40 Surprising Details About Shakira And Gerard Piqué's Relationship

Throughout their 12-year relationship, Piqué and Shakira constantly had to deal with rumors that they were breaking up. And sadly, those rumors can no longer be dismissed as just gossip. Aside from the infidelity speculation that tore the couple apart, there was a particularly bad wave of speculation in 2017 that drove one of Shakira’s team to step up. At the time, Shakira's publicist told HOLA! Magazine that everything was “the same” with the couple, and the rumors were actually coming from people “who want to harm Piqué.” Shame that the same thing can't be said now...

Despite sticking together for over a decade and bringing two children into the world, it seems the same question kept popping up on everyone's lips — "when will they get hitched?" But if Shakira's interview with Glamour was anything to go by, then fans of the couple could have been kept waiting a seriously long time for those wedding bells... “We have a union, a love for each other. I think that those aspects of our relationship are already established, and marriage is not going to change them.”

Remember Shakira’s song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the tune titled “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)?” There’s a lot of football players in the music video, and Piqué was one of them. He can be seen in the vid for approximately one second — but that one second brought Shakira into his life.

In 2017 Shakira released a Spanish-language song titled “Me Enamoré (I Fell in Love).” It was all about her romance with Piqué, and she made it quite clear what she wanted their future to be like. She sang, “With you I would have ten children/Let’s start with a couple.” It seems they stuck with two, though — Milan and Sasha.

When Shakira and Piqué started getting serious, Shakira decided she would be the one to move across the ocean for him. She told The Sun newspaper in 2014, “I have to live in Barcelona because Gerard is anchored here. Footballers are like soldiers, he can’t really travel and go away with me. I’m trying to work out how I’m going to do my next tour.” Given how things panned out, it seems it was a pretty big sacrifice.

For the majority of their relationship, Shakira and Piqué couldn’t keep their hands off each other! There are countless photographs of them locking lips in front of the cameras with reckless abandon. Swoonworthy stuff that their biggest fans will no doubt miss now that they're no longer an item.

There are ten years between the pair, with Shakira being the elder of the two. Quite the gap, and one that people were quick to comment on. Luckily, the difference never seemed to factor into their relationship, and neither ever made much comment about it. However, Shakira’s song “Me Enamoré” does feature a line in Spanish about her thinking Piqué is “still a child.” Cougar or She Wolf — you decide.

Shakira told Billboard magazine in 2014, “It’s more than implied in our relationship that I can’t do videos like I used to. It’s out of the question — which I like, by the way.” He did however allow her to shoot a sexy scene with Rihanna that year. Shakira may have liked Piqué's rules back then, but maybe now she'll use her new-found freedom to express herself just the way she wants in her videos.

Not long after letting slip Piqué’s restrictions on her music videos, Shakira told E! Online, “I have rules, too. It’s two sides, you know. He can’t do stuff with models either!” She added, “We’re one of those asphyxiating couples, smothering each other all the time. It’s good when your man’s protective of you.” Maybe more rules could have helped change their fate?

Shakira and Piqué may both be international superstars, but even so, their first conversations were pretty dang dull. Piqué told Spain’s TV3 channel in 2016, “I asked her what the weather was like. It’s the typical stupid question, and the normal answer is to tell me to bring a jacket. But she started telling me what the weather was, like, every minute.”

Shakira and Piqué each have a seriously impressive fortune to their name. The famous singer’s net worth is an estimated $300 million, and her significant other is worth $80 million. Piqué bragged on the Spanish TV show La Resistencia in 2019, “My estate is worth more than the budget for [Spanish soccer team] Espanyol this year.” That should help if there are any costly settlement deals to contend with.

Shakira’s only really ever had two serious relationships. There’s Piqué, of course, and before him, there was Antonio de la Rúa, son of the former President of Argentina. Interestingly, just like with Piqué, Shakira opted not to marry de la Rúa even though she considered him essentially her husband. They ended up splitting in 2010.

Shakira announced her split with Antonio de la Rúa in January 2011, though they had actually parted ways many months before. And rumors quickly spread that Piqué was the reason. The football star was caught by paparazzi at Barcelona airport that same month and informed them, “We’re just friends. There’s nothing more to it.” But before long it became evident they were much more than friends.

