Shakira and Gerard Piqué announce separation: A timeline of their relationship

Leaving their fans around the world utterly confused and heartbroken, Shakira and Gerard Piqué announced, rather confirmed, they were going their separate ways, after weeks of speculation about their relationship.
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The couple, who share two sons — Milan (9) and Sasha (7) — issued a joint statement on June 4, 2022, which read, “We regret to confirm that we are separating. We ask for privacy at this moment for the well-being of our children, who are our maximum priority. Thank you in advance for your understanding and respect.”

According to reports, the 45-year-old Colombian singer met the 35-year-old Spanish football player in 2010 on the set of the ‘Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)‘ music video. It was the official song of FIFA World Cup 2010 that was held in South Africa, and many footballers, including Piqué, made an appearance.Best of Express PremiumPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium

They caught each other’s eye, and the rest is hory.
In a 2020 interview, Shakira had said that since she “wasn’t a soccer fan”, she didn’t know who Piqué was, until she saw the video and found him “cute”. Then, someone introduced them. Talking to Spain’s TV3 in 2016, Piqué had said, “…we were together in South Africa and I wrote to her. She was already there because she sang in the opening ceremony, and I asked her what the weather was like. It’s the typical stupid question… But she started telling me what the weather was, like, every minute, and it got to the point where I told her we [the Spanish team] would have to get to the World Cup final to see her again — she was singing at the final.”
That year, Spain won, and the couple went public with their relationship in 2011. In an interview with Elle in 2013, the singer had shared that she was “becoming an agnostic”, and had “started to think that there was no God”. “And suddenly I meet Gerard and the sun comes out.”

In September 2012, Shakira had revealed she was expecting her first child with Piqué, who was born January 22, 2013.

Then, in August 2014, she shared the news of being pregnant with their second child, who was born January 29, 2015.

When Piqué had retired from international football, Shakira had paid a tribute to him, writing in Spanish, “Love, finished the stage that we will always keep in our hearts. One of the happiest moments of my life has also been seeing you win in 2010 with the national team and celebrate with Spain champions! Shak.”

In 2019, the singer had told The Guardian about a tough time in her life, of when she suffered a hemorrhage of her right vocal cord in 2017, and lost her voice and ability to sing. She told the publication, “Gerard saw the worst of me.”

“He jokes that you would think you would want your wife to shut up — but when I had to remain quiet, he felt like one of those ex-convicts who are given their freedom and don’t know what to do with it.”

In 2020, she said she would rather be Piqué’s girlfriend than his wife. “To tell you the truth, marriage scares the s**t out of me. I don’t want him to see me as his wife. I’d rather him see me as his girlfriend,” she was quoted as saying.
News of their separation came this month, amid rumours of the footballer cheating on her.
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