Colombian pop star Shakira had a difficult year in 2022. In June, she announced her separation from longtime partner Gerard Piqué. Just weeks later, her father, William Mubarak Chadid, was seriously injured in an accident.
Chadid was visiting Shakira in Barcelona, Spain, when he fell and hit his head. He was rushed to the hospital and placed in the ICU. Shakira was devastated by the news, especially as she was already dealing with the breakup of her relationship.
“Everything happened at once,” she told People en Español. “My home was falling apart. I was finding out through the press that I had been betrayed while my dad was in the ICU.”
Shakira and Piqué share two sons, Milan and Sasha. The singer said that her father’s health struggles left her feeling even more lost. She was worried about her children and didn’t know how she was going to cope with everything that was happening.
“The man I have loved the most in my life – my father – was leaving me when I needed him the most,” she said. “I couldn’t talk to him, or go to my best friend for the advice I needed so much.”
Thankfully, Chadid is now recovering and doing well. Shakira said that he is her biggest example of resilience and that her mother, Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, has been by his side every step of the way.
“They have both been a reflection of that dream that didn’t come true for me,” she said. “But I hope they are role models for my kids of love, of patience in relationships, of absolute devotion and zest for life.”
Shakira and Piqué’s split was a major public event, and the headlines surrounding it were often negative. Shakira said that she felt like her relationship had been “turned into something vulgarized and cheapened.” She called it “probably the darkest hour of my life.”
The singer has since released a breakup track, “BZRP Music Session #53,” which some fans believe is about Piqué. The song has been a hit, and it has helped Shakira to move on from the breakup.
Despite all of the challenges she has faced in recent years, Shakira is still going strong. She is currently working on her next album and is planning a world tour. She is also a judge on the Spanish version of “The Voice.”
