Emma Coronel, wife of El Chapo, returns to the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week after prison stint

Emma Coronel Aispuro - the wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquín ' El Chapo ' Guzmán Loera - has made a shock return to the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week.

The former beauty queen, 35, who married the ruthless czar when she was just a teenager, donned a dramatic wedding dress as she continued her efforts to revamp her image from her cartel days.

Coronel was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2021 after pleading guilty to three counts of helping her husband's Mexico-based Sinaloa drug cartel, including conspiracy to launder money and distribute illegal drugs and engaging in financial dealings.

She was released on September 13, 2023 - but her kingpin husband continues to serve a life-plus-30-years sentence in Colorado 's federal Supermax prison.

On Sunday, she re-entered the modelling world in a dramatic wedding dress by fashion designer April Black Diamond.

The stunning ensemble boasted a glitzy crown and lavish silver jewellery, with an off-the-shoulder cut.

Coronel, who is newly back on social media following her release from jail, documented the day online, excitedly filming herself in the chair for hair and make-up.

She wrote on Instagram: 'I am a true believer that dreams do come true when you work hard and with your heart!'

However her comments sparked outrage on social media, with one writing: 'It's disgusting that they give space to women and participants in crimes perpetrated by her husband and the entire cartel of which she is a part.'

Her debut took place at the Milan Fashion Week 2024 at the Palazzo Serbelloni, a Neoclassical palace where Napoleon once lived.

Coronel was the star of the Spring/Summer showcase, modelling the April Black Diamonds collection, described as a 'stunning high-end collection that perfectly blends luxury, elegance, and boldness'.

LA-based designer April wrote on Instagram that she chose Coronel to be her lead model 'despite a past marked by controversy'.

She said: 'You are a vision in ou are unique, one of one!!!!'

She added: 'As a designer, I believe everyone deserves a second chance, and fashion is the perfect platform to highlight transformation, strength, and resilience.

'That's why I made the bold decision to hire an extraordinary woman as my main model, a woman who, despite a past marked by controversy, has chosen to rewrite her future.

'She is not just a model for our dresses, she is an example of strength, courage, and hope.

'Her journey from a troubled past to a promising future embodies the message I want to convey with this collection: it is never too late to change your life, and every woman deserves the chance to walk with pride and confidence, no matter where she comes from.'

Coronel Aispuro became a beauty queen at age 17 when she won the 2007 Coffee and Guava Festival beauty pageant in Canelas, Mexico.

She first met the kingpin when he asked her for a dance at a Mexico party when she was 17.

'He flirtatiously smiled at me. After a while a person told me, "The man asks if you want to dance with him". And I said, "OK." she told the LA Times in a rare interview.

They enjoyed a whirlwind romance and Coronel Aispuro became his third wife when they married as she turned 18.

El Chapo is 32 years her senior and their two daughters Emaly and Maria Joaquina are the youngest of the 19 children he is said to have fathered.

After spending two and a half years in prison, Coronel has decided to live her life to the fullest.

She was arrested in February 2021, accused of being her husband's accomplice by US authorities, and had attended his trial in New York.

The partner of Mexico 's most-wanted drug lord, she has since attempted to undergo a rebrand from her cartel image.

She set up a new Instagram account following her release from jail, after completing 31 months of her 36-month sentence.

Just days after her release, she was spotted hitting up a club in LA on a Friday night.

Earlier this month, Coronel appeared in a music video featuring several plunging outfits - in another attempt to rebrand her cartel image.

She was front and center in the MTV-style music video for a song called 'La Señora' that tells her life story.

Guzman was extradited from Mexico to the United States in 2017 and sentenced in July 2019.

He will spend the rest of his life in the infamous ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, widely-regarded as the world's most secure lock-up.

During her trial, prosecutors and her defense lawyers said Coronel was not involved in the core business of Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel, which shipped hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs into the United States.

'The defendant's actual role was a minimal one,' prosecutor Anthony Nardozzi said.

'The defendant was not a leader, organizer, boss or other type of manager,' Nardozzi said. 'Rather she was a cog in a very large wheel of a criminal organization.'

Coronel, who helped facilitate Guzman's spectacular 2015 escape from a Mexican prison, regularly attended her husband's trial in New York.

A dual US-Mexican citizen, Coronel was able to move in and out of the United States freely until she was arrested at Dulles International Airport outside Washington in February 2021.

Coronel ultimately pleaded guilty to multiple federal drug charges.

They included conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

She previously begged for forgiveness during her sentencing, according to Telemundo.

The mother vowed she would teach her daughters right from wrong, saying: 'I beg you to not allow them to grow up without the presence of a mother.'

She admitted to helping him move at least 450 kilograms of cocaine, 90 kilograms of heroin and nearly 90,000 kilograms of marijuana into the US over several years.

She also helped her husband escape from a high-security Mexican prison in 2015.

Guzmán, who was then the head of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, was captured and returned to prison, before his wife again plotted his escape in 2017.

He was convicted in the US of engaging in a continual criminal enterprise and other counts of distributing tons of cocaine in 2019.

The infamous drug cartel boss is serving a life sentence in prison, plus 30 years for the charges. He has since tried to appeal the conviction.

Coronel was moved from a federal prison in Texas, to a halfway house in Long Beach, California, ahead of her release.

She married El Chapo in 2007, on her 18th birthday, and the pair have been in a relationship ever since.

After his extradition to the US she showed unwavering support for him, telling the New York Times in 2019 that 'didn't know her husband as the person they are trying to show him as.'

She added: 'But rather I admire him as the human being that I met, and the one that I married.'

Coronel was a fixture at her husband's trial and was regularly surrounded by television cameras and publicity handlers.

She is now on supervised release for the next four years.