All About Charo's Son Shel Rasten

The TV personality has one son, Shel Rasten

Charo is known for her larger than life personality, but she tends to keep her family life private.

The star and her second husband Kjell Rasten, who died in 2019, welcomed their son Shel Rasten in 1981.

Rasten, who has previously worked as an actor and is now a musician, also keeps his family and personal life under wraps, but has shared a bit about what it’s like to have the Spanish actress as his mother.

“She’s the best mom I can imagine, she’s my mom,” he shared on an episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now? in 2014. “She is what she is. She’s honest and fierce, and very protective, and supportive to an incredible extent.”

He added, “So I couldn’t imagine being more fortunate than having this mother here as my mother.”

Here’s everything to know about Charo’s son Shel Rasten.

He was raised in Hawaii

Rasten was born in 1981 to parents Charo and Kjell Rasten. In 1985, the couple visited Hawaii and soon after relocated to the north shore of Kauai to raise their son. He shared on his website that he grew up “swimming and fishing in the waters of the Pali Coast.”

“I wanted our son to grow up in a healthy and beautiful environment. I just closed my eyes to some good offers in show business. I love show business, but my family is my priority,” Charo wrote on her website.

Charo embarrassed him in high school

Rasten and his family moved from Kauai to Oahu, where he attended Punahou School in Honolulu. He says that Charo’s celebrity status didn’t stop her from being embarrassing from time to time when he was in high school.

“You are an incredibly good mother, you’re slightly embarrassing sometimes. Especially in high school,” he explained during their appearance on Oprah: Where Are They Now? in 2014.

Pointing at his dancing mother, he added “Could you imagine having this in high school?”

“I go ‘Goodbye, cuchi cuchi. Have a good day!’ in front of the children,” she added.

“My first day of high school, she dropped me off like this,” Rasten shared while gesturing to his mother. “And was like ‘Bye bye, chalito! Cuchi cuchi!’ and that was it, I was not cool for the next five or six years, but it all worked out.”

He has worked as an actor

Rasten moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California and pursue a degree in philosophy, but he later left college to write poetry and travel. After several years traveling away from Los Angeles, he returned to the city and began doing some acting work in television.

His credits include episodes of CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Anger Management, Workaholics and Parks and Recreation.

He is a musician and poet

Rasten is a musician, who has created his music “upon the archeology of both American and Spanish cultures with a deep island influence.”He has released songs on multiple music streaming platforms, including the 2023 single “I’ll Shine the Lights for You.”

In addition to writing and performing music, he also writes poetry, which has been shared to his Instagram and Substack, The Classic Path.

He was on Celebrity Wife Swap with his family

During a 2015 episode of Celebrity Wife Swap, where Charo switched homes with her former The Love Boat costar Jill Whelan, Rasten made a few appearances in the episode.

While Charo shook things up at Whelan’s house for her sister and two sons, Whelan moved into Charo’s home and adjusted to life with Kjell, Charo’s sister Carmencita and Shel. The Airplane! actress encouraged Shel and his family to focus on themselves outside of Charo’s career, and she also helped Shel with doing laundry at his apartment.

He wrote one of Charo’s songs

In a season 4 episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now?, Rasten revealed a few anecdotes about his mother, including how she “stole” a song he had written for Britney Spears.

“It’s a harsh subject. It was gonna be my means to make my fortune and be free of it all,” he explained, sharing that he was in the kitchen “theoretically” working on a song for the pop singer when his mom walked by and “stole it.”

“You can’t say no to that, you know what I mean? She’s like, ‘I like the tune,’ and I’m like yeah but it’s not for [you] and she’s like, ‘I will take it,’ ” he added.

Although things didn’t work out how Rasten initially planned for “Sexy Sexy,” Charo says things worked out in the end.

“So he didn’t discuss it, he give it to me and became a huge hit and he’s getting a lot of royalty because of ‘Sexy Sexy’ so don’t complain,” she shared.

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