‘Free’ Shakira says ex Gerard Piqué was ‘dragging me down’

Shakira isn’t mourning the loss of her relationship with Gerard Piqué but celebrating her newfound “freedom” following their 2022 split.

The 47-year-old Colombian superstar was in an 11-year relationship with the 37-year-old Spanish ex-footballer, with whom she shares sons Milan, 11, and Sasha, 9. She blames the relationship for the dearth of albums she released while they were together.

“I’ve been putting out music here and there, but it was really hard for me to put together a body of work. I didn’t have time, because the husband factor. Now I’m husband-less, but yeah, the husband was dragging me down,” the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer told Jimmy Fallon Monday night on “The Tonight Show.” She was appearing to promote her new album, “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” which dropped Friday.

“Now I’m free! Now I can actually work!” she said.

The title of the album — her first since 2017’s “El Dorado” — translates to “Women Don’t Cry Anymore.”

“It’s men’s turn now,” explained Shakira. “Too long we’ve been sent to cry with a script in our hands and without an end, just because we’re women, have to conceal our pain in front of our kids, in front of society. We have to heal in a certain way. And I don’t think anyone is supposed to tell us how to heal. Like, no one is supposed to tell a she-wolf how to lick her wounds and I think that now women decide when to cry, how to cry, and until when,” she said to cheers from the audience.

“Yeah, nobody’s supposed to tell us how to cope with a hardship of life.”

Noting she was “raw” while working on the album, Shakira said she was “dealing with a lot of stuff,” such as “trying to rebuild myself.

“Music was the glue,” she said. “Each one of these songs was like a catharsis.”

In addition to the demise of her relationship with Piqué, Shakira was at the center of a tax fraud case in Spain.

She reached a settlement in November, admitting to having failed to pay an estimated 14.5 million euros (roughly $15.8 million) in taxes to the Spanish government between 2012 and 2014. She received a three-year suspended sentence, by agreeing to a 7.3 million euro fine ($8 million).

The settlement came months after Shakira and her kids relocated from Barcelona to Miami.

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