‘Darkest Hour of My Life’: Shakira Breaks Silence on Split From Gerard Piqué

It’s been three months since Shakira and Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué confirmed their split, and the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer opened about the dissolution of their relationship for the first time.

“I feel like in this moment of my life, which is probably one of the most difficult, darkest hours of my life, music has brought light,” Shakira said in a new Elle cover story published on Wednesday (Sept. 21). “I’ve remained quiet and just tried to process it all. Um, and yeah, 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. 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 added that she feels as though the whole thing is a “bad dream” she’ll eventually wake up from. “But no, it’s real. And what’s also real is the disappointment to see something as sacred and as special as I thought was the relationship I had with my kids’ father and see that turned into something vulgarized and cheapened by the media,” she told the publication. “And all of this while my dad has been in the ICU and I’ve been fighting on different fronts. Like I said, this is probably the darkest hour of my life. But then I think about all those women around the world who are going through hardship, who are going through a situation as bad as mine or as difficult as mine or worse.”

She also shared that in 2014, after the former couple’s first son Milan had gotten a little older, she knew she had to stop touring. “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 [their second son] Sasha as well,” she explained. “As a soccer player, he wanted to play football and to win titles and I had to support him. I mean, one of the two of us had to make a sacrifice, right? Either he would stop his contract with Barcelona and move to the U.S. with me, where my career is, or I would have to do that instead.”

Shakira met the Barcelona defender while she was promoting her 2010 World Cup anthem, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).”

Billboard

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