Shakira Says She Had to "Reconstruct" Herself After Her Breakup With Gerard Piqué
"No one tells me how I become a better version of myself. I decide that.”
Shakira is in the middle of her phoenix rising from the ashes moment. The Latin pop star is Allure's latest cover star, and in her corresponding interview with the magazine, she revealed what emotional the aftermath of her breakup from soccer star Gerard Piqué in 2022, after 11 years together.
"I was in the mud. I had to reconstruct myself, to reunite all the pieces that had fallen apart,” she told the magazine. Her breakup from Piqué was the driving force behind her latest album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry) — the hurt she experienced inspired her to tap into her creative side for the project.
“Making this music has shown me that my pain can be transformed into creativity. The songs are full of anecdotes and some very intense emotions I have experienced in these two years. But creating this album has been a transformation in which I have been reborn as a woman," she shared. "I have rebuilt myself in the ways I believe are appropriate. No one tells me how to cry or when to cry, no one tells me how to raise my children, no one tells me how I become a better version of myself. I decide that.”
She continued, “In the past, when women went through a difficult situation, they were expected to mind their manners, to hide the pain, to cry in silence. That's over. Now, no one will control us. No one will tell us how to heal, how to clean our wounds.”
Shakira and Piqué share two sons, Milan and Sasha, from their relationship. During her conversation with the magazine, the pop star — who is hailed as a feminist icon — expressed her sons' dislike of the Barbie movie as well as her own personal feelings about the Oscar-nominated film.
“My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent. I'm raising two boys. I want 'em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women," she explained. "I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide. I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity. I think that men have a purpose in society, and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.”
She further mused, “Just because a woman can do it all doesn’t mean she should? Why not share the load with people who deserve to carry it, who have a duty to carry it as well?”
Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran was released on March 22. The set contains her viral single, "Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53 (with Bizarrap)," in which she blasted Piqué for leaving her with debts while living next door to his mother and shaded Marti by saying she's worth "two 22-year-olds" and that Piqué "traded a Rolex for a Casio." Revisit the track below.
For more InStyle news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on InStyle.