Shakira confirms split with soccer star Gerard Pique after 12 years: ‘We ask that you respect our privacy’

Singer Shakira and her partner, soccer player Gerard Pique, have parted ways after 12 years of relationship, the former couple said in a statement released on Saturday. “We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect our privacy. Thank you for your understanding,” read the statement released by Shakira’s public relations firm as reported by news agency Reuters. (Also Read | Nora Fatehi turns desi Shakira in Guru Randhawa’s new song Dance Meri Rani, fan says ‘shouldn’t have copied’ her. Watch)

Shakira met the Barcelona defender while she was promoting her 2010 World Cup anthem, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa). Shakira and Gerard have been together since 2011 and have two children–Sasha and Milan.

With her mix of Latin and Arabic rhythms and rock influence, three-time Grammy winner Shakira is one of the biggest stars from Latin America, scoring major global hits with songs such as Hips don’t Lie and Whenever, Wherever. In 2020, she performed with Jennifer Lopez at the halftime show of the NFL’s Super Bowl championship final in Miami.

The couple announced their separation just over a week after Spanish court documents inched Shakira closer to standing trial in Spain for tax fraud after a Barcelona court dismissed an appeal from the singer. Spanish prosecutors accuse her of defrauding the Spanish tax office out of 14.5 million euros ($15.5 million) on income earned between 2012 and 2014. They say she moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with Gerard became public but maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.

Her defence lawyers say she moved to Spain full time only in 2015 and insist that her “conduct on tax matters has always been impeccable in all the countries she had to pay taxes”. In an interview with AFP in 2019, Shakira said temporarily losing her voice two years earlier had been “the darkest moment of her life” and affected her “deeply”. She later recovered her voice naturally, without needing to undergo surgery as recommended by doctors and subsequently carried out a world tour in 2018.