Gerard Pique vs Shakira: Inside the Barcelona star's extremely messy break-up

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pique and Shakira's respective careers were the reason for their paths crossing in 2010, as they met on the set of a music video shoot. Rather bizarrely, Shakira - who is Colombian - had been chosen to co-write and sing the official song of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 'Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)'.

Pique was among a clutch of prominent players to feature in the music video, and he met Shakira on set in June 2010 shortly before the tournament began. The footballer happens to be 10 years the singer's junior to the day, with both born on February 2.

"I wasn't a soccer fan, so I didn't know who he was," Shakira told 60 Minutes in a 2020 interview. "When I saw the video, I was like, 'Hmm, that one's kind of cute'. And then someone decided to introduce us." From there, their relationship blossomed.

The couple did not initially make their relationship public, but that changed in March 2011 when both Pique and Shakira posted a photo of themselves embracing on Twitter (now X) and Facebook, alongside the caption "I present to you my sun".

It was reported that they had gone public at the request of legendary former Barcelona boss Guardiola, as the manager was growing concerned about the media scrutiny that his player's secretive encounters with the singer was generating and even believed the defender's on-pitch form had been affected.

Pique had paparazzi camped outside his home and they would follow him to the club's training ground, with tabloids and gossip magazines offering up a price of €150,000 for photos of the pair together.

Pique and Shakira would be seen in public with each other increasingly often, and he even joined her on stage during the Barcelona leg of her 'The Sun Comes Out' world tour in May 2011. The couple shared a kiss to send the crowd into frenzy.

Shakira would attend the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony with Pique in early 2012, and later that year the couple announced that they were expecting their first child together, with Milan Pique born in January 2013. They then confirmed their latest pregnancy in August 2014 and the couple's second son would follow in January 2015 when Sasha was born, seven days after his brother's birthday.

In 2020, Shakira explained why she didn't want to marry Pique, despite them seemingly being very happy together. "To tell you the truth, marriage scares the sh*t out of me," she said in her interview with 60 Minutes. "I don't want him to see me as the wife. I'd rather him see me as his girlfriend. His lover, his girlfriend. It's like a little forbidden fruit, you know?

"I wanna keep him on his toes. I want him to think that anything's possible depending on behaviour."

However, in 2022, things began to go awry. It was reported that Pique was living separately from Shakira and their two children in Barcelona, with the reason unknown at the time.

The release of her single 'Congratulations' in April further fuelled rumours of a rift between the couple. The lyrics of the song featured lines like "they warned me, but I didn't listen", "I know you well and I know you're lying" and "I can't stand two-faced people". Sure enough, the ominous track proved to be a sign of things to come, as within two months the high-profile relationship was over.

On June 4, 2022, the couple confirmed their break-up in a joint statement after 11 years together.

"We regret to confirm that we are separating," it read. "We ask for privacy at this moment for the well-being of our children, who are our maximum priority. Thank you in advance for your understanding and respect."

It was alleged by celebrity news podcast Mamarazzis in the immediate aftermath that the relationship had ended because Pique had been caught cheating on his partner with a 22-year-old woman. He was even booed by both sets of fans during a Clasico pre-season friendly in Nevada that summer, with both Barcelona and Real Madrid fans showing support for the singer.

Speaking in an interview three months later, Shakira described the period after her split from Pique as the "darkest hours of her life". She told Elle: "I've remained quiet and just tried to process it all. It's hard to talk about it, especially because I'm still going through it, and because I'm in the public eye."

The couple confirmed they had reached a custody agreement in November 2022, with their sons moving to Miami with Shakira to be closer to her family.

While Shakira had spoken at length to the media about the break-up, her footballer ex had largely remained silent, only speaking on the subject for the first time in March 2023 when he told El Pais: "Everyone has their responsibility to do what's best for their kids. It's about protecting them. That's the job of all parents with their kids. That's what I'm focused on and that's my role as a father."

However, in June that year, after Pique had made his new relationship with 23-year-old Clara Chia Marti public, Shakira seemed to confirm the cheating allegations as she revealed that she had learned of Pique's 'betrayal' while her elderly father, William Mebarak Chadid, was in intensive care in hospital after a nasty fall.

"He went to Barcelona to console me after I was consumed with sadness because of my separation," Shakira told People en Espanol. "While he was at Milan's first communion, he was gravely injured in an accident. Everything happened at once. My home was falling apart. I was finding out through the press that I had been betrayed while my dad was in the ICU."

Pique allegedly cheated on Shakira multiple times, including with Marti, whom he split from in 2025.

In the time since their separation, Shakira has largely reconciled the situation and taken her own form of revenge through her music. In January 2023, she released 'BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 53', which was effectively a diss track taking aim at her former partner and his then-girlfriend.

The track includes lines like "Sorry baby, I should have thrown you out a while ago", "I'm too good for you, and that's why you're with someone just like you" and "I'm worth two of 22 [year olds], you traded a Ferrari for a Twingo, you traded a Rolex for a Casio, lots of time at the gym, but your brain needs a little work too". Pique has since gone as far as poking fun at the lyrics, wearing a Casio watch and being spotted driving an £8,000 Renault car.

Shakira's song 'TQG' with fellow Colombian Karol G also references the break-up and moving on from the relationship. The words "I'm already set by myself" and "You are no longer welcome here" feature among the lyrics.

Speaking on The Tonight Show in March 2024, she said: "I’ve been putting out music here and there, but I think it was really hard for me to put together a body of work. I didn't have time. It was the husband factor (Pique). Now I’m husband-less. The husband was dragging me down. Now I’m free! Now I can actually work!"