In a recent interview with People en Español, Shakira opened up about not having her father by her side during her public breakup with Gerard Piqué. The former couple announced the split in June 2022, which was around the same time her father, William Mebarak Chadid, was hospitalized following a horrific fall.
She explained how her father was visiting Barcelona to console her during her breakup when he was ‘gravely injured in an accident’ while attending her eldest son’s first communion. William, who Shakira describes as her ‘best friend,’ was sent to the ICU and Shakira was left to deal with the breakup alone.
“My home was falling apart. I was finding out through the press that I had been betrayed while my dad was in the ICU,” she recalled. “The man I have loved the most in my life, my father, was leaving me when I needed him the most. I couldn’t talk to him, or go to my best friend for the advice I needed so much.”
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Shakira proceeds to praise her father as a ‘wonderful man’ and is amazed at his incredible strength as he continues down the road to recovery – which she describes as a ‘very hard and slow’ process. She also praised her mother, Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, for staying by his side through thick and thin.
“He has overcome COVID once, two accidents, one pneumonia and five surgeries— all of this at 91 years of age, in less than six months. My dad is the biggest example of resilience, and my mother has been by his side day and night,” she said – acknowledging that it resembles the love she was recently robbed of.
While William and Nidia are a ‘reflection of that dream that didn’t come true’ for Shakira, she hopes they set a good example to her two children – Milan, 9, and Sasha, 7 – and teach them what true love looks like, how to practice patience in a relationship, and how to display an ‘absolute devotion and zest for life.’
Shakira and Gerard started dating in 2011 following her divorce from Antonio de la Rúa. They were together for 11 years before announcing their separation in June 2022 after learning he was unfaithful in the relationship. They welcomed their first son, Milan, in 2013 and their second son, Sasha, in 2015.
Shakira Looking Forward to Releasing New Music
In her interview with People en Español, Shakira discussed her excitement to release new music in the future – yes, it’ll be dedicated to her recent breakup and the many emotions she has felt in the past year. While she doesn’t feel a need to justify or explain herself, she hopes to understand and tolerate herself.
“I have gone through denial, rage, pain, acceptance, grief, hope, deception, hope again, excitement. So many emotions and feelings that at times seem mixed, that didn’t seem to be able to coexist inside of me, that I have been able to untangle only through my songs, to understand myself better,” she told the outlet.
We’ve already gotten a taste of what that music might sound like when she released ‘BZRP Music Session #53’ with Bizarrap (an Argentine producer) just a few months after the split. In one lyric, she calls Pique’s new girlfriend her replacement and referenced the fact that she’s almost half Shakira’s age.
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Shakira hasn’t released an album since 2017 – when she released El Dorado. The album was followed by the El Dorado World Tour in 2018. Two years later, she performed at the Super Bowl with Jennifer Lopez in 2020. She has already announced a twelfth studio album and it’s set to be quite a tell-all album for her.
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