Columbia musician, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll has described her divorce period as the darkest moment of her life.
According to Billboard, the successful Latin American singer announced the divorce from her estranged husband, Barcelona Defender, Gerard Piqué in June 2022.
Shakira met Piqué while she was promoting her 2010 World Cup anthem, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).”
The ‘Hips don’t lie” crooner had accused her estranged husband of cheating, which led to their separation.
Recounting the ordeal, Shakira said, “I feel like in this moment of my life, which is probably one of the most difficult, darkest hours of my life, music has brought light,” Shakira said in a new Elle cover story published on Wednesday (Sept. 21).
“I’ve remained quiet and just tried to process it all. Um, and yeah, it’s hard to talk about it, especially because I’m still going through it, and because I’m in the public eye and because our separation is not like a regular separation. And so it’s been tough not only for me, but also for my kids. Incredibly difficult.”
She continued, “I have paparazzi camping outside, in front of my house, 24/7. And there’s not a place where I can hide from them with my kids, except for my own house. You know, we can’t take a walk in the park like a regular family or go have an ice cream or do any activity without paparazzi following us.
“So it’s hard. And I’ve tried to conceal the situation in front of my kids. 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 added that she feels as though the whole thing is a “bad dream” she’ll eventually wake up from. “But no, it’s real. And what’s also real is the disappointment to see something as sacred and as special as I thought was the relationship I had with my kids’ father and see that turned into something vulgarized and cheapened by the media.
“And all of this while my dad has been in the ICU and I’ve been fighting on different fronts. Like I said, this is probably the darkest hour of my life. But then I think about all those women around the world who are going through hardship, who are going through a situation as bad as mine or as difficult as mine or worse.”
