<![CDATA[Gloria Estefan Candidly Reflects On How Her Mom's Death Impacted Her Music

Gloria Estefan isn't shying away from addressing a feeling so many people across the world are experiencing: grief.

During the Wednesday, Nov. 25 episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans, the iconic Cuban-American singer is joined by her sister, Rebecca Fajardo-Cabrera, niece, Lili Estefan, and daughter, Emily, to discuss what it's like to lose a loved one. Throughout the episode, they specifically recall saying goodbye to Gloria and Lili's mothers as Rebecca also opens up about suffering a miscarriage in her 40s.

"This Red Table Talk is dedicated to healing and finding strength," Gloria says. "Right now, I know millions of you are grieving the unbearable loss of a loved one, the heartbreaking end of a relationship, your home, your sense of safety."

In the exclusive clip below, Gloria shares that following the 2017 death of her mother, Gloria Fajardo, it was nearly impossible for her to return to music. "I couldn't record my album for over a year because mom was the powerful force, that little lady, she continues to be," Gloria says. Lili recalled that time too, telling Gloria, "It was very hard to cope. I've always seen you as strong. She can do anything, this woman, and for the first time she was like, ‘I can't sing.'"

Reflecting on Gloria's late mother, the woman who Emily considers "literally my best friend," Gloria also shared advice for anyone struggling. "Listen, everybody, open yourself up to the messages that your loved ones are giving you constantly," she says. "I believe, firmly, that there's a million ways and it's always gonna be in a way that only you would know and only you would recognize. They have gotten us through the toughest moments of our lives even when they've been gone."

Elsewhere in the episode, the group discuss just how stubborn Gloria's mother was in certain moments. "I knew that she couldn't help it sometimes," she says, "and one day she came close to an apology by saying to me, in a rage, because you know she'd be enraged in a split second, she said to me, ‘I don't know why I do these things. I don't know why I can't control myself or say what I'm feeling.' And I took it as an apology."

Ultimately, it's the memory of the strong, powerful matriarch they grew up with that brings Gloria joy. "Mom was such a huge presence," she says. "She sang beautifully, she was gorgeous, she looked like Liz Taylor. No matter what she was doing, she was dressed and made up to the nines."

Red Table Talk: The Estefans airs every Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET on Facebook Watch.