Shakira is opening up about her recent split from partner Gerard Piqué and how music has been vital for her to get through "her darkest hour" and show up the best she can for her children.
The 45-year-old Colombian singer spoke to Elle about how she's been getting through her difficult breakup, after it was announced in June that she and the Spanish soccer player had called it quits, and dealing with a resulting custody battle of the couple's two sons Milan, 9, and Sasha, 7. While creating new music has been a big part of Shakira's healing journey, it is the livelihood of her boys that she remains most focused on.
"I think that music is a life raft. There have been days when I had to pick up the pieces of me from the floor. And the only way to do that, to actually do that, has been through music. You know, to really, like, put myself back together and to see myself in the mirror and know that I am a mom and my kids depend on me," she said, noting that her career often felt like a distraction from motherhood prior. "Sometimes I dreaded my work so much in the past because I just wanted to be there for my kids. I mean, I just wanted to cuddle with my kids in bed a little bit longer. And then I had to, like, get up and shoot a video and fulfill my obligations. But now I’m so thankful for my work, the possibility that it gives us to put ourselves back together and to realize who we are and why we’re here on this planet — what’s our purpose, our mission."
Pouring herself into her craft has been a good distraction from the negative press surrounding the end of her relationship. However, protecting her children from the chaos is an added challenge.
"It’s been tough not only for me, but also for my kids. 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," Shakira explained. "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 local press in Spain, where she calls Barcelona her home, has even become "invasive for my kids," she said, as photographers have interrupted their daily life.
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"They don’t deserve to feel observed or watched every second, photographed at school drop-off, or followed by paparazzi. They deserve a normal life. It’s just a total circus, and everyone is speculating about all of these aspects of our, and more importantly our children’s, lives, and a lot of it isn’t even true," she said. "Regardless of how things ended or how Gerard and I feel about each other as ex-partners, he is the father of my children. We have a job to do for these two incredible boys, and I have faith that we will figure out what is best for their future, their own dreams in life, and what is a fair solution for everyone involved. And I hope and would appreciate if we were given the space to do that privately."
She continued, "It’s really upsetting for two kids who are trying to process their parents’ separation. And sometimes I just feel like this is all a bad dream and that I’m going to wake up at some point. But no, it’s real."
While managing her own mental wellbeing through this has been a challenge, it is the priority that she places on her children that ultimately gets Shakira through.
"I just manage, I guess, reminding myself that I need to become an example for my kids, that I need to be what they want, what I want them to become," she said. "And I want to be there, also, for all the people who have shown me their love and support. That is my biggest strength. That’s my most powerful engine right now."
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Thursday marked the first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and for many that probably brings a sigh of relief: Summer, the season in which climate change is most readily apparent and uncomfortable, has finally ended.
STORY: Is climate change affecting hurricanes? According to scientists - yes, climate change is making hurricanes wetter, windier and altogether more intense. The ocean absorbs a lot of the atmospheric heat, much of it contained near the water’s surface. This surface heat fuels a storm's intensity and powers stronger winds. Our planet has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius, or 34 degrees Fahrenheit, above the preindustrial average. Scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expect that at 2 degrees Celsius of warming – that’s 36 Fahrenheit – hurricane wind speeds could increase by up to 10%. They also project the proportion of hurricanes that reach the most intense levels — that’s Category 4 or 5 — could rise by about 10% this century. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, and water vapor will build up until clouds break, sending down heavy rain. So, the warming planet is also upping the amount of rainfall delivered by a storm. During the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season — one of the most active on record — climate change boosted hourly rainfall rates in hurricane-force storms - by up to 11%. That’s according to an April 2022 study in the journal, Nature Communications. There’s also evidence it’s also causing storms to travel more slowly, meaning they can dump more water in one place. Climate change seems to be shifting the hurricane season and how far they go too. In recent years, hurricanes, which are storms with wind speeds that reach at least 74 miles per hour, are reaching peak intensity - and sweeping farther north than in the past. Scientists say, that shift may be related to rising global air and ocean temperatures. This trend is worrying for mid-latitude cities such as New York, Boston, Beijing, and Tokyo, because their infrastructure is not prepared for such storms. Hurricane Sandy was only a Category 1 storm when it hit the Northeastern Seaboard in 2012. But it was the fourth costliest U.S. hurricane on record, causing $81 billion in losses. As for the typical hurricane "season", that’s been changing too, as warming creates conditions conducive to storms in more months of the year. In North America, the season is largely from June through November, peaking in September. But a study recently published in Nature Communications showed, the first named storms to make U.S. landfall are nudging into May - more than three weeks earlier than they did in 1900. The same trend appears to be playing out across the world in Asia's Bay of Bengal. Since 2013, cyclones there have been forming earlier than usual - in April and May - ahead of the summer monsoon, according to a November 2021 study in Scientific Reports. Hurricanes are called “cyclones” when they emerge over the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, and “typhoons” when they form over East Asian waters.
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