Shakira opens up about ‘uphill’ struggle of being a single mum and balancing work with her need to spend ‘every moment with her children’

Shakira has spoken out about the ‘uphill’ struggle she's facing as a single mum and opened up about how she balances her need to spend ‘every moment with her children’ with her work in the music industry. 

Co-parenting as a single mum is always difficult, even when you're Grammy-award winning music artist Shakira. The singer, 46, shares two sons, Milan, 10, and Sasha, eight, with her ex partner, the former professional footballer Gerard Piqué whom she split with back in 2022. The couple have since been co-parenting, but Shakira has now shared that she's struggling to work enough without another parent in her household. 

The singer joins a long list of celebrities who have opened up about the struggle. Just this year, Gwen Stefani’s ex husband talked about the geographical struggles of co-parenting, Love Islander Jack Keating revealed he will be co-parenting with his ex to give his newborn 'the best support system,' and Kim Kardashian opened up about the ‘chaos’ of parenting four kids as a single mum.

“The last time I released an album was six years ago,” Shakira told Billboard Magazine. “Now I can release music at a faster clip, although sometimes I think being a single mom and the rhythm of a pop star aren’t compatible. 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 play dates. And aside from that, I have to make money.”

But she's trying to take the stress in her stride. And it's working as she's in 'survival' mode when it comes to working and parenting. "I feel like a cat with more than nine lives," she told the publication. "Whenever I think I can't get any better, I suddenly get a second wind." 

Speaking about her breakup, she said, "I've gone through several stages: denial, anger, pain, frustration, anger again, pain again. Now I'm in a survival stage. Like, just get your head above water. And it's a reflection stage. And a stage of working very hard and when I have time with my children, really spend it with them."

The biggest struggle she's faced, and the biggest change she's experienced since leaving Piqué, is that she moved with her two sons from Barcelona to Miami. While she does admit that it felt awful 'destroying a family' by taking her kids away from the place of their birth, she hopes that it's a 'blessing in disguise.' 

"I think that nothing can compensate for the pain of destroying a family. Of course, I have to keep going for my children's sake; that's my greatest motivation. But my biggest dream, more than collecting platinum albums and Grammys, was to raise my sons with their father. Overcome obstacles and grow old together. I know I'm not getting that now."

But despite all the trouble, Shakira has learnt something new about herself. "[I've learnt about] My strength. I thought I was much weaker. I used to crumble before the stupidest problems. I'd create a drama because I chipped my tooth or that kind of stuff. 

"But maturing, going through truly difficult things, gives you a sense of perspective and empathy. You learn how to value the good moments and how not to amplify the bad ones."