In March 2011 — back when celebrity social media wasn’t as massive as it is now and the pair were still in the honeymoon phase — Shakira announced her new relationship to the world via Facebook. She posted a glowy photo of herself and Piqué along with the words, “Les presento a mi sol,” or “I present to you my sunshine.”

Shakira and Piqué got to celebrate their birthday together every year during their relationship, because it’s the same day! Both of them were born on February 2 — Shakira in 1977 and Piqué in 1987. If you’re into star signs, you might know that that makes both of them Aquarians. But even though Aquarius and Aquarius are an almost perfect zodiac match, Piqué and Shakira's stars clearly weren't aligned quite right.

Raising children comes with extra challenges when both mom and dad are ultra-famous, but the star-studded parents were adamant that their brood would be raised as normally as possible. Shakira told the ET Canada show in July 2021, “I can’t deny they can’t escape the reality that I’m a public person, as well as their dad. But we try to provide as much normalcy as we can, and live really as very simple people.”

Piqué loves pranks by all accounts. Back in 2014 he even got himself in trouble when he let off a stink bomb on a flight to Finland. And Shakira isn’t immune from his sense of humor either. In 2016 some footage emerged of Piqué pushing his girlfriend’s face into a cake while in a restaurant. Let’s hope she saw the funny side…

Soccer rivalries are serious business, and sometimes people totally cross the line. There were some unfortunate incidents that Shakira had to endure. For example, at big matches, the opposing team’s fans would reportedly chant nasty things at Piqué about his love. On one such occasion, the hashtag “#RespectShakira” began trending on Twitter as a result.

During their 12 years, Piqué was responsible for a spiritual reawakening in Shakira. The singer told Elle magazine in 2013, “I was becoming an agnostic. And it was really hard, because I was always very religious, and for a few years, maybe because... I was not feeling the love like it was supposed to be, I started to think that there was no God. And suddenly I meet Gerard and the sun comes out.” Let's hope the sun keeps shining for Shakira even without Piqué by her side.

Who could forget Shakira's bold blonde bob from 2012? Well, it appears we have Piqué's mom to thank for that interesting look. Shakira told Vogue magazine in 2021 that her chopped locks were all the fault of Piqué’s mother. She said, “Worst mistake of my life. Mother-in-law, I’m not taking cosmetic advice from you again.” Ouch!

Could Piqué and Shakira have started a soccer dynasty? Maybe! As soon as baby Milan was born he became an official member of FC Barcelona, and it turns out he’s pretty good at goal-scoring already. Because when he was just two, he was spotted shooting some balls into the net during the “lap of hours” celebration at the Nou Camp, Barce’s stadium. 

The relationship between Shakira and Piqué was always a pretty unconventional one. Aside from being mega-rich superstars, they decided to avoid walking down the aisle. But apparently, Shakira was totally fine with that. She told Viva magazine in 2020, “We have never been a traditional couple,” and added “We don’t know a different way to do it!”

In 2016 Shakira helped FC Barcelona with a lucrative new shirt deal. She and Piqué wooed one of their friends, the CEO of the Japanese online shopping company Rakuten, into signing a deal with the soccer team. This ensured, according to the Daily Mail newspaper, “a sizeable increase in income.”

After the couple’s first child was born in 2013 Shakira proudly told Us Weekly magazine, “The baby spends as much time with me as he does with his dad. He’s the kind of dad who’s full hands-on.” And in 2019 she told Viva, “We don’t have a written deal to share the tasks or anything like that, but we both are very involved in parenting and try to sort it out the best we can.” And in her first interview addressing her split from Piqué, Shakira has given the impression that she will continue to be the best mom and role model she can be for her two boys. 

Shakira spoke to Hello magazine while launching a new school project in Barcelona in 2017. When the conversation turned to her then-boyfriend, she said, “We talk about every aspect of our lives and work is one of them obviously. Piqué is the most sensible man I’ve ever met. Maybe I’m a bit more nervous at home than he is and he helps calm me down.”

Shakira and Piqué wanted their children to grow up with a sense of accomplishment and to not ever feel like they were in the shadow of their famous parents. Piqué told the TV show Nexus in 2021, “Our children live with excessive pressure. They were born with that and I think it’s important that sometimes they have personal victories even if it’s at home. Playing soccer with Milan or Sasha, we let them win.”

