Shakira and footballer Gerard Pique announce separation
Shakira, 45, met the Barcelona defender while she was promoting her 2010 World Cup anthem, “Waka Waka”. The couple shares two sons.
"We regret to confirm that we are separating..." the couple said in a statement.
Colombian superstar Shakira and FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique have announced they were calling time on their relationship of more than a decade.
“We regret to confirm that we are separating,” the two said in a statement released by Shakira’s public relations firm on Saturday.
“For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect our privacy. Thank you for your understanding.”
The couple shares two sons and had been living together for years on the outskirts of Barcelona.
In recent days, rumours of the demise of the couple’s 11-year relationship had gripped Spanish media, fueled by media reports that Pique, 35, had left the family’s home in Barcelona and was living by himself in the city.
The 45-year-old "Hips don't Lie" songstress is one of the biggest names in the global music industry and has sold more than 60 million albums.
Spanish football hero Pique, 35, won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship, and is a three-time Champions League winner with Barcelona.
Colombian singer Shakira with her kids at the airport in Beirut, Lebanon July 12,2018.
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, typically one of the most-watched half-hours in US television.
Colombian singer Shakira photographed during the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2022.
Tax fraud
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 Pique 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".
READ MORE: Spanish court rejects Shakira's appeal in tax fraud case
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