Shakira Opens Up About the Challenges of Being a Single Mom and Pop Star: ‘It’s a Constant Juggling Act’

The singer shares her two sons — Milan and Sasha — with ex Gerard Piqué

PHOTO: RUVEN AFANADOR 

Shakira is opening up about how she balances being a pop star and a mom to her two sons.

While speaking to Billboard for their latest cover story, the Colombian singer, 46, — who split from ex Gerard Piqué, 36, in June 2022 — commented on how she’s been acclimating to being both a single mom and a world-famous musician.

“Sometimes I think being a single mom and the rhythm of being a pop star aren’t compatible,” she says. “I have to put my kids to bed, go to the recording studio; everything is uphill.”

“When you don’t have a husband who can stay home with the kids, it’s constant juggling because I like to be a present mom and I need to be there every moment with my children: take them to school, have breakfast with them, take them to playdates. And aside from that, I have to make money.”

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Shakira is mom to sons Sasha, 7, and Milan, 9, whom she shares with Piqué.

The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer brought her two sons as her plus-ones at 2023 MTV VMAs earlier this month. Shakira was all smiles on the red carpet, posing with her kids as they hugged her and wore matching suits.

Since her split from the former footballer, the star said she is doing all that she can to “conceal” the situation from her kids. “I try to do it and to protect them, because that’s my number one mission in life,” she previously told ELLE.

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She’s also been adamant about giving her sons as normal of a life as possible. “I can’t deny they can’t escape the reality that I’m a public person, as well as their dad,” Shakira told ET Canada in 2021. “But we try to provide as much normalcy as we can, and live really as very simple people.”

In April, the singer posted on her Instagram about moving from Barcelona, her family’s previous homebase, to Miami. The Colombian singer penned a farewell to Barcelona, her home of the last eight years, in the caption, written in Spanish.

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“I settled in Barcelona to give my sons stability, the same that we are now looking for in another corner of the world besides family, friends and the sea. Today we started a new chapter in the search for happiness,” she wrote, as translated to English.

The Monotonía singer went on to thank “everyone who surfed many waves with me in Barcelona, the city where I learned that without a doubt, friendship is longer than love.”

“Thank you to everyone there who encouraged me, dried my tears, inspired me and made me grow,” she added. “Thank you to the Spanish public who always wrapped me up with care and loyalty. For you all this is just a see you later and, like my father always said, we’ll see you in the curves!”