Shakira‘s ex Gerard Piqué has opened up about the major backlash he’s received on social media following his ugly split from the songstress.
The former Barcelona footballer, 36, and the Hips Don’t Lie singer, 46 – who share 10-year-old son Milan and eight-year-old son Sasha – announced their breakup in June 2022, and in January 2023, Piqué went Instagram official with his 23-year-old girlfriend Clara Chia Martí. Since then, Shakira has released three hit songs seemingly commenting on the split.
Piqué most recently said in an interview with journalist Gerard Romero that the public response to his split from Shakira has been difficult.
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“With the theme that’s gone on in this past year, my ex, she’s Latino Americana, and you have no idea what I’ve received on social media from her fans. Barbarities. And I don’t care about any of it. Truly, zero. Because I don’t know them. They are people who have no lives. You’re never going to meet them. They are like robots,” he said, originally in Spanish.
Piqué said he approaches the backlash with the idea of not letting opinions shared online bother him, and has a mindset of: “What you can’t control, don’t give it attention.”
“There’s this theme of throwing beef. Which is a trend… but we don’t think about the consequences it can have on the person’s mental health who we’re throwing this beef to,” Piqué told Romero. “If you are too much about comments, you’re dead.”
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“I’m in a moment where I’m really happy and I try to have the best moments with the people, my inner circle who love me, and this is indispensable,” he added.
After Piqué’s interview, Shakira seemingly addressed his comments about her Latinx heritage, tweeting: “Orgullosa de ser Latinoamericana.”
In English, that roughly translates to Shakira saying she’s “proud” to be Latin American, and she also shared a series of flags from Latin American countries.
Piqué’s comments came as Shakira announced she was leaving Barcelona, reportedly moving herself and her two sons to Miami after calling the Spanish city home for eight years.
“I settled in Barcelona to give my sons stability, the same that we are now looking for in another corner of the world besides family, friends and the sea. Today we started a new chapter in the search for happiness,” the songstress originally wrote in Spanish on Instagram.
She also thanked ”everyone who surfed many waves with me in Barcelona, the city where I learned that without a doubt, friendship is longer than love.”
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https://twitter.com/shakira/status/1642707164866265089https://twitter.com/shakira/status/1642626963599663104
Shakira then seemingly addressed her split from Piqué, writing: “Thank you to everyone there who encouraged me, dried my tears, inspired me and made me grow. Thank you to the Spanish public who always wrapped me up with care and loyalty. For you all this is just a see you later and, like my father always said, we’ll see you in the curves!”
The songstress’ move comes nearly a year after her split from Piqué after 12 years together.
In June 2022, Shakira confirmed the news in a joint statement on Instagram.
“We regret to confirm that we are separating,” it read. “For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect our privacy. Thank you for your understanding.”
Shakira broke her silence on the split in September 2022 in an interview with Elle magazine, revealing it was an “incredibly difficult” breakup.
“I’ve remained quiet and just tried to process it all,” she said. “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.”
In the months following their announcement, rumours swirled about the reason behind the split.
After Shakira released cryptic new music, fans theorised Piqué may have been cheating on the singer. Neither party has confirmed or denied this rumour.
Shakira also addressed the breakup in March on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, explaining she “had a rough year” and put up with “so much crap”.
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