(CNN Spanish) — Together they formed one of the most famous couples in the world, but after more than 12 years of relationship and two children in common, the Colombian singer Shakira and the Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué announced their separation at the beginning of June of this 2022.
They confirmed it through a statement in which they asked for “respect for our privacy” for the “well-being” of their children, after the constant rumors that circulated for days about a possible break between the singer of “Hips Don’t Lie”, 45 years old, and the FC Barcelona defender, 35.
Almost four months after the media break, Shakira broke the silence and spoke publicly about her separation from Piqué in an interview with ELLE magazine in Spain, in which she highlighted the mistreatment of information that, according to her, has been carried out by the press on the subject. “I have paparazzi camping in front of my house, 24/7. And there is no place where I can hide from them with my children, except in my own house,” said the Colombian singer.
Here, a look at the history of this famous couple:
The soccer World Cup that united them
Shakira and Piqué met in 2010, months before the World Cup in South Africa, where she was the interpreter of “Waka Waka”, the official song of the World Cup that year, and he was one of the star players of the Spanish team. .
Although Piqué appeared in the song’s music video, it was not during the recordings that they were seen for the first time since, according to the singer herself in an interview in El Hormiguero, she filmed from Los Angeles and he from Spain.
It was in Madrid where they met for the first time. Shakira was in the Spanish capital to perform at the Rock in Rio festival. “I was going to sing at Rock in Rio and then I was going to South Africa and he was also about to go to South Africa. And well, it was the first time we met “said the singer.
Piqué told the Catalan newspaper The Sport in 2020 that he met Shakira in Madrid, before going to South Africa: “The first day I told her that we would meet in the final; I am always brave. She sang the World Cup anthem at the ceremony and I took it for granted that we would play that match And we got to the World Cup and we started by losing the first game. But hey, in the end we won.”
Several months later, in March 2011, the Colombian singer made their relationship official through her Twitter account, in which she published for the first time a photo in which she posed next to her boyfriend Piqué. “I introduced them to my sun”, the tweet said.
Four years later, in the midst of the preparations for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Shakira released the song “Dare (La, La, La)”, another World Cup hit in whose video the soccer player appears.
In the song “23”, from 2017, Shakira sings: “A couple of years ago I was alone, I used to think there was no God, but then you looked at me with your blue eyes.s”. Piqué, with blue eyes, was 23 years old when he met Shakira.
Perhaps the most famous mention of Piqué in Shakira’s music is in “La Bicicleta”, a Latin American hit in which the singer collaborates with Carlos Vives. The barranquillera says: “Listen to me Carlos, take me on your bike. That if one day you show Piqué the Tayrona, then he will not want to go to Barcelona“.
How many children do Shakira and Piqué have?
After a year of officially starting their courtship, the couple celebrated the arrival of their first child. Milan, who is currently 9 years old, was born in Barcelona in January 2013, according to a statement on the Colombian singer’s website.
Milan was born on January 22 of that year in a hospital in Barcelona, Spain. The name chosen by his famous parents means dear, gracious and loving in Slavic.
The Colombian, who along with Piqué has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), took advantage of the curiosity of many to meet the newborn to promote her campaign to help underprivileged children at that time.
Shakira confirmed her second pregnancy a year and a half later, in August 2014, to the Mexican edition of the magazine Cosmopolitan. On January 29, 2015, Sasha, her second child, was also born in Barcelona.
The separation
In 2017, the couple had silenced rumors of their separation: in September of that year, the defender published a photo of his partner and their two children on an Instagram Story with the message “Sunday. Family time.”
In March 2022, after FC Barcelona’s win over Real Madrid in the Spanish soccer classic, Shakira published a spicy publication on her social networks. Until that moment everything seemed to work well in the couple.
But after a few days of intense rumors in the entertainment press about an alleged infidelity on the part of the FC Barcelona footballer, Shakira and Piqué finally announced their separation after 12 years of relationship.
“We are sorry to confirm that we have parted ways. For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we request respect for (our) privacy. Thank you for your understanding,” the joint statement said.
Since then, both Shakira and Piqué have tried to reach an agreement and thus avoid going to trial for the custody of their two children.
The last few months have been difficult for the Colombian singer, who spoke publicly for the first time almost four months after announcing her separation from the soccer player in an interview with ELLE magazine in Spain, in which she said that this is “the darkest stage of my life”.
And it is that to the media rupture is added the case for alleged tax fraud that he faces against the Spanish justice, the health problems of his father (one of his greatest emotional supports) and the hard time that his children are experiencing due to the separation of Pique.
“It’s been hard not only for me, but for my kids as well. Unbelievably hard. I have paparazi camped out in front of my house, 24/7. And there’s nowhere I can hide from them with my kids, except in my own house. You know, we can’t take a walk in the park like a normal family or go for ice cream or do any activity without the photographers following us,” Shakira told ELLE Spain.
Without giving details of why they ended, Shakira also said that, regardless of how things turned out with him, Piqué would continue to be the father of his children and that they will look for the best for them in the matter of custody.
But Shakira’s artistic creation has not stopped and in the months after their separation, the Colombian has released three hit songs in which she talks about her breakup with Piqué. The first was her together with Rauw Alejandro, Te Felicito, which she launched in August 2022; months later she, together with the urban singer Ozuna, published Monotonía, a bachata in which she said she talks about the couple’s day-to-day problems; and in January 2023, together with the Argentine producer Bizarrap, she launched Session No. 53, in which she rains references and criticisms of the former soccer player.
