Shakira says it's good not to have a husband: 'It was dragging me down'

Shakira is celebrating the single life.

The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer, 47, revealed that she’s enjoying a new sense of independence after previously finding it difficult to properly balance a family and career at the same time. 

"In a way, it's kind of good not to have a husband because… I don't know why it was dragging me down, man," Shakira told Zane Lowe in a recent Apple Music interview. "Now I feel like working. I feel like writing songs. I feel like making music. It's just a compulsion — a compulsive need of mine that I didn't feel before."

The Grammy-winner, who is set to release her new album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran tomorrow, previously dated former soccer star Gerard Piqué for 11 years before the couple announced that they were going their separate ways in 2022. They share two sons together: Milan, 11, and Sasha, 9. 

"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 felt that I was leaving my family unattended,” she said. “There were times when I really didn't enjoy it. You know, I felt guilt. I felt torn.”

Now, Shakira said, being both a musician and parent feels “totally different” than it did before “even though it's more challenging, because now I'm in charge of these two kids, these two babies that depend on me so much.”

“And I’m a single mother,” she continued. “I don't have a husband at home to help out with anything."

Although, honestly, that might not be a bad thing? In general, she noted that she feels “more completed now" than ever, in part thanks to the unwavering support that she's received from her fanbase.

“I feel the fans have really demonstrated their loyalty and, by demonstrating their loyalty and their love, I felt so backed up," she said. "They really had my back all this time, and so I feel I owe them big time. And so I’m working my ass off because I want to make sure that I give back to them at least a quarter of what they’ve given to me.”

Watch Shakira discuss the joys of being single in the video above. 

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