If the last year has made something clear to us, it is that Shakira She is a mother above all. The Colombian singer has faced Gerard Piqu for the custody of his children, Milan and Sashawho have finally settled with her in Miami and who have become your companions in this new life stage.
They were by his side when he went to the Show of Jimmy Falllon with Bizarrap last March, they accompanied her to the Premios Juventud in July and posed on the red carpet at the MTV VMAs gala the day Shakira lifted the Michael Jackson Video Music award for her entire career. Singer I dedicated the award to them for having encouraged him in the hardest moments and making him believe that “mom can do it.”
Milan and Sasha, to whom he also dedicated the emotional song AcrosticThey are its driving force and also those who set its agenda. “The time I am with my children, I am with them,” the singer points out in the magazine Billboard. “For example, during this summer, the time they were with me, and that they were not with their father, I was totally dedicated to them, without working. They didn’t go to any camp, for example. They go to Camp Shakira. If I’m only going to have them half the time, make that half as much as possible.“.
The singer talks at length about Milan and Sasha, who are ten and eight years old respectively, and is happy with how well they have adapted to their life in Miami. “They are doing very well at school, they love it”, he says, happy that now they are two anonymous children. “There is something very positive for them here and that is that they have a sense of normality. It was very difficult there. Ah, in Barcelona it was very difficult for them to be children of “And the whole media situation also weighed heavily on them.”
In Miami “They are ordinary children who enjoy normality”says Shakira, who says that her children also enjoy what a school should be, “a safe place where they can be themselves.” “Because they are sociable and quite open, it was very easy to adapt,” she adds.
Milan and Sasha set their agenda
Shakira has also started a new life. Separated from Piqu and settled in Miami, she can finally focus on work. “Being in Barcelona it was very difficult to attend to my professional life. It was more complicated logistically for a collaborator to come. I had to wait for the agendas to coincide or for someone to deign to stop by Barcelona, or be willing or able to accommodate me so I could work from my studio,” he acknowledges about the time he lived in Spain.
“When Milan and Sasha are with my dad, I take the opportunity to work from morning to night and at night I have a margarita with my friends”
“I couldn’t leave my children and go somewhere else and leave the family, the home and go make music outside my home. So it was very difficult to keep up. Sometimes I had ideas that I couldn’t put into practice. Right now I have an idea and I have the immediacy of being able to collaborate with whoever I want.“He points out. “Here I have the logistical and technical support and the resources, the tools, the people. Living in Spain, all that was mortgaged.”
He has colleagues in the profession nearby and time to dedicate to work. The time that Milan and Sasha are with Piqué: “I take the opportunity to work from morning to night and at night I have a margarita with my friends.”
The difficulties of being a single mother
In Barcelona he had to put his career on the back burner, his last album was five years ago, but now in Miami it is different. “I’ll be able, of course, to release music more often”, he points out in the interview, although he recognizes that focusing on work will have its difficulties. “Being a single mother, and continuing with this pop star rhythm, I think it’s not compatible sometimes. I have to put my children to sleep, go to the recording studio, which I don’t have in my house right now. Everything is difficult. Because when you don’t have a husband who can stay with the kids and all that, I’m always juggling.”
“When you don’t have a husband who can stay with the children, I’m always juggling.”
Shakira has these difficulties because she likes to be a present mother: “I like to take them to school, have breakfast with them, put them to bed, have dinner with them, take them to extracurricular (activities), accompany them to playdates. But apart from that I have to invoice.”
The time to leave your pajamas and socialize
Shakira goes out now more than ever. Her social activity is much greater and, to a large extent, her children are responsible. “(I didn’t know she was so socially active) because she always made me too lazy to go out. My favorite outfit was my pajamas. But do you know what happens? First of all, my kids are big Miami Heat fans. Milan is a fan of all sports. “So I have to take it to all the baseball games, all the basketball games, all the hockey games,” he explains. “I’ve never been to so many sporting events in my life.”
In the end what he seeks is the happiness of the little ones and for them to fulfill their dreams. “What worries me most right now is how I’m going to make it so that Milan can practice American football, soccer and baseball in the same week,” he says of his current priorities.
Shakira’s grief
In the interview he appears strong but does not hide that he has had a bad time. Very badly. “When a family is destroyed, I believe that there is nothing that can compensate for that pain”, says the singer who always dreamed of a relationship like that of her parents. A relationship for life.
“My biggest dream in life was to raise my children with their father, to have a family”
“I have to keep going for my children and that is my biggest motivation. But my biggest dream in life, more than collecting platinum records and Grammys, was to raise my children with their father, to have a family, you know? Pto rise above the problems, the obstacles, and overcome them, and grow old next to someone. I know I won’t have this,” he laments.
The interview coincides with Sasha’s return to school after the holidays. That day I will go to a friend’s house after class. In the middle of the talk, Shakira takes a call from him. My love, remember to pick up your plate, wash your hands and say thank you.he says as he says goodbye.
