“The Darkest Hour of My Life”: Shakira On Her “Incredibly Difficult” Breakup From Gerard Piqué, “Fictional” Tax Evasion Claims

Shakira has been going through a lot of personal turmoil over the last year, but the pop star is finally ready to discuss her breakup from her longterm partner, Gerard Piqué, and the claims of tax evasion that have been leveled against her by the Spanish government.

The singer explained in a new interview with Elle that the past few months have been “the darkest hour of my life,” although she declined to explain the reason for her and Piqué’s split. “This is really hard to talk about personally, especially as this is the first time I’ve ever addressed this situation in an interview,” she said. “I’ve remained quiet and just tried to process it all. Um, and yeah, 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.” Shakira and Piqué first announced that they were ending their relationship after 12 years together in June of this year. The pair released a joint statement at the time that read, “We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the wellbeing of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect their privacy.”

Shakira went on to point out that what makes this situation particularly delicate are her children’s feelings. “It’s been tough not only for me, but also for my kids,” she confided. “Incredibly difficult. I have paparazzi camping outside, in front of my house, 24/7. And there’s not a place where I can hide from them with my kids, except for my own house. You know, we can’t take a walk in the park like a regular family or go have an ice cream or do any activity without paparazzi following us. So it’s hard. And I’ve tried to conceal the situation in front of my kids. I try to do it and to protect them, because that’s my number one mission in life. But then they hear things in school from their friends or they come across some disagreeable, unpleasant news online, and it just affects them, you know?” The musician and her ex are parents to two sons, 9-year-old Milan and 7-year-old Sasha.

In addition to the breakup, the Grammy winner has also been dealing with her father being in the ICU and facing charges of tax evasion by the Spanish government. But Shakira called these “false accusations” against her totally “fictional.” She explained, “First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year [in Spain] at that time at all. I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world. Second, I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So, as of today, I owe zero to them. And finally, I was advised by one of the four biggest tax specialist firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, so I was confident that I was doing things correctly and transparently from day one.” In 2018, Spain accused the pop star of defrauding the government of over $15 million in taxes from 2012 to 2014. And, in July, a Spanish prosecutor announced that the government is seeking a prison term of eight years and a fine of 23 million Euros if she is found guilty. No trial date has been set as of now, but Shakira told Elle that she is “confident” that she has “enough proof” to win her case. She concluded, “Justice will prevail in my favor.”