Shakira Thanked Piqué in a New Interview and It Sounds Like She Has Finally Healed

Nearly four years after one of the most public breakups in recent memory, Shakira is still being asked about Gerard Piqué, and for the first time in a long while her answer sounds less like a wound and more like something that has healed into something useful. In a new interview with the British newspaper The Times, the Colombian artist offered an unexpected expression of gratitude toward her former partner, describing the experience of their separation as the darkest period of her life while also crediting it with making her a stronger and wiser person.

The interview comes at a natural pause in an extraordinary stretch of activity. Shakira recently wrapped the Latin American leg of her world tour “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” and is preparing to launch the United States portion in June, with stops in California, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts and New York, before performing at the World Cup final in New Jersey on July 19th.

Gratitude Where There Was Once Pain

Shakira told The Times that she will always hold gratitude in her heart for the father of her children, crediting him with helping shape her into the mother she has become. Her sons Milan, who is 13, and Sasha, who is 11, are her stated priority and, she said, the reason she was able to get through the breakdown of her relationship with Piqué at all.

She described the separation as her darkest moment, one in which she watched the dissolution of the family she had dreamed of keeping together forever. Her reflection on that period was honest about the depth of the pain while also finding something on the other side of it worth acknowledging. “I have been through a lot of pain, but perhaps in an unexpected way I have become a wiser person, or at least a stronger one,” she said.

The comments are notable given the very public nature of the fallout from her split with Piqué in June 2022, which played out across headlines, legal proceedings and, eventually, her music. The songs she released in the aftermath became some of the most discussed releases of her career, and the tour built around them has now sold out arenas and stadiums across Latin America and is about to do the same across the United States.

No Romance and No Apologies for It

Shakira has been linked in recent years to a series of high-profile names including actors Tom Cruise and Lucien Laviscount and athletes Lewis Hamilton and Jimmy Butler. She addressed those rumors with characteristic directness, making clear that romance is not on her current agenda.

“For now, no romance. There is no space or time in my life for that. My schedule is very full,” she said, before elaborating on what her life actually looks like right now. Her children are her priority, she said, and her career is the other axis around which everything revolves. She described herself as being in love with her career in a way she has never experienced before, and said she is also genuinely enjoying time alone.

A Career in Its Most Expansive Chapter

The picture Shakira painted in The Times interview is of an artist who emerged from personal crisis with a clearer sense of what she wants and an unexpected freedom in pursuing it. The world tour bearing the name of her post-breakup album has become one of the largest Latin music tours in recent memory, and her upcoming appearance at the World Cup final positions her at the center of the biggest sporting event of the year. She called herself a single mother at her Rio de Janeiro concert recently, a description that generated considerable reaction and added another layer to the public conversation about her life since Piqué. Four years later, she has found something on the other side of that pain worth being grateful for, and she is moving forward at full speed.