Shakira isn't afraid to open up about the realities of separation, including its (arguably unsung) benefits.
In a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, the singer opened up about her recently single life, including how challenging it can be now that she's a working single mom.
"It's more challenging because now I'm in charge of these two kids, these two babies that depend on me so much," she explained. "And I'm a single mother, I don't have a husband at home to help out with anything."
Despite the difficulties, Shakira was quick to highlight the silver lining of her highly publicized split from former soccer player Gerard Piqué.
"In a way, it's kind of good not to have a husband because that…I don't know why it was dragging me down, man," she said. "Now I feel like working. I feel like writing songs. I feel like making music. It's a compulsive need of mine that I didn't feel before."
Shakira and Piqué first met in 2010 on the set of the "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" music video. The pair were together for 11 years before announcing their separation in a joint statement on June 4, 2022, as People reported at the time.
The former couple share two sons together—Milan, 11, and Sasha, 9.
"We regret to confirm that we are separating," the statement announcing the pair's split read in part. Additionally, the co-parents requested they be given privacy for the wellbeing of their children, who they said are their "maximum priority."
In a 2022 interview with Elle, Shakira said the period following her separation from Piqué was "the darkest hours of my life."
"I've remained quiet and just tried to process it all," she told the outlet at the time. "It's hard to talk about it, especially because I'm still going through it, and because I'm in the public eye."
In the same Apple Music 1 interview, Shakira revealed that she struggled to find a balance between her life as a partner and a mother and her life as an artist.
"It was kind of like a sometimes a love-hate relationship because every time I had to be pulled into the studio to do my work, I failed," she said. "I felt that I was leaving my family unattended. There were times when I really didn't enjoy it. You know, I felt guilt. I felt torn. "
Shakira is preparing to release her new album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women Don't Cry Anymore)—her first album release in seven years and her twelfth studio album overall.
"Making this body of work has been an alchemical process. While writing each song I was rebuilding myself," Shakira said in a press release." While singing them, my tears transformed into diamonds, and my vulnerability into strength."
