Shakira Finally Speaks on Her Divorce with Gerard Pique

September 22, 2022September 26, 2022 Empire

It’s been three months since Shakira and Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué confirmed their split, and for the first time, she has opened about the dissolution of their relationship.

In her October 2022 Elle digital cover story, Shakira that she has purposely “remained quiet” since her split from Gerard because “It’s hard to talk about it, especially because I’m still going through it, and because I’m in the public eye and because our separation is not like a regular separation,” she said.

“And so it’s been tough not only for me, but also for my kids. Incredibly difficult”.

She continued, “I have paparazzi camping outside, in front of my house, 24/7. And there’s not a place where I can hide from them with my kids, except for my own house. You know, we can’t take a walk in the park like a regular family or go have an ice cream or do any activity without paparazzi following us. So it’s hard. And I’ve tried to conceal the situation in front of my kids. I try to do it and to protect them, because that’s my number one mission in life. But then they hear things in school from their friends or they come across some disagreeable, unpleasant news online, and it just affects them, you know?”

Shakira blamed her separation from Piqué on their ambitious careers, telling the magazine that after Milan and Sasha started school, the family had to decide whether to move to the US for her music career or stay in Barcelona, where the athlete plays.

“One of the two had to make that effort and that sacrifice. And I did it. I put my career in second gear, and I came to Spain to support him so he could play [soccer] and win titles. And it was a sacrifice of love,” she said.

She confessed that she felt she “had to support” Piqué’s dreams over her own.

“Once Milan started school, at the end of 2014, I knew that my constant travel and nomadic existence had to be put on the back burner and my career had to be put in second gear,” she said.

“I knew that when he started school, I had to settle down, plant roots in Barcelona and be there for him and for Gerard and then later on for Sasha as well.”

Shakira refused to share other factors behind the breakup, telling Elle it is too “raw and new.”

“Regardless of how things ended or how Gerard and I feel about each other as ex-partners, he is the father of my children,” she maintained.

Gerard and Shakira announced their split in a joint statement issued in June. They began dating in 2010 after they met on the set of Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” music video. They share two kids together, Milan, 9, and Sasha, 7.