Telling her side! Shakira seemingly addressed her ex Gerard Piqué‘s high-profile cheating rumors while discussing the “seismic change” in her life throughout the past year.
“I’ve felt more than ever and very personally what it is to be a women. And what it means,” the “She Wolf” songstress, 46, shared with fans while accepting the Woman of the Year Award at the Billboard Latin Women in Music Gala on Saturday, May 6. “It’s been a year where I’ve realized we women are stronger than we think, braver than we believed, more independent than we were taught to be.”
The Colombia native questioned the audience, asking, “Because what woman hasn’t at some time in her life forgotten herself because she’s seeking the attention and love of someone else?” She admitted that it’s happened to her “more than once.”
Shakira continued,” But there comes a time in the life of every woman where she no longer depends on someone else to love and accept herself just as she is. A time when the search for someone else is replaced by the search for oneself. A time when the desire to be perfect is replaced by the desire to be authentic, and where finding someone who is faithful is less important than being faithful to ourselves.”
Fans have speculated that her quotes about being faithful are, in part, a shot at Gerard, 36. Months prior to the eventual breakup, it was widely reported by Spanish media that the footballer had been cheating, which she seemingly hinted at in the lyrics of her “Te Felicito” song, which was released in April 2022. Gerard appeared to indirectly address the rumors in various March 2023 interviews.
“We each make the decisions that we think are best,” he told the El món a Rac1 radio show at the time. “I think that in the end the only thing that matters is that my children are fine.”
The former couple announced their split in June of that same year after 12 years and two kids together.
“We regret to confirm that we are separating,” the singer and sports star shared in a joint statement at the time. “For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we request respect for (our) privacy. Thank you for your understanding.”
Shortly thereafter, Gerard went public with girlfriend Clara Chia Marti, whom he was first romantically linked to in August 2022.
Shakira, for her part, revealed she had been going through her “her darkest hour” following the split, while speaking with Elle in September 2022.
“I’ve remained quiet and just tried to process it all,” she said of the breakup. “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.”
However, the “Hips Don’t Lie” musician has taken to music as a way to cope, dropping hints about what went wrong with Gerard in song.
“The most important lessons I learned from other women, and for them I wrote what I wrote and I sang what I sang,” she shared during her Billboard Latin Women in Music speech on Saturday. “Because only a woman can love until she’s ripped apart; can speak with the most brutal honesty; can sing with anger; dance in ecstasy and be brought to tears with emotion. Only a woman can do that.”
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