Early life and marriage

Martelly was born by Sophia Saint-Rémy on October 9, 1965, in New York City in the United States.^[1][3] Her father, Charles Edouard Saint-Rémy, was from Gonaïves, and her mother, Mona Lisa Florez, is from Port-au-Prince. The Saint-Rémy family is originally from Gonaïves, where Sophia Saint Rémy was raised.^[4][5] The Saint-Remys suffered under the dictatorship of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier; her grandmother was arrested and detained by Duvalier and two of her paternal relatives were executed during his dictatorship.^[5]

Saint-Rémy and her future husband, the singer and politician Michel Martelly, had been friends when they were children, but had lived separate lives as young adults.^[4] He migrated to the United States with his American first wife during the 1980s.^[6]

In 1986, Martelly divorced his first wife and returned to Haiti.^[6] Saint-Rémy and Martelly, who were childhood friends, reunited in 1987, shortly after he moved back to the country.^[4] When they tried to marry, both of their mothers objected based on their skin color: she has lighter skin, while he has a darker complexion.^[5] They ignored their parents' protests and, instead, moved together to Miami, Florida, later in 1987. where they married in a small 1987 wedding ceremony. He worked in construction, while she worked as a word processor. They returned to Haiti in 1988^[5] and had four children, Olivier, Alexandre, Yani and Michel.^[4]

Their early marriage was different from Martelly's onstage "Sweet Mickey" persona. He imposed a curfew on her and forbade her to chew gum as recently as the late-1990s. She is four years younger than her husband.^[5]

The couple lived in a condominium in Miami Beach, Florida, during the mid-1990s.^[5]