Facts You Need to Know about Shakira, Pique’s Ex-Girlfriend!

Born 2 February 1977, Shakira is a Colombian singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and philanthropist, but as we all know she is most famous for her dancing and singing career. Known as the queen of the latin pop albums, she mainly got famous in 2005, after releasing her famous Spanish album, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1, though she had started her career in this field in 1991. In our article today, we are going to take a closer look at her life.

Top facts you didn’t know about Shakira

Are you ready to know more? Let’s keep on then.

Early life and childhood

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, better known as Shakira, was born on 2 February 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Being the only child in her family, her dad is William Mebarak Chadid and her mum is Nidia Ripoll Torrado. She has Lebanese roots from his father’s side and Catalan/Spanish and Italian from her mother’s. It also has to be mentioned that she has eight older half-siblings from her father's previous marriage.

Writing poems at age four!

Being a young girl, she spent most of her time in Barranquilla, a city located on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia where she wrote her first poem, titled "La Rosa De Cristal/The Crystal Rose" when she was only four years old.

There is an interesting story about this matter. During Shakira’s childhood, her father used to write stories on a typewriter and so the young girl who was mesmerized by the machine, asked for one as a Christmas gift and so her dream came true at the age of seven. That’s how she started writing poems at that age and hasn’t stopped since.

Another interesting fact about her poetry is about her "Tus gafas oscuras” poem. The story behind this poem is that when she was only two years old, one of her older half-brothers died in a motorcycle accident, which caused their father to wear dark glasses to hide his grief for a long time after the crash. That’s how Shakira wrote her first song, "Tus gafas oscuras ", which means “Your dark glasses” at the age of eight.

How she became a dancer!

Have you ever wondered how she became a dancer? There is another interesting story for her becoming a dancer!

At the age of four Shakira was taken to a local Middle Eastern restaurant by her father where she first heard the Doumbek, which is a traditional drum used in Arabic music and is typically accompanied by belly dancing. Hearing the music, she started dancing on the table and that was just the beginning for her to become a famous dancer!

How she became a singer!

The next fact about the famous singer is “how she became one”!

Imagine a young girl who has shown her talent in writing songs and dancing. Knowing these facts, you will probably think she may also be good at singing and yea, you are right!

She was so young when she started singing for her schoolmates and teachers. However, things were not that easy for her as she was rejected for the school choir because her music teacher believed her vibrato was too strong and she sounded like a goat.

Another interesting fact about Shakira

’s school time is that she was often sent out of the class because of her hyperactivity. She was also known as "the belly dancer girl", as she used to demonstrate some dance moves she had learned on Fridays at school.

Her professional career started when she was between 10 and 13 years old by meeting local theater producer, Monica Ariza. Ariza was impressed with her and so she tried to help her with her career. To do so, she convinced Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas to hold an audition for Shakira in a hotel lobby during a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá. Convinced by Ariza, Vargas gave the cassette to a song and artist director after returning to the Sony office.

Finally, Shakira performed three songs for the executives in her audition and impressed them enough for her to be signed to record three albums and that was the beginning for her to become the queen of the latin pop albums.

Professional career

Shakira’s first album was named Magia and was recorded with Sony Music Colombia in 1990. The album was released in June 1991 and featured "Magia" and three other singles. However, only 1,200 copies of the album were sold worldwide.

Later in 1993, Shakira was invited to perform at Chile's Viña del Mar International Song Festival, which was a Latin American event, giving young new singers a chance to perform their songs. Shakira performed "Eres" ("You Are") and won the third title in the competition. It is so interesting to know that one of the judges in the competition was Ricky Martin, who was only 20 back in that time!  

Shakira's second studio album was Peligro, which was released in March, and was mainly better received than Magia, though wasn’t that much of success as Shakira decided not to advertise or promote it.

Becoming a big star

After her first two albums failure, Shakira started working on her third album, which was a bit different as the talented star was completely involved in every aspect of it. Pies Descalzos, which means "bare feet," was released in 1996 and interestingly it sold more than 3 million copies. The album’s follow-up track, “Dónde Están Los Ladrones?” which means "Where are the thieves?", was released 2 years later in 1998 and reached the top of Billboard's Latin charts. It has to be mentioned that it has sold more than three million copies worldwide.

Career and Musical Achievements

Though she has shown her talent since she was 4, she started her professional career at the age of 13. As we have mentioned her 2 first albums were named Magia and Peligro, while her third studio album, Pies Descalzos, brought her great popularity worldwide and especially in Arab and Latin worlds.

Later she released Dónde Están los Ladrones? in 1998 which brought her bigger global success. Shakira won two Latin Grammy Awards for this album.

In 2001 Shakira moved to Miami to record her first English-language album, which was named “Laundry Service” and was one of her biggest international achievements, as it sold over 200,000 copies in the first week and entered Shakira in the American pop charts at number three.

