of marriage, Gloria is sharing the rule that keeps her romance with Emilio alive.

“All I can tell you is that respect is a big part of it,” Gloria, 67, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “Admiration. We both admire each other. Commitment, because I feel like people are so instantaneous now.”

Further reflecting, the “Conga” singer says their ability to “stick it out” through the tough times made them stronger.

“But I feel like a lot of people give up too quickly, and for us, everything we’ve gone through has just deepened the experience,” she says.

Gloria adds, “Every challenge, every tough moment, we’ve been there for each other, and we’ve been like an unbreakable wall, together. You need that. You need to have somebody in your corner, and you need to be in your partner’s corner. There’s always a balance.”

And most importantly, she and Emilio, 72 — whom she met at a jam session in 1975 — have “no egos” in their relationship.

“I want the best for him. He wants the best for me. There’s no competition,” she says of Emilio, who she’s continued to collaborate with after their Miami Sound Machine days.

Most recently, Gloria and Emilio, who’s a musician and producer, joined forces for her studio album Raíces (Spanish for “roots”).

A couple of years ago, Emilio presented Gloria with the song “Raíces” and she fell in love with it — but she didn’t have the bandwidth to make an album. Then, Emilio suggested he write it for her.

“He goes, ‘How about this? You trust me?’ I go, ‘Absolutely, I trust you,'” she recalls. “He started bringing me demos, and I started falling in love with the songs. And by the time that I went into the studio to record them, they were part of me.”

At the time, Gloria felt the urge to release an album in Spanish that celebrates her Cuban roots. This did just that.

“It’s a very personal love story. There’s a lot of love songs,” she says of the album. “In fact, Emilio said to me, ‘Oh, I wrote you a love song.’ I go, ‘Babe, you’re going to sing it?’ He goes, ‘No, you’re going to sing it for me.’ I go, ‘You wrote your own love song? I love that.'”

She adds, “Raíces reminds us that we all are where we came from, and those people that nurtured us and loved us will always be with us. Our culture is important to celebrate… It makes us who we are.”

Raíces is out now.