Colombian singer Shakira and FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué are ending their 11-year relationship, they announced in a joint statement Saturday.
KAMPALA | NOW THEN DIGITAL — Gerard Piqué, the Barcelona defender, and Columbian superstar Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll aka Shakira called off their relationship of more than a decade on Saturday.
- In a joint statement released Saturday, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll known by her stage name Shakira and Gerard Piqué, the defender of FC Barcelona, confirmed their breakup after 11 years of relationship.
- The couple, who had been living together on the outskirts of Barcelona for years, share two sons, Sasha and Milan Piqué Mebarak.
- Shakira, the 45-year-old crooner of Hips Don’t Lie, is one of the biggest names in the global music industry with more than 60 million albums sold.
- Spanish tax authorities accuse Shakira of defrauding them of 14,5 million euros ($15.5 million) on income earned from 2012 to 2014.
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In the music industry, Shakira, who is 45-years-old and sang Hips Don’t Lie, has made her name one of the biggest names and she has sold more than 60 million albums.
The 35-year-old Pique was a winning vision of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2012 European Championship in Kyiv for Spain, and he has won three Champions League titles with Barcelona since 2008.
Pique and Shakira share two sons namely: Sasha Piqué Mebarak and Milan Piqué Mebarak. They have lived together out on the outskirts of Barcelona for many years.
“We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the well-being of our children, who are our utmost priority, we request respect for (our) privacy,” they said in a statement.
“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 their privacy,” they said in the statement. “Thank you for your understanding.”
A career overview of Shakira
Known for her blend of Latin and Arabic rhythms and rock influences, Shakira is one of the biggest Latin American stars, scoring major global hits with songs like “Hips don’t lie” and “Whenever, Wherever”.
She and Jennifer Lopez performed at the Super Bowl championship final halftime show in Miami in 2020, which is typically one of the most-watched shows on US television.
Shakira accused of tax fraud
The separation announcement came just a week after Spanish court documents showed Shakira was getting closer to a tax fraud trial in Spain after a Barcelona court rejected her appeal.
Shakira is accused by Spanish prosecutors of defrauding the Spanish tax office out of 14.5 million euros ($15.5 million) earned between 2012 and 2014.
During the time that her relationship with Pique became public, she moved to Spain. However, she maintained her official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.
According to her defence lawyers, she moved fully to Spain in 2015 and that her tax management had always been impeccable in all the countries where she had to pay taxes.
Her lawyers maintain that she only moved to Spain full time in 2015 and that she “conducted herself with perfect integrity in all the countries she had to pay taxes in”.
In an interview with AFP in 2019, Shakira said that temporarily losing her voice two years earlier had been “the darkest moment of her life” and left her feeling “deeply hurt.”.
Later, she was able to recover her voice naturally without the need for surgery as prescribed by doctors, and she went on to perform a world tour in 2018.
