After a prolonged hiatus, she released the album Marinero de Luces, composed by José Luis Perales, that sold one million copies in Spain.

In 1990, Pantoja starred in the film Yo soy ésa, alongside José Coronado and Loles León, directed by Luis Sanz.

A year later, she starred in another film, El día que nací yo, directed by Pedro Olea, alongside Arturo Fernández and Joaquim de Almeida.

Her husband, the bullfighter Francisco Rivera Pérez, known professionally as "Paquirri", died at the age of 36 in the bullring on September 26, 1984, at the horns of the bull Avispado in Pozoblanco, Córdoba.

[1] However, on 3 November 2014, in a turn of events, the jury in Málaga denied Pantoja’s plea and the proposed payment plan, instead sentencing her to be incarcerated immediately, or within three days of the verdict being announced.

[2][3] The trial, and Pantoja's subsequent imprisonment, were widely covered by Spanish and Latin American media, becoming huge international news.