Shakira split from Gerard Piqué in 2022 after 11 years and two kids together. Two years later she said the freedom felt better than the marriage ever did.
Shakira was with Piqué for more than a decade and shares two sons with the former Spanish defender, who played in three World Cups for Spain during their years together.
The full-circle part is that the World Cup is why they met at all. Piqué turned up on the 2010 “Waka Waka” video shoot in South Africa and texted her about the weather. By the time Spain lifted the trophy that summer, they were together.
She’s spent the years since building a life that doesn’t hinge on a partner. She has said she put her own career on hold to be present while he played — the same split that later produced the jam-jar lore and the biggest Latin diss tracks of the decade.
This month the reversal was complete. She recorded the official 2026 anthem and headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show in New Jersey, co-billed with Madonna, BTS and Bieber. She performed “Dai Dai” with Burna Boy in a crystal-covered Roberto Cavalli bodysuit reportedly worth six figures.
Piqué watched the final from the stands with their sons, Milan and Sasha. Clips that circulated afterward caught the boys singing along and cheering through her set while their father sat comparatively still — the ex in the stands with the cheering kids.
Spain won 1-0 in extra time, Ferran Torres scoring the winner, and Shakira joined the on-pitch celebrations.
Her 2024 comments read differently now. “Now I’m husbandless,” she said on “The Tonight Show.” “Yeah, the husband was dragging me down. Now I’m free. Now I can actually work.” She told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that losing the marriage lifted something that had been holding her creativity back, and that she suddenly felt compulsive about writing again.
Fans keep their own scoreboard: four World Cup performances for her, three appearances for him — she’s the one closing tournaments on the world’s biggest stage while insisting the good friends matter more than the partner.
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Source: Thoughtcatalog.com
