Shakira Announces She’s Leaving Barcelona With Kids Following Gerard Pique Split: Ready to ‘Start a New Chapter’
Getting a fresh start. Shakira announced that she is moving away from Barcelona with her and ex Gerard Piqué’s two sons following her split from the soccer player.
“I settled in Barcelona to give my children a stability, the same we are now looking for in another corner of the world next to family, friends and the sea,” Shakira, 46, captioned a picture of the famous city in Spanish via Instagram on Sunday, April 2. “Today we start a new chapter in the pursuit of their happiness. Thank you to everyone who surfed alongside my many waves there in Barcelona, the city where I learned that friendship is certainly longer than love.”
The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer continued: “Thank you to everyone who has been there to cheer me up, dried my tears, inspired me and made me grow. Thank you to my Spanish audience who have always wrapped me in their love and loyalty. Para ustedes solo un hasta luego y como decía tantas veces mi padre, nos vemos en las curvas!”
The former couple first met on the set of Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” music video in 2010 and announced their relationship the following year. They later welcomed son Milan, 10, in 2013, and son Sasha, 8, in 2015. After 12 years together, the two announced that they were parting ways in June 2022. Earlier that month, the pair made headlines after Shakira allegedly caught Piqué having an affair, though neither addressed the reports.
“We regret to confirm that we are separating,” the Grammy winner and the FC Andorra owner, 36, said in a joint statement to Reuters at the time. “For the wellbeing of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect their privacy.”
The “She Wolf” singer broke her silence on the breakup in a September 2022 interview with Elle, noting that the split has also been “incredibly difficult” for her and Piqué’s kids. “I’ve tried to conceal the situation in front of my kids,” she stated. “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 and Piqué signed a custody agreement regarding their sons in November 2022. Though details about the agreement were not revealed, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that “Shakira and their sons will be moving to Miami.”
The retired athlete has since found love with his girlfriend Clara Chia, as they made their relationship Instagram official in January after first being spotted together in August 2022. “The truth is I go with my girlfriend to the shops and she buys them for me,” he told the Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos in February about the 24-year-old buying him new clothes. “I’m a puppet.”
The following month, Piqué noted that he’s been “very happy” following his and Shakira’s breakup. “I keep doing what I want,” he said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais. “The day I die, I will look back and hope I have always done what I wanted. I want to be faithful to myself.”
He continued: “I’m not going to spend money cleaning up my image. There have been changes in my life and I have known how to preserve happiness.”
Shakira, for her part, has seemingly referred to her breakup in songs such as “Monontonia” and “BZRP Music Session #53,” as well as through cryptic social media posts. The day after Piqué and Chia’s relationship went public, the “Whenever, Wherever” singer posted a video of herself dancing along to one of her songs on January 26, captioned in Spanish, “Women don’t cry anymore, women dance merengue.”
Earlier that month, she celebrated the new year by sharing an empowering message via Instagram. “Although our wounds continue to be open in this new year, time has surgeon's hands. Even if someone has betrayed us, we have to keep trusting,” Shakira wrote in Spanish at the time. “In the face of contempt, keep valuing yourself. Porque hay más gente buena que indecente. More empathetic people than indolent people. There are fewer who leave and more who stay by our side. Our tears are not a waste, they water the soil where the future will be born and make us more human, so in the midst of heartbreak we can continue to love. Shak.”