Shakira Reflects on Whether She'll Find Love Again After Gerard Piqué Split -- and What She Values Instead

Shakira is not telling any beautiful lies about what her romantic future may hold.

In a newly released interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, the 47-year-old singer and mom of two candidly spoke about what she values following her split from her longtime partner, Gerard Piqué, in 2022 after more than a decade together.

When asked by Lowe, "What's really, truly important to you now?," the performer responded with "Friendship."

"I think friendship lasts longer than love," she said. "Though I still think experiencing love, fully experiencing it with all its peaks and valleys it's so essential to the human life."

Shakira affirmed, "I love love, but I think I even love friendship a little bit more. Because I thought love would be there forever for me. And that's one of my, you know, broken dreams. Perhaps I will. I don't know if I'll like find that again. Probably not. Well, I don't know. But friendship, I have."

Shakira went on to explain how friendship hasn't always been a top priority for her. "I wasn't one of those people who valued friendship as much. I've always valued family, and having a partner in a couple. I've always been in a couple," she said. "But then when that wasn't there, and when I lost my boys and when I had to face the darkest and the hardest moments of my life, friends were there. And they kept me together. Those who did really showed me the true, the true meaning of life. I might not grow old with a partner, but I will grow old surrounded by good friends."

While a future romance remains to be seen, it seems she's keeping it real with her sons, 11-year-old Milan and 9-year-old Sasha, as she navigates life as a single mom after her breakup.

"Society teaches us to conceal our feelings in front of our kids. But I think that's a mistake, because they know better and they perceive things in many different ways. And they can tell when an adult is lying to them," she said. "They want the truth. Because if you don't give them the truth, then they make up their own version of the truth. And their interpretations of reality could be completely wrong and messed up and then it's when things get really complicated for them. But if you if you're brave enough to talk about things, talking about it with them to understand how they're perceiving reality as well and open up a conversation, open up a dialogue where they can also give their opinions. And embrace their own vulnerability as well."

Though she's juggling more responsibilities now as a mom with a world-famous music career without the help of a partner, it does not sound like Shakira is longing for her past. Speaking of her previous years living in Barcelona raising her family, Shakira told Lowe, "It was kind of like a sometimes a love-hate relationship" with her art.

"Every time I had to be pulled into the studio to do my work, I failed. I felt that I was leaving my family unattended. There were times when I really didn't enjoy it. You know, I felt guilt. I felt torn. But now it feels totally different. 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, I don't have a husband at home to help out with anything," she said. "In a way, it's kind of good not to have a husband because that…I don't know why it was dragging me down, man. Now I feel like working. I feel like writing songs. I feel like making music. It's a compulsive need of mine that I didn't feel before."

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