• Objection (Tango)  

• Underneath Your Clothes

• Whenever, Wherever     

• Rules    

• The One

• Ready for the Good Times

• Fool

• Te Dejo Madrid      

• Poem to a Horse    

• Que Me Quedes Tú

• Eyes Like Yours (Ojos Así)        

• Suerte (Whenever, Wherever)

• Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango)

After the huge success of “Laundry Service”, Shakira spent a few years on her next two albums and proved that she is a real star. She was awarded her second Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album, for her Spanish-language Fijación Oral, Vol. 1, while Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and turned out to be one of the most played songs in pop-radio history.

In 2010 she shone once more with her "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" song which was from the "Sale el Sol" album. The song was released on 7 May 2010 as the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was held in South Africa. Interestingly the famous song was written, composed, and produced by Shakira and John Hill.

Overall, Shakira has won numerous awards and accolades during her professional career, including five MTV Video Music Awards, four American Music Awards, two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, seven NRJ Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, 28 Billboard Latin Music Awards, and two International Dance Music Awards. She was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2011.

Acting career

Music and dance is not all Shakira is capable of as she has shown her talent in television and cinema world as well.

During her acting career, she has performed in many series and movies including El Oasis, The Latin Explosion: A New America, and The Voice, while she has also voiced the character Gazelle in the Disney animated film Zootopia.

Love story

Shakira’s first serious love story started in 2000 with Argentinian attorney Antonio de la Rua. The relationship went on for 11 years, but eventually they broke up in 2011. Back in 2009, Shakira said that their relationship was like a married couple and that "they don't need papers for that" in an interview.

de la Rua continued to oversee Sharkira's business and career interests after they split but in 2012, he sued Shakira for $100 million he believed he was owed after she terminated her business partnership with him in October 2011. However, his lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in August 2013.

The famous star’s next relationship was with Gerard Pique who she was in a relationship with, till 2022. The first interesting fact about the couple is that they both shared the same birthday, which is on February 2. Shakira was born in 1987 while Pique was born in 1977 and that means the hot singer has been 10 years older than the one she loved.  

The two lovebirds met each other for the first time back in 2010 FIFA World Cup, where Shakira was filming the music video for "

Waka Waka

”, known as “This time for Africa”, and Gerard was with Spain national team.

However, their relationship was not confirmed till one year later when the 33-year-old star joined the sexy singer onstage at her concert in Spain.

Again, one year passed and this time Shakira revealed her pregnancy by posting a photo on Instagram in September 2012. Milan Piqué Mebarak, was born on January 22, 2013 and then 2 years later their second child, Sasha Piqué Mebarak, was born on January 29, 2015.

It has to be mentioned that the couple did not get married, though it seemed like they were deeply in love; but why? In fact, Shakira opened up about this question in the couple's 60 Minutes interview in early 2020.

"To tell you the truth, marriage scares the shit out of me. I don't want him to see me as the wife. I'd rather him see me as his girlfriend", said the 45-year-old singer and dancer.  

"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 behavior."

The couple's seperation

Gerard Pique and Shakira ended their 11-year relationship in June 2022, after the Spain international was caught cheating.

The woman who Gerard Pique allegedly cheated on Shakira with, was said to be the mum of Barcelona team-mate Pablo Gavi. However, that was just a rumor and yet no one knows who the mistress is. 

A song about Piqué's love story

Though we had to mention this song when we were talking about her professional life, we decided to leave it for here as this one is a love song.

Shakira released "Me Enamoré" which means "I feel in love” off her album El Dorado in 2017.  The lyrics of the song which is completely about Pique talks about how she fell in love with him in the first place and how they started a family and are still head over heels for each other.

Favorite things

Here is more information about the famous 45-year-old singer in case you want to know more.

Her favorite Food is Pancakes with Jam. She likes horses.

Her Favorite TV Programs are Scrubs (2001-2010), and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005).

Her favorite bands are U2, and The Police, while she also likes Soda Stereo as her favorite Latin band.  Her favorite music type is Merengue and her favorite actor is Hugh Grant. She likes black and her favorite Flowers are Daisy and Sunflower, and finally she likes chocolate balls and mango.

Body measurements

Shakira is 5.2 feet or 157 centimeters tall, she weighs 53 kilogram, she has dyed blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Being 157 centimeters tall, means that she is 36 centimeters shorter that his boyfriend who is 193 centimeters tall!

Salary highlights

Shakira started her professional life so soon and has been one of the most famous and beloved singers and dancers so far; that means she has been able to raise a good amount of fortune during these years. In 2008, Shakira signed a 10 year, $300 million deal with Live Nation, while her other salary highlight goes back to 2013, when it was reported that she has earned $12 million for "The Voice."

Shakira net worth

Base on the information we gave you on her salary, now you can guess that she might worth a lot. In fact, Shakira worth of $300 million dollars, being able to sell more than 125 million albums and singles worldwide during her professional life.

It also worth mentioning that Shakira owns a lot. In 2018, She listed her minimalist Miami mansion for $11.6 million. This is the fourth time the property has been on the market since she bought it it 2001 for $3.38 million.

The 8,708 square foot house has 6 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, an office and a gym. Neighbors include Matt Damon, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez, and Michael Bay.

Read more:

Follow 

 for