Now, in her first interview since announcing her separation from Gerard Pique, her partner of 11 years, Shakira has opened up about her personal and legal struggles.
Even though she’s about to release her first album since 2017’s Grammy-winning El Dorado, the pop artist has described her situation in a recent interview as her “darkest hour.”
Appearing on the cover of Elle Magazine in a little black dress by fellow Columbian Johanna Ortiz, the singer discussed the “collapse” of her relationship, her family’s tendency towards perseverance and her continued reliance on music as a bastion of human connection.
Though she was relatively tight-lipped about the details leading to her early-summer breakup, she was far from quiet about her feelings towards what she’s calling “false accusations” made by Spanish prosecutors who charged her with tax fraud, telling the interviewer that she has to “fight for what [she] believe[s]:”
“First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year 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.”
The singer insinuated she was singled out by Spanish tax authorities because of her high-profile status, and pointed toward a trend she calls “threat(s) of reputational damage” made against defendants in order to pressure settlement agreements.
“They saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started salivating. It’s clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what,” she claimed, pointing out that she was on tour during the years in question.
“Even for the next few years, I was traveling the world, working nonstop while pregnant or with Milan as a baby, when my C-section had barely closed. They knew I wasn’t in Spain the required time, that Spain wasn’t my place of work or my source of income, but they still came after me, with their eyes on the prize.”
Unwavering in her faith regarding due process, and advised by one of the largest accounting firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Shakira turned down a plea deal in favor of a tax fraud trial.
If the Spanish government gets its druthers, she’ll be facing up to 8 years in prison.