Girl Trouble: The True Saga of Superstar Gloria Trevi and the Secret Teenage Sex Cult That Stunned the World

How did a chart-topping superstar, whose beauty and artistry were sensational enough to make her both a pinup girl and a feminist icon, end up behind bars in a Brazilian prison, accused of helping to mastermind the kidnap, rape, and brainwashing of nearly a dozen teenage girls?

In a foreshadowing of today's American Idol instant-celebrity machine, international superstar Gloria Trevi and her producer-boyfriend Sergio Andrade started a first-of-its-kind talent school for young girls in search of their own chance at the big time.

Recruited from the most fervent fans at Gloria's sold-out concerts, teenagers from across Latin America began showing up at her house in Mexico City. Their numbers grew along with Gloria's fame, as hit record followed hit record and Gloria became one of Latin America's top TV and movie attractions. But after a fewyears, bizarre rumors slowly began to spread that the school was actually a front for a sex-slave operation, which tortured and brainwashed the very girls who, more than anything, wanted to be just like their idol, Gloria Trevi.

But how could this happen — and with the world watching? Was Gloria Trevi involved, or was she simply at the mercy of her brilliant manager? In the first-ever level-headed look at this scandalous story, award-winning journalist Christopher McDougall recounts how Gloria Trevi went from obscurity to world fame to eluding authorities for two years, before her final discovery and capture in Brazil.

In what is considered the oddest twist to an already convoluted tale, Trevi found herself mysteriously pregnant in prison, prompting allegations by Brazilian authorities of an impregnation scheme involving Trevi and anotorious Brazilian gangster. Only later would the shocking truth of the baby's paternity emerge. Gloria has since been extradited to her native Mexico, where she is currently awaiting what is sure to be that country's trial of the century.

Through exclusive behind-bars interviews with both Trevi and Andrade, as well as with the girls who have slowly come forward with their accusations, McDougall reveals the stranger-than-fiction twists in this remarkable tale and offers readers an insider's look at Sergio Andrade's peculiar personal history and how a super-star's celebrity power can control a young girl's mind.

This tawdry true-life tale, as featured in "The New York Times Magazine" and "Dateline" dares to tell the scandalous story of the rise and fall of Mexico's biggest superstar, Gloria Trevi.

Gloria Trevi, Mexico's most popular singer in the 1990s, stunned fans and the world when revelations surfaced that the talent school she and her boyfriend, producer Sergio Andrade, operated was a front for a sex-slave operation.

Trevi eluded authorities for two years before being apprehended and jailed in Brazil, where she then became pregnant and blamed a guard for raping her. An extradition struggle ensued, with the Mexican government demanding her return and Brazil denying the request — on the grounds that the parent of a Brazilian-born child cannot be extradited. The shocking truth of the baby's paternity is only one twist in this stranger-than-fiction tale.

In Girl Trouble, Christopher McDougall recounts the complete story of how Trevi rose to fame and then notoriety. With exclusive interviews with Trevi, Andrade, and many of the victims, he offers readers an inside look at this scandal that continues to astound a decade later.

Christopher McDougall writes regularly for Esquire, Men's Health, and Bicycling magazines, and first covered the Gloria Trevi saga for the New York Times Magazine in 2002. He won the Clarion Award in 2002 and became fluent in Spanish and Portuguese as an overseas correspondent for the Associated Press, spending months in Africa reporting on the massacres in Rwanda and frontline fighting in Angola. His articles have also been featured in GQ, Men's Journal, and Inc. magazines.