Shakira in 2024: “It’s Good Not to Have a Husband Because I Don’t Know Why It Was Dragging Me Down. I May Not Grow Old With a Partner, But I Will Grow Old Surrounded by Good Friends.”

Shakira in 2024: “It’s Good Not to Have a Husband Because I Don’t Know Why It Was Dragging Me Down. I May Not Grow Old With a Partner, But I Will Grow Old Surrounded by Good Friends.”

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BRYAN R. SMITH / AFP via Getty Images

By

Nadia Santiago

Shakira split from Gerard Piqué in 2022 after 11 years and two children together. After two years, he said that freedom felt better than marriage.

Shakira was with Piqué for more than a decade and shares two sons with the former Spain defender, who played in three World Cups for Spain during their years together.

The full part is that the World Cup is why they met at all. Piqué appeared in the 2010 “Waka Waka” video in South Africa and sent him a message about the weather. When Spain lifted the trophy that summer, they were together.

He has spent years since building a life independent of partners. He said he put his own career on hold to be there when he played — the same breakup that later produced jam-jar lore and the biggest Latin tracks of the decade.

This month the conversion is complete. He recorded the official song for 2026 and headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show in New Jersey, joined by Madonna, BTS and Bieber. She performed “Dai Dai” with Burna Boy in a crystal-encrusted Roberto Cavalli dress that reportedly cost six figures.

A woman with long wavy hair blowing behind her, smiling widely, wearing a pink and yellow rhinestone costume while performing on stage.
Hair flying down the middle, Shakira lights up the stage during the Tops Final Halftime Final show of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19, 2026. Photo by Lars Baron / Getty Images.
A woman in a pink and yellow feathered costume holding a pink microphone, laughing playfully with her hair flowing behind her.
At New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026, Shakira holds a pink microphone and faces the crowd during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Topps Final Halftime Show. Photo by Kevin Kane/Getty Images.

Piqué watched the final match sitting with their sons, Milan and Sasha. Clips that went viral later captured the boys singing along to her and enjoying her set while her father—who had been sitting at home with the happy children—sat in equal measure.

A smiling young woman with long wavy hair is sitting in the passenger seat of a truck next to a man at the steering wheel, green fields are visible through the windows.
A young Shakira rides in a truck with her then-boyfriend Antonio De La Rúa near Punta del Este, Uruguay, in September 2000, as they sit down to record new music. Photo by Oscar Bernasconi / AFP via Getty Images.

Spain won 1-0 in extra time, Ferran Torres scored the winner, and Shakira joined the celebrations on the pitch.

Shakira wearing sunglasses and a black dress carried a Burberry jacket as she left court in Barcelona, ​​escorted by two men.
Shakira leaves the court in Barcelona on December 1, 2022, protected by security forces after attending proceedings to confirm her separation from Gerard Piqué and finalize the custody of their two children. Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP via Getty Images.

His 2024 comments read differently now. “Now I don’t have a husband,” she said on “The Tonight Show.” “Yes, my husband was pulling me down, now I am free, now I can work.” He told Zane Lowe of Apple Music that losing his marriage lifted something that had been holding his creativity back, and that he suddenly felt compelled to write again.

The fans keep their own scoreboard: four World Cup appearances for him, three appearances for him — he closes out tournaments on the world’s biggest stage while insisting that good friends are more important than teammates.

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