Both of them may be incredibly rich, but they’re philanthropic too. When Shakira was pregnant with their first son Milan, the pair threw a virtual baby shower that raised enough money for 80,000 children to get polio vaccinations. Impressive! And then they did it all again for their second child.

It probably goes without saying that Shakira and Piqué would have shared a pretty nice house, right? “Nice” isn’t even the word. The family home in Barcelona has seven bedrooms, two kitchens, and an outdoor swimming pool among other amenities. It’s worth an impressive $5.5 million — and it isn’t even the only property Shakira owns.

The couple’s kids could follow in the footsteps of either parent. Because in 2021 Shakira went on the chat show Lorraine and was asked if the children preferred football or music. The singer answered, “They oscillate – the eldest is very sporty, but he’s very musical, he just doesn’t know it. He tells me, ‘Mom, remember I’m a football person, do not get confused. Yeah, I play the drums, but I’m a football person.’”

Shakira dazzled at the Superbowl in February 2020. But one very important person wasn’t there to see her live — Piqué. He had to go off and play a soccer game and there was no getting out of that. To make things worse, Superbowl day was their joint birthday as well! But we can assume they eventually watched it together.

In 2020 famous Argentinian soccer star Oscar Ruggeri made some comments about Piqué and Shakira, claiming that Piqué was an average player and only talked about because of his world-famous partner. Ruggeri ended up apologizing, telling Fox Sports, “I made a mistake there. I don’t know him, but the comments about his wife must have annoyed him.” Though of course, Shakira wasn’t actually his wife, and never would be.

In May 2017 Piqué was both the subject and one of the cameramen for Shakira’s video “Me Enamore.” He filmed some of the footage via a head camera and the result is available for all to see. And the song itself is all about what a great, and handsome, guy Piqué is. The lyrics even get a little saucy at times! Those must be hard for either to hear now.

Becoming a parent can mean putting romance on the backburner, but Shakira worked hard to ensure that didn’t happen. She told The Guardian newspaper in 2019, “I love being a mother but it’s challenging to keep the balance — to not let motherhood prevent you from reading a good book, going out with your boyfriend-slash-husband, having an adult conversation.”

In 2018 Piqué injured his knee while playing, and the Spanish media reported that Shakira encouraged him to take a break from soccer. Not only was she concerned for his well being, she also wanted him around to look after the kids when she went on her El Dorado tour, so the story went. Piqué’s injury turned out not to be serious, but he missed a few matches.

When Milan was born in 2013 Shakira wrote on her website, “The name Milan (pronounced MEE-lahn), means dear, loving and gracious in Slavic; in Ancient Roman, eager and laborious; and in Sanskrit, unification.” And when their second child Sasha came along the singer wrote on Instagram, “The name Sasha is of Greek and Russian descent and means ‘defender of mankind’ and ‘warrior.’”

Shakira had no interest in soccer before she met Gerard when filming their football-related music video. In 2020 she told the show CBS News, while laughing, “I wasn’t a soccer fan so I didn’t know who he was. But when I saw the video, I was like, ‘Hmm. That one’s kind of cute.’ And then someone decided to introduce us.” The jury is out on whether the mega star will stick to soccer now that they're no longer an item.

A terrifying incident happened to Shakira and Piqué in June 2018. Their Barcelona house was robbed. And what's worse, it all happened while Piqué’s parents were asleep inside. Neither half of the famous couple was there, as they’d gone to Germany where Shakira had a concert. The thieves took various expensive items but thankfully no further damage was done. 

Even his girlfriend’s pregnancy wasn’t off-limits to a prankster like Piqué. On the day of Spain’s Día de los Santos Inocentes in 2012 — think April Fool’s Day — the footballer posted on Twitter that Shakira had already given birth. Ten hours later he clarified that no, she hadn’t, and wished everyone a happy rest of the day.

In 2015 the media reported on a blackmail case involving Shakira and Piqué. Apparently, someone had gotten hold of an intimate video of them and was threatening to release it unless they were paid. However, an insider told the Mirror newspaper, “This is a very random report and completely untrue.”

When Shakira suffered a vocal cord hemorrhage in 2017, she was plunged into depression. She recalled to The Guardian newspaper in 2019, “I had to communicate through signs and nobody could understand me.” But Piqué was there for her. She said, “I was not positive. I was so pessimistic. I was a bitter person to be around. Gerard saw the worst of me.”